Fog forces cancellation of the last day of racing for Act 7 in Malmo leaving the unbeaten boat on top - again
Right from the outset, yesterday’s weather forecast suggested that it would be difficult to run today’s racing with winds of less than 5 knots predicted by the local weather stations. But by 1300 local time and with visibility down to a few hundred metres at times and rarely better than a kilometre, it became clear to principal race officer Peter Reggio that running the last race of Louis Vuitton Act 7 was not on. At 1300, three guns were fired and the race was abandoned, much to the disappointment of the thousands of spectators that had lined the shores and prepared to go afloat.
The result leaves Alinghi as the winner of both Acts here in Malmo, after the tie breaker in Act 7 put them ahead of BMW Oracle Racing.
Looking down the list there were few surprises in the positions of the top four, Luna Rossa finishing third and the Kiwis fourth. But further down the fleet things were rather more mixed up.
The Spanish team finished 5th in Act 7, while K-Challenge’s win yesterday went a long way to pulling them up into 6th leaving them to wonder whether this season’s run of disappointment had finally come to an end.
Ian Percy’s 39 finished a respectable 8th, not bad for an old boat that doesn’t like light weather.
Meanwhile Team Shosholoza were happy to have pulled themselves up from the bottom of the league and see two teams beneath them. And there lies the biggest surprise of all, Victory Challenge’s 9th, a serious embarrassment to the home team, especially after their lacklustre performance in Act 6. Few, even within the team, seemed to know or at least admit what had gone wrong between their impressive performance in Valencia and here.
The final gun in Malmo also signified the start of the race to Trapani, the next venue for what has become an exciting traveling circus, the likes of which the Cup has never seen before and one that appears to have gained universal approval across the board from sailors to spectators.
We’ll be there, reporting live from the water, don’t miss it. Racing starts 29 October and kicks off with match racing in Act 8.
Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton Act 7 Results and Points Leaderboard
Team Race # 1/pts 2 3 Total Points
Alinghi 2/11 4/9 1/12 32
BMW ORACLE Racing 1/12 2/11 4/9 32
Luna Rossa 6/7 3/10 2/11 28
Emirates Team New Zealand 4/9 6/7 3/10 26
Desafío Español 2007 3/10 5/8 5/8 26
K-Challenge 10/3 1/12 9/4 19
United Internet Team Germany 5/8 10/3 7/6 17
39 Challenge 9/4 7/6 6/7 17
Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team 8/5 8/5 11/2 12
Team Shosholoza 7/6 11/2 10/3 11
Victory Challenge 12/1 9/4 8/5 10
China Team 11/2 12/1 12/1 4
Click here to go to the results
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