Friday 12 February 2010

America's Cup: BMW ORACLE Racing Eager to Race Friday

by Jane Eagleson

Strong winds kept both America's Cup boats in port on Thursday. It was much colder in Valencia this morning and much windier as well. BMW ORACLE Racing's trimaran, USA, remained on its mooring throughout the day.

"The boat is moored at the buoy with the wing sail vertical and we've seen more than 30 knots," said Max Sirena (ITA) who is in charge of the wing sail logistics. "It looks scary, but all is good so far."

The team remains eager to race. The main reason for leaving the wing sail up is so that the boat is ready to go racing early Friday morning.

"Over the last couple of weeks we've built up heaps of confidence," mast man and boat director Matthew Mason (NZL) told the media in a Q+A session.

"We're very satisfied. Logistically this thing (the wing sail) is hard. At one stage we thought we'd be lowering it down all the time, but as of today, we've got it up in nearly 35 knots."

The forecast is for the strong winds to persist into Thursday night. Friday morning brings a significant easing trend. Cold temperatures are expected for several days.

Friday, the Race Committee will make a third attempt at starting race one of the 33rd America's Cup Match. Monday's try was thwarted by a lck of wind. On Wednesday, the Race Committee elected to abandon racing due to the sea state. Friday's race is scheduled to start at 10:06 CET (22:06 New Zealand time).

Note from SailRaceWin: A postponement of two hours beyond this time has, however, already been signalled by the race committee.

BMW ORACLE Racing

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