America's Cup faces scheduling nightmare with more light winds expected

Emirates Team New Zealand are scheduled to race Team BAR today. Photo / Chris Cameron

America's Cup race management could be left with a lengthy backlog of races to get through this weekend, with today's abandonment expected to be just the beginning of long weather delays in Bermuda.

Today's racing was called off due to light winds on the Great Sound, with the average wind speed peaking at just 5.4 knots during the two-hour racing window. The minimum wind strength the America's Cup Class yachts can race in is six knots.

The bad news for organisers is the forecast for tomorrow is even worse, with Saturday also looking marginal at this stage. Today had the strongest breeze forecast of the three days.

If the forecasting proves accurate, regatta director Iain Murray will have a scheduling nightmare on his hands.

The America's Cup qualifiers is due to wrap up on Sunday, which is expected to be sailable, but it is not yet known what officials will do to clear the 12 races that are still to be sailed in second round robin if the next two days are lost.

The next stage of the regatta - the challenger semifinals - is scheduled to get underway on Monday.

Despite the bleak forecast, Murray remains hopeful of getting some races in tomorrow.

"Mother Nature is fickle, it is as simple as that, and since time immemorial sailors have had to contend with light and strong winds," said Murray, who heads America's Cup Race Management.

"After four fabulous days of perfect conditions, today was our turn to deal with the light winds, I am, though, confident we will be back racing tomorrow."

At the conclusion of round robin two this weekend one team will be eliminated, making it even more important that the race committee is able to set a fair course.

The battle to avoid elimination is tighter than anyone predicted, with three teams - Artemis, Softbank Team Japan and Team France all locked on two points. British team Ben Ainslie Racing, who Team New Zealand were due to race today, have also only registered two wins in the qualifiers, but they carried over two points into the regatta after taking out the America's Cup World Series circuit.

With five wins on the board, Team NZ have secured their place in the next round but they will be looking to cement their place as top challenger, which gives them the advantage of being able to choose which team they will face in the semifinals.
A decision on racing tomorrow will not be made beforehand. The teams will all head out on to the water at the scheduled time, and, like today, will bob around out there for the entire racing window if need be.
To get a race underway they will need to have an average wind speed of six knots during the five minute window between 8 minutes out from the scheduled start, and 3 minutes from the start. The average is measured over 30 second intervals.
If at any point in that five minutes the average wind speed dips below 6 knots, the race committee will have to re-set and try again. Murray said during the practice racing window last month, there was one day when officials had 25 attempts to get a race under way.