America's Cup Opener Is Grounded by Lack of Wind

VALENCIA, Spain, April 16 -- Much fuss was made about days lost to lack of wind when the America's Cup was in New Zealand four years ago. Billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli promised better in Valencia, Spain, where he brought the event after winning in 2003.

But even billionaires can't control wind and Monday's opener of the 32nd Cup was scrubbed after three hours waiting for a sea breeze. Ten races were slated for 11 challengers, including first-ever passenger rides for Kiwi Prime Minister Helen Clark (Team New Zealand) and actor Ashton Kutcher (Italian entry Luna Rossa).

Race organizers held out till almost 5 p.m. as zephyrs ruffled the Mediterranean, but the wind never topped six knots. It takes seven to run a race. Kutcher grabbed a winch handle to help grind in the jib as Luna Rossa's crew warmed up and he looked comfortable, as did actress wife Demi Moore on a spectator boat.

But it was for naught as the sea breeze failed to fill despite sunny skies. Weather specialist Roger"Clouds" Badham of the U.S. entry BMW Oracle says racing will be iffy all week as summer weather patterns slowly displace three weeks of cold rain. Once summer settles in, he expects daily winds of 7 to 14 knots.

It wouldn't be the America's Cup without controversy and a good one has popped up over a secret weapon Bertarelli's defending Alinghi team is said to be developing. The New Zealand Herald and Yachting World magazine's Web site reported the Swiss may be testing a structure to tip their keel up slightly during racing.

Cup boats have huge, 40,000-pound lead bulbs at the bottom of 14-foot-long keels. The bulbs keep the boats upright against the pressure on their massive sails. But the bulbs are so heavy, the long, steel keel fin supporting them bends under load when the boat heels over. The straighter the keel, the better the performance.

Alinghi apparently is experimenting with a way to tip the keel slightly up to offset the bend.

Cup rules forbid canting the keel up at a sharp angle as some modern offshore race boats do. A Cup keel must be fixed in place and can't be actively moved. But every rule has wiggle room, and the Swiss may have found a tiny edge. If they can tip the keel up just one degree by harnessing the force of the wind through an elaborate internal structural scheme, experts say it could improve upwind stability as much as three per cent, a big gain in a game of inches.

Then again, the America's Cup is famous for hoaxes and some Cup veterans suspect the whole thing is a distraction drummed up by the Swiss to take challengers' minds off racing.

Alinghi has two months to play its games. It won't race until June 23, when the best of the 11 challengers emerges from eliminations to face the Swiss in the best-of-nine Cup match. Challenger racing was rescheduled to start Tuesday, if the wind gets here.

-- Angus Phillips