After what was a sensational opening day of the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, Sardinia, day two is looking like more of the same. We have a building afternoon breeze estimated to be in the 11-16 knot range, again from the south-south-east.
Yesterday, the sea state was an issue for all the teams, especially as the afternoon wore on and we saw some dramatic incidents on the downwind legs with loose gybes off the boundaries and plenty of nose-diving. Remember, the AC40 is capable of speeds in excess of 40 knots and the best sailors in the world are pushing them harder than they have ever been pushed before to get an advantage in this ulta-competitive regatta.
Today’s sea-state is again set to build on the back of wind-chop with averages in the opening races of around 0.3m but by the end of the afternoon, Race Director Iain Murray said in the briefing this morning that we could again see wave heights of around 0.7 metres with a short, 4 second period that will again make manoeuvres tricky – especially downwind.
The racing is all set to be spectacular again. By the end of the day, after six races, we will have a very clear indication of who is really in contention for the overall title.
Last night we ended up with four teams on 20 points, and one stand-out leader in the form of the Luna Rossa Women & Youth Team. They are the target now, and Italy holds its breath for the hometown favourites to deliver on the biggest stage of them all here in Sardinia.
Starting times today have been brought forward by a few minutes with the first start at 3.10pm CEST and then scheduled starts at 3.46pm and 4.27pm CEST.
Teams are allowed to request one delay ‘card’ of 5 minutes and Chief Umpire Richard Slater confirmed that we have seen GB1, Athena Pathway and Luna Rossa 2 play that option yesterday due to technical reasons. That leaves the rest of the fleet still with a delay card option but removes the option for those teams going forward through the weekend.
Race Reporting will be LIVE here throughout the afternoon:
RACE 4 – 3.10pm Race Start
