America's Cup 2010: first race postponed till Wednesday
Today was the first day of the real battle of the 33th America’s Cup, one of the biggest and most anticipated sailing events ever. I am not going to write about the legal battles that preceded this day, not writing about the use of engines or wings, about the strange fact that we have a “winter” race in the northern hemisphere. I hope I don’t have to write about the final decision that the court of New York still has to make about the use of 3DL technology by the swiss team…
Because of all the legal battles, we have a strange America’s Cup ahead of us. One without strict rules. In fact, the only rule concerning the yachts is that the length-over-water should not exceed 90 feet. Both teams chose a multihull with a huge mast, but the comparison stops there. Alinghi chose a catamaran with “traditional” (although high-tech) sails, while team Oracle went for the extreme: their trimaran is powered by a huge rigid wing.
The first of thee matches had to take place today, but was postponed to Wednesday Feb 10th, due to a lack of stable wind.
