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The athletes who will be taking part in the Mistral World Championship have now undergone the weighing in procedure. All competitors must respect the rules which have been set for the One Design Table to be used in this race: 372cm in length, 63.5cm wide, 235 litres in volume and 15.5kg in weight.

Registration for the championships was opened on the 11 May and is now closed. Today sees the practice race which takes place in order to let athletes and the organizers test the race area and their equipment. Tomorrow the first two of the twelve scheduled World Championship races will be held.

There are already 100 or so athletes in Mondello representing 22 nations from all six continents. In the men's fleet there is recent winner of the ISAF Grade 1 Semaine Olympique Française, Ivan PASTOR (ESP). He is sure to be strongly challenged by Brazil's Ricardo SANTOS, who so narrowly missed out on a medal in Athens.

Amongst the women, Greece's Antonia FREY will be on a high after her recent victory in Hyères. Also amongst the favourites is 2003 ISAF World champion, Lee KORZITZ (ISR). However, Italy's windsurfing legend, 2004 World champion and three time Olympic medallist, Alessandra SENSINI, will not be defending her title on her home waters. The Italian seems to be taking a break from her windsurfing career and has not competed in an ISAF Graded event since her bronze medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

The measurements director, Nayl DRISS (FRA), has set the first record of the competition, weighing in the gear of 96 athletes in just eight hours.