Saturday, day 2, saw the first day of full-on racing for the first Preliminary Regatta of the 37th America’s Cup.
This is after Friday’s day 1 racing was abandoned due to adverse weather conditions.
Weather for Saturday was a minimal breeze, boats sailing in displacement mode a lot of the time.
In fact with majority of the fleet floating around aimlessly in both races, the wonder is that it went ahead at all.
Winner of the first race was France, with Italy second on the water but then disqualified – DNS – and then later re-instated in second place in Race 1, scoring 7 points.
The USA finished in third place, fourth were New Zealand, fifth the Swiss and sixth the Brits.
Race 2 was again all about getting on the foils.
The Swiss had the best of the start on their foild and flying away to lead, but when the Kiwis finally got on the foils, they hunted down the Swiss to take the lead and win the shortened race.
Only the New Zealand and Swiss boats scored points as finishers in race 2, and the misery was wrapped for the day.
Although it was obvious that the on-line media is struggling, there was some relief in that the commentary is at a more normal level than the hyped excitement SailGP style, or perhaps there just wasn’t a lot to get excited about.
Videos are being published and then withdrawn just as fast, perhaps after a good nights sleep things will settle down. Of course a decent breeze would help.
Sunday is the third and final day.
