Yachting Lack of wind delays first America’s Cup

US challenger Oracle giant trimaran

Lack of wind yesterday postponed the start of the first race of the 33rd America’s Cup pitting defending Swiss champions Alinghi against US side Oracle in a best-of-three series.
The kickoff for the race, a 40-nautical-mile windward-leeward course off the coast of the Spanish port of Valencia, had been due at 10 am (0900 GMT) but race director Harold Bennett delayed it due to light and shifting winds.
Organisers gave no new time for the start of the race. Both giant boats were waiting at the race starting area located some 27 nautical miles (50 kilometres) from the coast for conditions to improve.
“Of course I am a bit disappointed. I came to see the boats which everyone is talking so much about,” said Marta Cortijo, a retired woman in her 60s who was one of dozens of people who turned up at Valencia’s port to watch the race on a giant television screen as helicopters flew overhead.
At noon winds speeds were down to between two to three knots, with gusts of up to eight knots from between five to 12 knots at the start of the day as the boats headed out to the start area.
During the last America’s Cup, sailing’s oldest and most prestigious trophy, which was also held in Valencia in 2007, the acceptable wind range was set at between seven and 23 knots.
But the rules for the 33rd edition of the race do not specify minimum or maximum wind speeds.
Instead it is up to the face committee to determine whether to start or continue a race, taking into account safety and legal considerations.
If a race is cancelled or postponed, the rules require that it be sailed on the next scheduled race day, which is tomorrow.
The Cup has traditionally been run in monohulls but this year for the first time both sides will sail multihulls.
The 33rd America’s Cup pits Alinghi’s giant catamaran, the Alinghi 5, against Oracle’s equally large trimaran, the USA, the biggest, fastest and most expensive entries in the 159-year-old event’s history.
The Alinghi 5 features a mast that is as tall as a 17-storey building while the USA has a solid vertical wingspan of 68 metres, more than twice the length of the wing of a Boeing 747.
Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli, a 44-year-old Swiss biotech tycoon, had been set to be one of the helmsman for his side during the first race while Australia’s James Pithill, 30, was the designated helmsman of Oracle’s boat, which is backed by US software tycoon Larry Ellison.
“So far we’ve observed them and they’ve observed us, but we’re not 100 percent sure how it’ll go on the water,” Alinghi’s Swiss downwind trimmer Nils Frei said just before his side set sail for the starting area.
“I think about 20 minutes after the start we’ll probably know a lot more. It’s going to be interesting.”
Alinghi and Oracle became embroiled in an increasingly bitter legal conflict after the Swiss side won the last America’s Cup in Valencia in July 2007 in what was the closest edition of the event of all time.
The two sides have sparred over the rules, dates and location of the race, leading the 33rd Cup to be delayed until this year.
Oracle accused the Swiss syndicate of trying to bend the rules in its favour for the 33rd edition. Alinghi has charged Oracle is seeking to win the Cup in the court rather than on the water.
The Supreme Court of the State of New York decided in April that the Cup should be settled by a one-on-one multihull duel in February instead of the traditional fully-fledged regatta involving several teams.