"Huey" the Kiwi wind God worked his magic and gave us all the day off today - although not the Emirates Team New Zealand shore crew who will have continued working putting Aotearoa back together so she's ready to go again tomorrow. And go again she will. The forecast looks good for racing - three races scheduled for both semi-finals so a big day ahead.
The PredictWind forecast models for the first race start time tomorrow (8 June Bermuda time and 9 June NZ time) are as follows:
PWG: 8-16 knots
PWE: 11-15 knots
GFS: 13- 20 knots
ECMWF: 14-19 knots
All models have a south-westerly wind direction. With the variation in wind strength predictions so wide, it is likely to be a very puffy day and teams will need to be on their game to position for the puffs. There is a massive difference in boat speed from when you are in a lull of eight knots to a puff of 16 knots!
The race schedule is as follows:
Semi final 1: Race 5: GBR vs NZL
Semi final 2: Race 5: JPN vs SWE
Semi final 1: Race 6: NZL vs GBR
Semi final 2: Race 6: SWE vs JPN
Semi final 1: Race 7: NZL vs GBR
Semi final 2: Race 7: SWE vs JPN
If the semi finals are not completed tomorrow, they will go on into Friday (Saturday NZ time) when the forecast is for the wind to pick up to over 20 knots again! So much for the light wind summer pattern in Bermuda.
I would expect that Emirates Team New Zealand will want to get out on the water in the morning local Bermuda time to check all their repairs and be confident that they are ready to race in the afternoon.
