America's Cup: Race 1 of America's Cup Match postponed until Friday

Waves in excess of 1m on the race course force organisers to issue a second postponement...

by Daphne Morgan Barnicoat

Race 1 of the 33rd America's Cup Match has been postponed until Friday. Today's attempt to commence the best-of-three Deed of Gift Match between Defender Alinghi and Challenger BMW Oracle Racing was postponed due to rough sea conditions on the Mediterranean outside Valencia.

“The waves were the biggest problem. I think they were about 1.3m average size in the start area,” said Alinghi strategist Murray Jones. “That means we could've had a peak of 1.8m and that's the biggest issue.

“There was a swell coming from one direction and waves from an offset of 90 degrees to that. We've been out in conditions not quite that bad, but it's heinous. I think they've done the right thing by not sending us out there,” Jones said.

Jones explained that strong winds in the north of Spain near France were churning up the sea, which was confirmed over the phone by Will McCarthy, an Alinghi sailing team member, out spotting at noon: “It's very bumpy out here, confused, cold and we have seen 20knots this morning.”

The next attempt to commence the match is scheduled for Friday at 10:06. The race schedule is for one day to intervene between each race day as agreed with the Challenger. Paragraph 6.5 of the Notice of Race states that: “If a race is cancelled, abandoned or postponed that race will be sailed on the next scheduled date and the subsequent races shall be postponed for the day accordingly.”

The first attempt on Monday was postponed until today due to unstable wind conditions.

Alinghi