Valencia, Spain. After three weeks of disruption because of too little wind, today’s racing was cancelled in Valencia because of too much wind. With winds constantly above 20 knots and gusting much higher, the Race Committees on both Louis Vuitton Cup courses sent the fleet ashore. The cancellation of today’s racing means doubling up the flights for tomorrow to maintain the Round Robin Two schedule. BMW ORACLE Racing will first meet the South African Shosholoza team, followed by the Swedish Victory Challenge syndicate.

According to Chris Bedford, BMW ORACLE Racing meteorologist, “The weather pattern we have been wanting to change for the past three weeks has, in fact, changed. What was driving the easterly gradient winds before was a low over Africa. Now we have a new low coming in off the Atlantic Ocean. A series of lows will be bothering us for the next few days with unstable winds – a mix of light and moderate conditions.“

Bedford explained that the sea breeze battled to get going in the past three weeks because the gradient breeze was easterly, when it needed to be westerly to get the proper circulation going. Now the new situation has produced westerly gradient winds, but they are too strong. “I guess it is a case of beware what you wish for,“ said Bedford, who said the outlook for tomorrow was for less wind than today, but very unstable in direction.

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