Alinghi not running out of puff

By JULIE ASH

Gale force winds or not, Alinghi spent a good four hours training out on the Hauraki Gulf yesterday after race four of the America's Cup was postponed again.

Principal race officer Harold Bennett delayed the race for the fifth time yesterday morning after the MetService issued a gale warning. A gale warning places liability for damage or injury on the organisers.

"If it's not one thing it's another," said Bennett. "At the end of the day, the Marine Safety Authority would take you to task if you make a decision that put others at risk."

After days of light fickle winds, Bennett reported that winds on the inner Hauraki Gulf were from the east/southeast and steadily in the mid-20s. He said that gusts were well past 30 knots, and that the swell from the east peaked at 1.8m.

With today a lay day the next scheduled race day is tomorrow when conditions are also expected to be marginal.

Alinghi trained yesterday from 10am to about 2pm. Team New Zealand also went sailing but without their race yachts NZL81 and NZL82. Instead they opted for an hour-long session on four MRX yachts in the inner harbour.

Dean Barker drove one boat with Bertrand Pace, Rob Waddell, James Dagg and Jeremy Lomas. He squared off against a crew led by Cameron Appleton, practising starts and tactics.

Two other boats also sailed, working mostly on crew manoeuvres.

The weather has been a nightmare for event organisers. It has now been over a week since the last race. To help yachting fans understand just what is going on in the Hauraki Gulf, Alinghi held a press conference with two members of their weather team, Jon Bilger and Jack Katzfey, yesterday afternoon.

With nothing much happening on the water or off it, the conference attracted nearly every journalist in Auckland covering the event.

Bilger, one of seven New Zealanders in the nine-strong Swiss weather team, said yesterday's conditions were tricky and the only opportunity for racing was in the morning.

"The forecast we had was for it to be southeast in the morning and going around to the east.

"When it was going around to the east it would get too fresh to start the race but we did say that if it did stay in the southeast the conditions would be lighter and it might have been possible to get a race off."

The problem is a low pressure system arriving from Australia, where it caused flooding over the weekend.

Bilger said the news for the next few days is not good.

"There is probably less than 50 per cent chance that we will get sailing in in the next three days. But because it is such a tricky one to predict I wouldn't bet my life on it."

* While luck may be with them on the water it seems some of the Alinghi crew are having a bit of a hard time off it.

The team's physiotherapist and trainer, Xavier Jolis, broke his leg in three places while playing soccer with the team on Monday.

Jolis underwent surgery yesterday morning. He will remain in hospital for three to four days.

Madeline Hernon, who worked with the New Zealand Olympics Team in 2000, will help out on the physiotherapist side. Thierry Chappet, an Alinghi crew member and sport coordinator, is taking on the responsibility of running the daily gym sessions.

Jolis is the third Alinghi member injured in less than a month. Grinder Christian Karcher had to withdraw with a hip injury while bowman Bernard Labro broke his clavicle in a traffic accident.

nzherald.co.nz/americascup

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