Racing Abandoned on Day Three
Valencia, Spain. Racing on Day Three of the Louis Vuitton Act 13 regatta was abandoned today after the breeze failed to make an appearance.
Race officials held the fleet of yachts on station for more than two hours, but shortly before 4.30pm they announced that racing would be abandoned. The expected conditions were for moderate winds and waves.
The waves were there, but with only light and very unstable breeze, the yachts would have struggled to complete a race. This abandonment means that the reserve day on Saturday will probably have to be used to complete the regatta.
Today, at the midway point in the Louis Vuitton Act 13 regatta, skipper and CEO Chris Dickson paused briefly to review progress. With an opening day win on the scoresheet and lying 2nd on the leaderboard, the team is well-placed with four more races scheduled to sail.
However, Day One and Day Two served up mixed fortunes for the team as the Valencia weather defied prediction and shifted around all points of the compass. In Race Three yesterday, the team broke a spinnaker pole, briefly lost a man overboard (but recovered him without missing a beat) and saw their hard-won lead turned upside down with a massive wind shift in sight of the finish line.
Dickson was philosophical. Asked about the spinnaker, he said: “The last downwind leg turned out to be an upwind leg. The spinnaker and the pole did not like going upwind.”
On the changing fortunes of the team, he noted: “On Day One, we passed a lot of boats to win the first race. Yesterday, a lot of boats passed us when we were winning the race. I guess if you were religious, you would say God giveth and God taketh away. Yesterday, He took away.”
Overall, he expressed satisfaction with the progress. “I am very happy with the way the team is going. We are a little bit up and down with the results, but we are very happy.”
Team Standings after 3 races:
1 Alinghi (33pt)
2 BMW ORACLE racing (27pt)
3 Emirates Team New Zealand (27pt)
4 Desafio Espanol (26pt)
5 Luna Rossa Challenge (25pt)
6 Mascalzone Latino Capitalia (25pt)
7 Team Shosholoza (19pt)
8 Areva Challenge (12pt)
9 United Internet Team Germany (11pt)
10 Victory Challenge (10pt)
11 +39 Challenge (9pt)
12 China Team (7pt)
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