WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Light winds played havoc with the final day of competitive sailing ahead of the start of the challenging American Cup series on Jan. 15, and only one of Sunday’s four recorded races was able to start but was abandoned after exceeding the 45-minute limit. .
Races cannot start unless the wind is at least 6.5 knots (12 kph), and while the AC75 superfast monohulls have shown that they can achieve more than three times the wind speed, they must co -At least 15 nautical miles generated to catch up on the fraud.
Race officials stopped the day’s racing shortly before 6pm (0500 GMT) after they missed the first race between the New Zealand Team (TNZ) defenders and Team Ben Ainslie INEOS UK.
TNZ were within 200 meters (220 yards) of the finish line in the race which was shortened to four feet, with Britannia Ainslie still on the second leg, after being disallowed when the time came to end.
Both boats went off their displays and Ainslie found the funny side while stalking TNZ while going down the ground before the race was abandoned.
“This is one of those days,” Ainslie said. “The only sport for us was the backstroke race down with the Kiwis.
“A bit of an old school sail.”
Britain’s challenge has been through the light winds in the pre-Christmas regatta, which included the American Cup World Series which ended on Saturday and was won by TNZ.
Sunday’s racing was part of the one-day ‘Christmas Cup’ where the teams were seeded according to their World Series rankings and promised two races each.
TNZ will no longer race again until the start of the America’s Cup on March 6, where they will meet the winner of the rival series which is expected to run from January 15 to February 22.
Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Edited by Stephen Coates and William Mallard