Light Winds Slow Down Cup

The third race of the America’s Cup challenger finals was postponed today because of light winds, continuing weather problems that have plagued the competition between AmericaOne and Prada of Italy.

The best-of-nine series, tied 1-1, is scheduled to resume Saturday.

The race committee postponed today’s race 1 hour and 25 minutes after its scheduled start.

For a race to begin, a breeze of at least five knots over a 10-minute period must be measured, and its direction must be relatively constant. But during the 85-minute wait, the wind on the Hauraki Gulf was stronger than five knots for only a few minutes and the direction shifted dramatically.

Better sailing conditions were forecast for Saturday, a northerly breeze from 10 to 20 knots.

The series had been scheduled to begin last Tuesday but was delayed for 24 hours by heavy seas, strong winds and a rainstorm that limited visibility.

It did start Wednesday, when Prada won by 24 seconds in moderate winds that ranged from 10 to 14 knots.

The sailors awoke Thursday to rain and lighter winds. The rain stopped, but the third race was delayed by 65 minutes until the breeze picked up. Prada appeared headed for another victory, leading by 1:49 after the first of six legs.

But AmericaOne came back to win by 1:33 in a race in which the shifting winds caused problems for sailors and spectators.

Because three legs of the race must be sailed as directly upwind as possible and the other three directly downwind, the committee had to change the course as the wind shifted after the race began.

That meant boats in the spectator fleet that originally were outside the course ended up in the middle of it before being ushered away by boats assigned to that job.

However, skippers Paul Cayard of AmericaOne and Francesco de Angelis of Prada each steered their yachts into the spectator fleet once, a move that may have hurt Prada because of the wash kicked up by the wayward boats.

Barring further postponements, Races 4 and 5 will be held Sunday and Tuesday. No racing is scheduled Monday because of the Auckland Anniversary Day holiday. The sixth race is set for Wednesday.

The best-of-nine finals against defending champion New Zealand are scheduled to start Feb. 19.