Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling in Barcelona. Video / Michael Burgess
The first elimination in the America’s Cup campaign has had to wait another day.
After a long delay and several attempts at getting day eight of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series round robins under way, the race committee was forced to abandon the day due to a lack of wind.
A storm saw the race committee ask all teams to return to the harbour just 30 minutes before racing was due to start, with the scheduled matches put on hold while the weather passed over.
The teams spent the following hour in a holding pattern while they awaited a call on racing before they were cleared to head back out on to the course.
The boats arrived, but the wind didn’t meet them there.
About 90 minutes after the teams were told they could return to the race course, the race committee were forced to pull the plug on the day’s sailing without a single race being completed due to a lack of wind.
That will see a reserve day on the schedule activated, with the final day of the round robins now being held tomorrow.
The delay adds more suspense to what is already shaping up as a grand finish to the round robins, particularly in the first race of the day between French team Orient Express Racing Team and British entry Ineos Britannia.
For the French, a delay was welcomed, after they damaged their boat earlier in the day and were forced into a quick fix. It appeared the boat suffered some structural damage below deck, though it is unclear what the extent of the damage was at this stage.
Orient Express Racing Team were racing the clock to get the boat back on the water after it was damaged. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
Their shore team worked quickly and were able to have their AC75 in a position to take to the starting line in time for their do-or-die race, but an extra 24 hours will give them a chance to be in the best shape possible for racing.
“We’re going to be honest and fair, we are really happy we can put our baby back in the shed and check what we have to check,” Orient Express coach Thierry Douillard said on the broadcast.
“Our shore team did an amazing job to be able to be on time for the first race today if it was going through ... it’s good that we’ve got our little baby going back into the shed to be ready for a really good day tomorrow.”
With just one win on the board, the French need to win that race to have a chance of staying alive in the campaign. They would then need Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing to lose their match to Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the second race of the day. That would see a one-off match between the French and Swiss to decide who stays and who goes.
Alternatively, if Ineos Britannia beat Orient Express and Alinghi beat Luna Rossa, the British and Italians would then have a tiebreaking race to decide who finishes the round robin as the top seed.
With the top seed getting to choose their opponent in the first-to-five semifinal series, it’s a desirable advantage to take into the next round.
Team New Zealand were scheduled to race in the last match of the day against American Magic, and although that race doesn’t have any points on offer for either team, it isn’t without intrigue.
For Team New Zealand, it would be their final race before the Cup match begins in October, while American Magic named a new combination at the helm with Lucas Calabrese partnering Tom Slingsby in place of Paul Goodison.
Racing is scheduled to get under way again at 12am tomorrow morning (NZ time).
