Alinghi trimmer Simon Daubney relaxes at the stern waiting for race seven to start. Photo / Mark Mitchell
VALENCIA - Alinghi are happy to put the champagne on ice and wait for the right conditions to try and wrap-up the 32nd America's Cup after racing was abandoned today.
Up 4-2 in the best of nine series, a lack of wind prevented the Swiss from successfully defending
the Auld Mug against Team New Zealand and will now have to wait until early Wednesday morning (NZ time), weather permitting, to try and clinch the Cup.
"It's not a big deal to wait a couple of days," Alinghi design group co-ordinator Grant Simmer said.
"We went out expecting to race and looking forward to racing but we were happy with the decision because we didn't want to race in very variable conditions.
"We have been getting ready for this for three or four days so we can wait a day."
The prospects for a start on time had been doubtful and both crews were happy when principal race officer Peter Reggio told them go back to shore because the wind remained too light and patchy - 75 minutes after race seven was due to have got under way.
The cancellation coincides with a rest day scheduled for tomorrow but Simmer said Alinghi were unlikely to go sailing on the day off. They would have a light gym session and look at some videos before going home early.
Team NZ strategist Ray Davies believed the race committee made the right move in calling a postponement.
The committee had asked the crews for their thoughts while they were bobbing around in the Mediterranean, and NZL92's sailors had felt the conditions had become unstable.
"It looked pretty good when we went out there but the breeze fell apart around start time," he said.
"We were hedging towards going back to the dock before the decision was made."
Davies said Team NZ would do some video analysis tomorrow, and also look at the forecast before deciding whether to have a bit of sailing practice.
One reason Alinghi chose Valencia to host the America's Cup was because of the Spanish port city's reputation for steady sea breezes.
However, a number of days were lost to lack of wind during the round-robin stages of the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' series, although the situation improved during the challengers' semifinals and final.
Until today, the cup match has run according to programme, but Alinghi did complain when race three went ahead on the scheduled day, arguing that the light and shifty conditions turned a contest that Team NZ won into a lottery.
- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF
Photos: Best of the America's Cup