NZME's America's Cup expert Mark Orams provides the first of his daily briefings ahead of the opening day of racing.
The PredictWind forecast for the America's Cup course area is for Westerly winds at 10-15 knots with cloud cover eventually breaking up through the afternoon. Perfect conditions for AC50 racing. We can expect an on-time start at 5am New Zealand time. The race schedule is as follows:
Race 1: USA vs France
Race 2: Sweden vs Japan
Race 3: France vs NZ
Race 4: GBR v Sweden
Race 5: NZ vs USA
Race 6: GBR vs Japan
Some great match-ups, especially the Emirates Team New Zealand versus Oracle Team USA race and the Artemis versus Softbank Team Japan.
The first race in an America's Cup ever for five out of the six crew members on-board Aotearoa, but don't expect this to phase this team. They will approach it as just another yacht race and the approach will be to be conservative, keep the boat in one piece and get a race under the belt. A win is a bonus but not essential.
