San Francisco: America’s Cup racing was cancelled on Tuesday due to high winds on San Francisco Bay, denying Emirates Team New Zealand a chance to capture the trophy by sweeping two races.
Safety measures lowering the wind threshold in which races would be conducted were put in place for the regatta following the death of Andrew Simpson from the crew of failed challenger Artemis during a training run in May.
“These boats go very quickly from great racing to survival mode,” the Team New Zealand technical director Nick Holroyd said of the risk posed by high winds.
“On a day like today, I am awfully glad to see the boat back at the dock in one piece with 11 fit guys on board.”
The AC72 catamaran of Swedish team Artemis, one of three challenger hopefuls, capsized in May and Simpson, a British double Olympic medallist, drowned after being trapped under the overturned structure.
“The loss of Bart [Simpson] in May shook us pretty hard as a community,” Oracle team design executive Dirk Kramers said.
“We came out collectively with these [wind] limits — these are the rules we play by. We are getting used to delays in sailing and to lose one day is not a big drama for us.”
Racing was due to resume on Wednesday, when the Kiwis could seize yachting’s top trophy by beating Oracle Team USA in both scheduled races.
New Zealand go into Wednesday with the lead and the momentum, having notched seven victories in a humbling of billionaire yachtsman Larry Ellison, owner of the Oracle team and the reason the event is in San Francisco.
The Kiwis scored a pivotal win on Sunday in the 10th race of the series after the event’s fiercest on-water duel.
Oracle had scrambled to make an array of changes to its boat after being repeatedly out-sailed by the Kiwis and the adjustments paid off with a triumph in the first of the two races on Sunday.
Oracle, penalised two points for infractions before the start of the races, is fighting for an unprecedented comeback and needs eight more wins to keep the Cup.
“At the moment, we look good in the higher winds,” Kramers said. “Maybe they look good in lower winds. That might change in the coming days.”
The Oracle team made about a half-dozen changes to its catamaran in moves that improved its performance in what had proven to be a pivotal upwind leg of the race where the Kiwis were dominating.
“There are still two races out there for us to catch,” New Zealand’s Holroyd said. “That is still an undertaking. We’ve got to keep making good decisions.”
The America’s Cup, first contested in 1851, has been held since 2010 by Oracle team owner Ellison.
The technology industry titan, whose personal fortune is estimated at some $40 billion (30.6 billion euros, Dh146 billion) beat the giant Swiss catamaran Alinghi 2-0 three years ago in Valencia, Spain, with a 30-metre-long (98-feet) rigid wing trimaran.
Ellison brought the regatta to San Francisco, setting the scene for high-speed AC72 catamarans to race this year.
Only two challengers, from Italy and Sweden, competed with the Kiwis in the challenger series, in part because of the high cost of setting up an America’s Cup contender.
If the Kiwis win, they will decide where the next regatta takes place and what type of boats are used.
