By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
 PENRITH LAKES, Australia -- They held a regatta and A Perfect Storm, Part II, broke out.

 High winds at the International Regatta Centre forced the postponement of the canoe and kayak finals, delaying Canada's Caroline Brunet a shot at a gold medal in the women's K-1 500-metre sprint.

 Officials were to meet at 1:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. EDT) to decide what course of action to take.

 The forecast was for the high winds to continue through the afternoon. The winds were gusting up to 55 km/h at 9 a.m.

 Brunet was also to race with partner Karen Furneaux of Waverley, N.S., in the women's K-2 500m while Maxime Boilard of Lac-Beauport, Que., was to race in the final of the men's C-1 500m.

 The kayaks and canoes are fragile craft and it's a constant battle for competitors to keep their balance at the best of times.

 Racing was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. local time, but as a strong headwind whipped down the course and left at least one tent on site in tatters, authorities pushed the events back to 3 p.m.

 They later revised that and attempted to start the first race of the day, the men's K-1 500m, at noon, but wound up pulling the boats out of the water.

 It was so windy that minutes before the men's K-1 500m race was to start, the waves, whipped up by the wind, swamped an aluminum skiff. The pilot, with the bow way out of the water, was finally forced to abandon ship near shore.

 The kayakers, who were warming up at the time, took their boats out of the water.

 "It's like this here all the time," said one local volunteer, holding her hat down with a hand on top of her head. "That's what you get when you mountains over here and a lake and river over there."