America's Cup: Racing Abandoned for Second Time

by Jane Eagleson

The Race Committee for the 33rd America's Cup has abandoned racing for the second consecutive race day.

Neither race boat left port as the start was initially postponed ashore. The Race Committee proceeded out to the race area to assess the conditions but elected to abandon racing for the day at noon, local time.

Skipper and helmsman James Spithill (AUS) met the media following racing being abandoned and said the whole team was disappointed not to race.

"We were keen to go," he said. "We think that 10:00 (the scheduled time for the warning signal in the Sailing Instructions) was the window and we probably could have got one away. Having said that, I think (Principal race Officer) Harold Bennett is the right man for the job... I've got full trust in Harold...

"I would have loved to have gone out there. I love sailing this boat and that's the coolest thing about it. You look forward to sailing it every day. You go home at night and can't wait to get out there again."

The next scheduled race day is Friday, 12th February.

"It looks good now, but it's pretty difficult to predict more than 24-hours in advance in Valenica," Spithill cautioned, when asked about the forecast for Friday. "So I think we just have to wait till we get closer because it can change pretty quickly...

"Since we got here in January, we've had some fantastic days out there. But that's what you deal with in this sport. I think with the two boats we've got, we want to have fair racing - I think everyone agrees with that. It's no one's fault. It's not Harold's fault. That's just the weather."

The press conference with James Spithill was streamed live on the main team website, http://www.bmworacleracing.com as part of the "Race Day" coverage the team is providing to race fans. On Wednesday, the live streaming package throughout the day attracted 10,000 unique viewers who watched for an average of 45-minutes.

BMW ORACLE Racing