Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Sailing

This time, winds too light to race

The America's Cup is postponed for a seventh time, with Race 5 now set for today.

©Associated Press
March 1, 2003

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Switzerland's pursuit of nautical history will have to wait.

Race 5 of the America's Cup was postponed because of light wind on the uncooperative Hauraki Gulf. It was the seventh postponement in the best-of-nine series, which Alinghi leads 4-0.

Alinghi, the whimsically named sloop that represents an Alpine country with no coastline, needs one victory to take the cup back to Europe for the first time in 152 years.

The forecast called for wind of 7-12 knots from the northeast, but it was down to 4 knots during much of a two-hour delay, with an occasional breeze of 7 knots.

Principal race officer Harold Bennett called it off about two hours after the scheduled starting time. The race committee will try to get the race under way today.

The light conditions came a day after Team New Zealand's 110-foot mast snapped in two during high wind and rough seas, the second major Kiwi breakdown in four races.

"Who would have guessed we'd have the conditions we did today after what we had yesterday?" Bennett said.

Like the locals, Bennett accepts the gulf for what it is.

"The Hauraki Gulf is renowned for its ability to serve up all sorts of weather from day to day," Bennett said. "You'll have a lovely sea breeze, then another front comes through, and then you'll have a day of lovely weather."

The day was sunny and warm, but Bennett finally decided the wind wouldn't build enough to race.

Asked about today's forecast, Bennett said: "I hate to answer that. Every time I've answered that, it turned on me."

The forecast for today is for wind of 15 to 20 knots from the northeast.

It was the 15th day of this America's Cup. The longest cup match was the 18-day endurance contest in 1899 between defender Columbia and Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock. It took 11 attempts between Oct. 3 and Oct. 20 to get the three-race series completed, with Columbia winning in a sweep. By prior agreement, no races were sailed on weekends.

The silver jug hasn't been in European hands since the yacht America won what was then called the 100 Guinea Cup by beating a fleet of British schooners around the Isle of Wight on Aug. 22, 1851.

While tycoons like Sir Thomas Lipton and Tom Sopwith tried in vain for years to win back the cup for Britain, biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli is close to taking the oldest trophy in international sports to a country better known for producing bobsledders and ski jumpers than sailors.

The 37-year-old Bertarelli bought up some of the world's best sailors three years ago to start the campaign. He also sails as navigator. Bertarelli was one of only two Swiss nationals on the 16-man crew of Alinghi, an 80-foot sloop painted black with funky red swirls.

Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts hoped to be hoisting the America's Cup on his 41st birthday.

He needs one more win to sail unbeaten through his third straight America's Cup match and extend his record for consecutive victories to 14. A win also would break a tie with Dennis Conner for most wins overall. The Kiwis, meanwhile, worked through the night to replace the shattered mast with the one from their backup boat.

Many New Zealanders seem resigned to losing the trophy that Coutts and his team brought here in 1995 after beating Conner 5-0 off San Diego.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright