We've been following the progress of the race very closely. Seeing those big foiling catamarans up close zooming by at incredible speed is just awesome. So, Saturday the 21st of Spetember was supposed to be the last race day, with Oracle trailing by 7 points and Team New Zealand only one win away from grabbing the Cup. So, despite iffy weather forecast we made our way against the flood tide to be at the race course in time. Of course, on the way there we got rained on big time! Good thing to check if the new windows are water proof or not. They are! It rained for about one hour while we were motoring towards SF (not too much wind). I also noticed the skylight window in the front cabin leaks a bit. Another point on the checklist!
Anyways, when we got to the Bay Bridge we saw that the boats where still docked at the AC village. Listening to the radio revealed that they were postponing the race till 13:30 due to the wind shift that came from the front. The wind had shifted to the South, meaning that the race curse was severely skewed. In practice, this means it is not a upwind/downwind race, but rather 3 reaching legs. We call that in sailing a 'horse race', means there is little chance to pass except if you have more power somehow. This is almost impossible on a one design race, where the difference is made by how good the tacks/gybes go and which side to pick. So apparently there is a clause in the racing rules for the America's Cup where the wind angle has to be within certain limits.
The front passed through and the wind started shifting to the right, but unfortunately not enough. By the time the race limit had expired at 14:40, the wind was still too much off. So back we went, totally drenched from the rain, but at least we had a nice reach back under sunny skies and balmy winds. Clocking a total of 39 miles for the day!
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| OTUSA in front of Alcatraz |
