America's Cup - Weather set to play havoc with Semi-Finals

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/NZ on 4 Jun 2017 The next phases of the America's Cup Regatta look set to be disrupted - first by too little wind and then too much.

The race schedule calls for the first round of racing in the Semi-Finals to be sailed today, with tomorrow (Monday - local time) set down as a Reserve Day.

In the media information published by organisers late yeaterday evening the forecast was explained as 'the forecast model indicates an eight – 12 knot northerly breeze. Fingers crossed the late afternoon-predicted decrease to light and variable holds out until the racing window has closed.'

Today winds are light on the Great Sound after a weather system passed through which bought the first serious rain for about a month - it was heavy but short lived and would have done little to improve the water supply on an island that survives on the catchment of rain water.

The late afternoon official prediction appears to have arrived early along with a very hot day outside.

According to Predictwind.com the wind will ease to 7-8kts around noon and will then drop to 4kts this afternoon.



The minimum for a race to start is 6kts average over a 30sec period - and for that to be steady from the eighth to third minute of the start sequence. If the wind does not drop below the required average then the start is declared good to go, and then a downwind leg time limit of 10 minutes kicks in.

A 4kt forecast is not boding well for racing today.

That means the spare day will be used and while the light winds are predicted for the morning in the afternoon a solid breeze of 11-15kts is expected to prevail.

Tomorrow being a Spare Day, means there are no ticket sales, and Race Director Iain Murray has a lot more flexibility in what can be done with the race schedule and numbers of races that can be sailed. So there is an opportunity to catch up today's schedule tomorrow, Monday.

For the rest of the week it is touch and go weather-wise with Tuesday being borderline with wind gusts predicted to be 22-29kts in gusts. On Wednesday the breeze is predicted to increase beyond the limit of 24kts (or less if the Race Director considers safety issues come into play). Thursday to Saturday sees the breeze decrease slightly - with the issue being wind gusts which on all days are predicted to be above 30kts by a couple of the wind feeds produced by Predictwind.

Emirates Team New Zealand's opponent in the Semi-Finals Land Rover BAR was out sailing earlier today and was able to sail downwind - the most difficult point of sail for the AC50's in light winds - however she has returned under tow by her tender.

Hurry and and wait!

Racing Schedule – Day 1 of Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs

RR 1 R1: Emirates Team New Zealand v. Land Rover BAR 2:08 pm
RR 1 R2: Artemis Racing v. SoftBank Team Japan 2:37 pm
RR 1 R3: Land Rover BAR v. Emirates Team New Zealand 3:06 pm
RR 1 R4: SoftBank Team Japan v. Artemis Racing 3:35 pm