Most sailors are happy about 21.1 knots of wind. And even a little more. For the America's Cup teams, that was already too much on Tuesday evening. The fresh wind in San Francisco Bay repeatedly exceeded the official wind limit for more than 30 seconds within the prescribed measurement period of 15 minutes. Each time this happened, the race committee had to reset the countdown to 15 minutes. Regatta director Iain Murry and regatta manager Harold Bennett did not play along with the annoying game for long, which they had already suspected in the morning and announced that there might not be any thrilling action scenes that day.
Fifteen minutes after the scheduled first starting signal, Oracle Team USA and challenger Emirates Team New Zealand were already on their way back to the harbour. "The current is getting stronger," said Iain Murray, "I want these two crews to make it safely into the harbour."
The strict wind limits, which vary slightly depending on the strength of the current in San Francisco Bay, must be respected by the race committee. On Tuesday, the water running at just under three knots resulted in a particularly low limit. A change would require the approval of both Cup finalists as well as the Coast Guard of San Francisco.
Originally, Russell Coutts, inventor of the new America's Cup and CEO of Oracle Team USA, had promised great cinema: "The new AC72 yachts will sail in conditions of three to 33 knots." That sounded exciting and also suited the windy area between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. However, the fatal training accident of British Olympic champion Andrew Simpson on 9 May has changed many things. Even the wind limits.
The 34th America's Cup duel will continue on Wednesday at the usual "Tatort" time at 10.15 pm German time with the score 7:1 in favour of Emirates Team New Zealand with races eleven and twelve. The Kiwis still need two points to triumph. Defenders Oracle Team USA must win eight times to defend the ornate silverware.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
