The 31st America's Cup is fast becoming an endurance event with today marking the fifth postponement in five attempts to start Race Four. There hasn't been racing now for a full week.
The Swiss challenger Alinghi currently leads the Defender, Team New Zealand, 3-0 in the best-of-nine series.
Today, Principal RaceOfficer Harold Bennett was confronted with a weather forecast that included a gale warning on the Hauraki Gulf and he was forced to cancel racing again.
Alinghi did go sailing in the morning, taking both boats out for a short sail, while Team New Zealand went sailing on 34-foot MRX keelboats in the harbour in front of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
At the scheduled start time of 1.15pm there were winds of 25–28 knots, with gusts over 40 knots on the Gulf, with a 2-metre swell.
Bennett revisited the weather forecast late this afternoon, with the hope of re-scheduling Race Four to tomorrow, a scheduled layday. But the weather models are predicting very strong winds overnight and into Wednesday morning, moderating to 25 to 35 knots in the afternoon. That's not a promising scenario, and Bennett decided to hold to the current schedule, with Race Four to be attempted again on Thursday.
Although frustration is setting in among America's Cup sailors and race fans alike, we're a long way from setting any records.
The longest match in America's Cup history was an 18-day endurance contest in 1899 between Sir Thomas Lipton's first Shamrock and the American Columbia, with the legendary Charlie Barr at the wheel.
It took 11 tries between October 3 and October 20 to get the three-race series completed, with Columbia winning in a sweep, 3-0. In fact, just completing Race One took seven tries over 13 days.
