It wasn’t so much the breeze that prevented racing today in Valencia, but the sea state. With a stiff 25 knot wind blowing from the northeast a swell builds up that bounces off the back wall of the harbour entrance to make life pretty interesting for any Cup boat entering or leaving.

For cruisers and ‘conventional’ racers, the conditions are simply a bit wet and lively for a short while, but for Cup boats they’re potential back breakers. And even if the structure of the boat wasn’t an issue, getting the mainsail up is.

Cup boat mainsails are clipped up at the masthead and require a crew man to go aloft to hook up the sail, not a job that too many volunteer for when the going gets tough. Indeed, some of the big teams have a ‘sacrifical’ crew member who goes aloft instead of the bowman, to hook the main up and is then carted off the boat battered and bruised until the next time, leaving the normal bowman to get bashed and bruised in the normal way on the race course.

The rapid change in the weather caught many by surprise as the breeze built to 25 knots by mid morning.

The forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday) is for less breeze, around 14-18 knots but still with a decent swell running from the same northeasterly direction.

Whether it’s no wind, too much wind, or the wrong type of swell, there’s rarely a dull moment down here. And that’s before we’ve considered the dockside rumours. Will Larry Ellison hire Russell Coutts perhaps for the next Cup? Is Chris Dickson’s AC career on the rocks and many other related topics have kept the day busy.

But my favourite thought for the day is, does the purchase by Team Origin of SUI-75 provide any evidence that the next America’s Cup will be raced in the same or similar boats?

Related/previous features:

America’s Cup Shopping Spree Starts 
America’s Cup Double Whammy 
Dickson Off America’s Cup Boat 
America’s Cup Confidence Trick 
Wheels Coming Off America’s Cup Dream? 

SEMI FINAL SCORE SO FAR

Emirates Team New Zealand v Desafio Espanol: 4 – 2

BMW Oracle Racing v Luna Rossa: 1 – 5Match Complete

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN AND FOLLOW THE ACTION

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