Strong winds delay America's Cup series again
Reuters, Auckland
Strong winds forced the abandonment of racing in the America's Cup challengers series for the second consecutive day on Saturday, putting further pressure on a congested schedule.
Forecast gales had caused the postponement of round robin two races for the nine challengers on Friday. While more moderate, the wind in the Hauraki Gulf off New Zealand's largest city on Saturday was still too strong for the $5 million boats.
Strong northeasterly winds have been forecast to batter Auckland for another two days.
In races already delayed once, series leaders Alinghi of Switzerland had been due to sail against eighth-placed Mascalzone Latino on Saturday while second-placed U.S. team OneWorld was to have taken on Britain's GBR Challenge.
Defending Louis Vuitton Cup challengers champions Prada of Italy were to have raced winless Le Defi Areva of France while Sweden's Victory Challenge had been due to sail against Team Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes.
Those races will now be sailed on Sunday.
Seven of 19 scheduled race days have been lost to unsuitable winds so far and organizers were forced to use a series of reserve days to clear the backlog in round robin one. Racing can only start in winds of more than seven knots and less than 19.
Regatta officials have said they are determined round robin two will be finished on schedule next Friday, even if it means making challengers race twice a day over shortened courses.
Alinghi, backed by Swiss biotechnology billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, lead the challengers series with nine wins from 10 races.
OneWorld have also lost only one race but are in second place on eight points after they were penalized a point for possessing design secrets from other teams before the regatta.
The nine challengers are due to race each other once in each of two round robins to determine which eight progress to the quarter-finals.
The winners of the Louis Vuitton Cup will take on holders Team New Zealand in the America's Cup in February 2003.