Youth America's Cup: Day 1 - USA and ITA on top after two races in Youth America's Cup
by America's Cup/Sail-World 17 Sep 18:35 BST
Luna Rossa - AC40 - Youth America's Cup - Day 1 - September 17, 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
The US and Italian teams are tied on the top of the points table after two races in the Unicredit Youth America's Cup sailed off Barcelona.
A big swell of up one metre along with initially light winds tested the six Group A teams, representing the America’s Cup syndicates. Officials were hoping to get four fleet races completed on Day 1, but worsening weather, and fading daylight called a halt to racing at about 1700hrs UTC.
The big swell was driven by a mistral further up the Mediterranean. The sea state will be the same or worse for the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which resumes tomorrow, Wednesday.
Race Summaries:
Racing got underway about 1538hrs UTC
Points after 2 Races: 1. USA (2, 1) 17pts; 2. ITA (1,2) 17pts; 3. GBR (4,3) 8pts; 4. NZL (3, 4) 8pts; 5. SUI (5, DNS) 6pts; 6. FRA (DNS, DNS) 4pts
Finish Race 2: 1. USA 12m 45sec; 2. ITA +22sec; 3. GBR + 2m 39sec; 4. 3m 50sec DNS: FRA & SUI. SUI called a 5min delay for repairs but was unable to effect. NZL led off start and around Mark 1, but did a big nosedive mid way down Leg 2 dropping back to 4th. Race was shortened to five legs.
Finish Race 1: 1. ITA 18m 01sec; 2. USA +1m 03sec; 3. NZL + 1m 24sec; 4. GBR +3m 09sec; 5. SUI +3m 14sec. FRA DSQd . NZL Penalised OCS at start. Wind 16.3kts
Racing was delayed in the Unicredit Youth America's Cup for three hours due to a big swell of up one metre along with initially light winds. When the breeze arrived the sea state increased. On the Final Race the breeze was blowing 18kts, with a confused seaway. the lead boat in Race 2 averaged 29.93kts for the course.
Wind limits and course rules for the Youth America’s Cup are slightly different from what we see in the America’s Cup with the most notable being a 7.5 knot lower limit to start racing. The upper limit is also reduced to 17 knots, very much with safety in mind in the AC40 fleet. Races have a reduced time-limit of 30 minutes and the time-limit to the first mark is also reduced to 10 minutes.
The target-time of each individual race in the fleet-races is 20 minutes and note that the boats must be in the starting-box area at 2 minutes and 10 seconds or face a penalty. Penalties are set at 75 metres. The start-line itself will be increased to 0.25 nautical miles for the fleet races and the legs of the course will be approximately 1 nautical mile, depending on conditions.
Today in Barcelona the wind is expected to start in the east but slowly move around to a south-easterly direction which produced some very even courses when the AC75’s raced in those conditions in the Round Robins, with even pressure and shifts across the course.
The conditions could mean, for the AC40s, especially in fleet racing, a lot of potential passing lanes and the Youth sailors will have to keep their eyes out of the boats looking for the pressure and shifts. Wind speeds are expected to build with the official forecast suggest 6-10 knots, however a ‘Xaloc’ wind here in Barcelona can surprise to the upside.
Weather Prognosis:
America's Cup Weather Partner PredictWind has provided a dedicated Race Weather Center offering fans access to detailed daily weather breakdowns, live webcams and historical weather data to daily weather breakdowns written by meteorologists.
Provisional Forecast Race Day 12: To be updated.
Tuesday 17th Sept
Forecast for Tuesday 17 Sept - Youth America's Cup Day 1
In the early afternoon, we expect light and variable winds and a South-East flow 5 to 10 knots should establish later on. Waves of 1 meter from the East with 5-second period. It will be cloudy with temperatures up to 24°C.
The weather should deteriorate at the end of the day and at night, with moderate/strong Easterly winds with risk of rain.