By TERRY MADDAFORD
Peter Reggio is taking a philosophical view of the wretched Auckland weather which led to the cancellation of yesterday's Louis Vuitton Cup racing.
Reggio, principal race officer for the challenger's series, said simply: "There is nothing we can do. I'm lucky these days if the forecast in the morning is right in the afternoon.
"We are always concerned when we get weather like this, especially when looking two or three days ahead."
Despite the setback, Reggio said he was determined that the races in the second round robin would be completed on time on Friday.
"We are planning to deal with any contingencies. We will finish on the due date. We can't hold any races over this time."
Unlike the first round robin, when one race - between Italian rivals Prada and Mascalzone Latino - was held over, that will not be possible this time as only the top eight boats will be involved in the quarter-finals, scheduled for a November 12 start.
The bottom-placed syndicate after the present round robin will be on their way home. That cut will be made after Friday's racing.
"We can race twice a day over shortened courses if we have to," Reggio said. "Our preference, though, would be to have the weather co-operate and let us get on with it."
Reggio said that while the officials will usually wait before making a decision to cancel racing, sometimes they realise very early in the day that racing is a lost cause.
"If we can see - as was the case today - that there is no chance of a start we will let the syndicates know," Reggio said. "There is no point in having everyone out there bouncing around."
Yesterday's scheduled races, Prada v Le Defi, Alinghi v Mascalzone Latino, Team Dennis Conner v Victory Challenge and GBR Challenge v OneWorld, will be sailed today - weather permitting.
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Race officer prays weather will co-operate
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