America's Cup goes into three day COVID lockdown - no racing Wednesday.
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 13 Feb 23:18 PST
14 February 2021
Prada Cup Media Centre was closed for three days due to a COVID lockdown in Auckland - February 14, 2021 - America's Cup 36 © Richard Gladwell / Sail-World.com
Following the announcement that Auckland will go into an Alert Level 3 lockdown from midnight tonight (2359hrs Sunday February 14), America's Cup Events Ltd has declared that the America's Cup Regatta, the Prada Cup and the Event will shut down for three days.
It would seem that the teams can continue to work.
The statement from America’s Cup Event Ltd reads:
As a result of the Government announcement of a Level 3 lockdown in Auckland, initially for 72 hours, the next scheduled race day on Wednesday has been postponed and the event village will not be open to the public during this time.
America’s Cup Event Ltd will be working with the Authorities and relevant agencies over the next few days to work through the ongoing ramifications.
It is not clear how this affects the teams, as in the last Level 3 lockdown, businesses were allowed to continue in operation, and Emirates Team New Zealand continued training and development - but doing as much as possible from home. The requirements of Alert Level 3 can be viewed by clicking here. It would seem that the teams can keep working and probably be able to go sailing, weather permitting.
As far as the regatta is concerned, there was no racing Monday, Tuesday was a Reserve Day - which could only be used if required to catch up on the Race Schedule.
Wednesday was a Race Day, however the weather forecast was not good and there was a strong chance that there would have been no racing anyway.
As matters stand, Thursday February 18 was a Reserve Day, and may be used for the two races to be held on Wednesday.
All days after Thursday are either Race Days, or Reserve Days and can be used for racing - depending on the COVID situation and Alert Levels.
Sail-World will update when more information is available.
As with other lockdowns, Sail-World is not affected as Sail-World NZ operates from a home office. We have a lot of backlogged content from the Prada Cup and other America's Cup related events and will continue normal service. Stay tuned.