America's Cup Race 1 postponed - then abandonned for the day

1:26 PM Mon 8 Feb 2010 GMT

'The Cup Day One as it appears in Valencia' Jean Philippe Job? Click Here to view large photo

Day 1 of the 33rd America's Cup- billed as the sailing equivalent of the Rumble in the Jungle

At the scheduled start time, with the two giant multihulls tethered, motionless in the almost breezeless conditions in the start area, some 25 miles off Spain's Valencia coast, PRO Harold Bennett signalled postponement at 10:00 local time.

Three hours later and the wind had built a little but it was unstable. At the top mark winds 20 miles closer to the coast, there were gusts of up to 12 knots from the south west, (around 240-245) but at the same time, the wind over the horizon at the start line was three knots but unfortunately from the north west (335).

That 80-90 degree difference across the course made it very tough for the race committee to run a race.

The Swiss Alinghi 5 team was keen to go sailing, with the very lightweight catamaran expected to have an advantage with wind speeds up to seven knots.

On the other hand all the body language/signals from the American trimaran USA-17 was don't even think about dropping that flag Harold, wait until we have seven-10 knots.

Finally The Race Committee decided that no racing was going to be possible and abandoned racing for the day.

Meanwhile for the spectators and media and sailors online around the world remember; Sailing teaches you patience

Next race will be on Wednesday at 10h00 (CET), that is 09:00 GMT, 2200 NZ time, 2000 Australian time and 0400 US East Coast time.

by Sail-World.om

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America's Cup Race 1 postponed - then abandonned for the day

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