Checking Valencia breezes

By JULIE ASH

It has been painted as the perfect sailing venue, but according to Team New Zealand's weather expert, Roger Badham, Valencia has the potential to deliver anything but an even breeze during the next America's Cup.

After nine months of deliberating, the Spanish city was named to host the 2007 event, edging out Naples (Italy), Lisbon (Portugal) and Marseille (France).

With Auckland's variable weather pattern causing endless delays during the last regatta, a priority for organisers was to find a location with consistent breeze.

America's Cup management chief executive Michel Bonnefous said the sailing conditions in Valencia more or less guaranteed sailing every day.

"We evaluated the worst-case scenario, in other words how many days you cannot sail due to the weather. In Auckland over a period where we lost 15 days. In Valencia, at worst, we would lose just one day."

But Badham, who spent some time in Valencia before the announcement, made some interesting observations.

In a report back to Team New Zealand's managing director Grant Dalton, he observed plenty of variation in the weather conditions.

He noted that the wind generally blew in an east-south-east direction and ranged in speed from 8-10 knots building to top speeds of 12-20 knots but typically rested at 15-17 knots.

He said the best sea breeze was found along the coast north of Valencia and to the south of Barcelona where it gradually turned more right in direction with wind speeds of 15-20 knots increasing to the lower 20s in the afternoon.

"It is quite breezy," Dalton said. "There is a kind feeling that the Mediterranean is for sunbathing and that there is just light air but the further you go down the coast to Gibraltar that is not the case."

Badham said the weaker sea breezes he observed were often blown out by hot, dusty and insect-laden offshore breezes. But such breezes were erratic and didn't usually last for entire days and certainly not successive days.

He said afternoon thunderstorms were common.

Dalton said: "It is a good place for sailing but it is not just a case of turning up in your shorts."