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America's Cup 2007 Sunny but windless |
 Shoshaloza and Team Germany heading for the barn
The only racing today was between Shosholoza and Team Germany to get back to the dock.
Although a welcome break from the rain, the wind machine didn't crank up.
Because there was some sunshine today, maybe it was enough to heat things up and create thermals for tomorrow. Not like the Sacramento delta but hopefully something will come of it.
The America's Cup village is all abuzz about swing keels. Quickly, the fins which support the massive bulbs bend a certain amount to leeward. The rumor is that some team is taking advantage of this bending by maintaining the bend once having tacked to the other board. This means the bulb is to windward of the centerline and is in effect a "canting keel". Rules experts, rumor mongers and all have something other than a cancelled day of sailing to talk about.
Valencia, 18 April, 2007 - Light conditions continue to disrupt the schedule at the Louis Vuitton Cup in Valencia. After three scheduled race days, no matches have been sailed in Round Robin One.
source: www.americascup.com
On Wednesday, race officials and the 11 teams returned to the race course area to the North and South of Port America's Cup, but conditions were similar to the two earlier days this week: plenty of sunshine and clear skies, but still not warm enough to drive the sea breeze.
At 16:05, Principal Race Officers Peter Reggio and Harold Bennett postponed racing for the afternoon for the third consecutive day. The postponed flights are now scheduled next week.
Flight 5 will be the second flight of racing on the reserve day on Monday. Flight 6 is bumped to the first day of Round Robin Two, where normally, just one flight of races is scheduled. (The scheduling of one flight per day in Round Robin Two allows for such an eventuality). With the postponement today, the first day of Round Robin Two, Wednesday, 25th April, will now also include Flight 6 from Round Robin One.
Representatives from the Race Committee spoke with the media late Wednesday afternoon saying the conditions posed a challenge to sailors, organisers and America's Cup fans alike.
"It is frustrating, but we can only wait for fair conditions. There's nothing else that can be done," said Javier Esolano, the second race official for Juliet Race Committee on the south race area. "The teams don't want to race when the conditions are this uncertain and I think they are quite glad we don't start races race on days like today. Maybe in previous Louis Vuitton Acts they didn't mind taking the risk but now there is a lot more at stake. Today the MDS buoys furthest from the shore weren't registering more than four and a half knots." |
