America's Cup set for perfect start

After a false start to the America's Cup, glamour conditions are forecast for the rescheduled opening day tomorrow.

Organisers were forced to postpone the opening ceremony and day one of racing in the America's Cup Qualifiers due to high winds in Bermuda. The weather delay was a major blow for the America's Cup Events Authority, with over 10,000 fans expected to flood into the event village for the opening day festivities.

But the good news is the forecast for the coming days points to a return of more typical conditions for Bermuda at this time of year.

The forecast for the Great Sound tomorrow has a wind range of 11-14 knots with gusts of up to 16 knots during the three-hour racing window. This sits well inside the 6-24 knot wind range for racing.

The pristine conditions mean America's Cup Race Management should have no problem in quickly getting back on schedule.

In order to catch up on today's missed races, the window for racing for tomorrow and Monday has been extended by an hour, with six races to be squeezed in each day rather than four.

The re-jigged schedule means Emirates Team New Zealand will now take on the defender Oracle Team USA, who have shown plenty of pace in training out on the Great Sound.

In their final practice session yesterday as part of their broadcast obligations, Oracle reportedly notched up record speeds. After entertaining the media with his well-rehearsed missives directed at Team NZ, Jimmy Spithill then put on a show for the broadcast unit, hurtling around the race course at high speeds in the fresh conditions.

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Team NZ did not head out on the race course yesterday, as by the time their slot opened the wind had picked up too much and America's Cup TV were forced to abandon their dress rehearsal.

The Kiwi boat has not been out on the water since Wednesday. Despite a fairly unsettled build-up in Bermuda, punctuated by gear damage and a nasty collision, Team NZ skipper Glenn Ashby has declared his team are ready for race day.

"We are as ready as we could possibly hope for. You always want more time, but what we have achieved in the time and with the resource we have is unreal, especially when you compare to some of the other teams that have been on the water for over a year longer than we have, and have plenty more resource," said Ashby.

"We know we are in the game, and we know we have got here through plenty of old fashioned Kiwi ingenuity, creativity and hard work. And this won't stop until our last race - whenever that will be."