America's Cup opener postponed by unsteady wind

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -- The opening race of the 33rd America's Cup between two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland and American challenger BMW Oracle Racing was postponed yesterday because of unsteady wind.

The giant multihulls USA and Alinghi 5 floated idly near the start line, well off the Valencia coast, for nearly four hours in the cold before the race was called off.

"Last night and again this morning, I was convinced (we would sail)," Alinghi president and helmsman Ernesto Bertarelli said. "But from 10 o'clock this (yesterday) morning, the meteorologists told us the chances weren't going to improve.

Officials will try again tomorrow to get in Race One of the best-of-three series. However, BMW Oracle meteorologist Chris Bedford was only "hopeful" the race would get under way then.

"In the afternoon it could turn into a sea breeze," said Bedford, who expects choppier water conditions as a new weather front pushes through today.

The teams are finally settling their differences on the water after the sailing classic was disrupted by a bitter court fight that lasted 2 1/2 years.

Yesterday's conditions illustrate how difficult this regatta could be.

There were reports throughout the late morning and early afternoon that there was 6 1/2 to 10 knots of wind at the top mark. The problem was, that mark was 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the starting line, so the two areas were in different weather patterns.

There was little, if any wind, at the starting line.

The entire race course encompasses 644 kilometers (400 square miles).

Because Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing couldn't agree to rules for a conventional regatta involving several challengers sailing for the right to meet the defender, it defaulted to a rare head-to-head showdown, or Deed of Gift Match.

The Deed of Gift, the 1887 document that governs the event, calls for a best-of-three series. Races One and Three, if necessary, are 32 kilometres (20 miles) into the wind and 32 kilometres back. The course for Race Two will be a triangle with 21-kilometre legs (13-mile), the first one into the wind and the next two across the wind.

Despite the ponderous court fight between billionaires Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp and Ernesto Bertarelli of Alinghi, this match has been an eagerly anticipated showdown between two of the fastest, most powerful sailboats ever built.

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