Waiting on the wind has been a theme of the America’s Cup in Barcelona over the last couple of days, but when it finally arrived for the start of the Youth America’s Cup, it came to test the young sailors.
Racing was scheduled to begin just after 2pm local time, but didn’t get out and competing until more than three hours later. When they did, they were pushed by winds toward the top end of the limit for the AC40s and big swells, with Emirates Team New Zealand having a mixed day to finish third and fourth in the two races.
The Youth America’s Cup group stages are being contested in AC40 fleet races, with Group A featuring the six teams competing in the America’s Cup proper, and Group B comprised of invited nations. All six teams are on the course at once, picking up points depending on position. The top three teams in each group then advance to the next round following eight fleet races.
Four races were scheduled for opening day, but the late start saw only two completed.
That saw Team NZ finish the day sitting fourth on the leaderboard with eight points, behind American Magic (17 points), Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (17) and British entry Athena Pathway (8) - Team NZ on the wrong side of the tiebreaker, which sees the team with the better finish in the most recent race put ahead of those it is tied with.