America's Cup delayed by lack of wind

[FBaggins]

VALENCIA, SPAIN -- The rain in Spain falls mainly on the media. Scores of reporters from around the world waited in a gullywasher Monday for a word from smiling billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli after a long day at sea waiting for nothing to happen.

Of wind there was little on the opening day of the 33rd America's Cup. Officials called off racing shortly before 2 p.m., having waited almost four hours for the breeze to settle. "It's winter in the Mediterranean," grumped Swiss journalist Peter Herzog. "It's like scheduling the World Series in December in Chicago!"

Not quite, but Monday's exercise hinted at serious potential delays in the scheduled best-of-three regatta in giant multihulls. Rules call for the first and third race to be 40 miles long, the boats going upwind 20 miles to a turning mark, then spinning around for a 20-mile downwind run to the finish.

They also stipulate a race may be abandoned if the wind direction shifts by 30 degrees anywhere up the first leg. Trying to find a 20-mile stretch along the Mediterranean coast, where winds are light and fickle, without encountering shifts of that magnitude will not be easy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/08/AR2010020802084.html

[KonaKane]

1. Just hire Glenn Beck to come and speak in the direction of the boats

They'll have more wind than they can handle at that point.

[FBaggins]

4. Don't be silly.

Hot air rises.

[Historic NY]

2. Send over the "No guys"...if they ain't blowing it they're breaking it.

[petronius]

3. I'm not a sailing expert by any means, but it seems like designing the rules to

accommodate these huge boats and maximize straight line speed has taken a lot of the interest out of it. Wouldn't a eal test of sailing skill be to get your boat from A to B and back again regardless of the vagaries of the wind?

It's become like salt flat speed trials in motorsports - interesting to be sure, but more about the technical than the technique...