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Cup Spy – Day 12: Louis Vuitton Cup Preview

Preview Commentary: For whom the Bell Tolls

These words which have been immortalised for the intervening eight centuries could well be echoed in Barcelona in a few hours, if two challengers fail to win both their races on the third day of racing in the Semi-Final phase of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Two Challengers American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing must win situation both their races on Day 3 of the Semi-Finals, if they are to continue racing on Wednesday in the Semi-Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

Sunday produced the best breeze and best racing conditions of the Louis Vuitton Cup. They are not expected to be repeated for Monday. Regardless of the outcome of today’s racing, there will be no racing on Tuesday, and 1.5 metre seas are expected by the INEOS Britannia team if racing is held on Wednesday.

Light winds are forecast for Monday’s racing.

Race Program:

Semi Final A: Match 5: SUI vs GBR Start: 12:10hrs UTC Entry: Port: SUI | Stbd: GBR
Semi Final B: Match 5: USA vs ITA Start: Time to be advised. Entry: Port: USA Stbd: ITA
Semi Final B: Match 6: GBR vs SUI Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: GBR| Stbd: SUI
Semi Final A: Match 6: ITA vs USA Start: time to be announced. Entry: Port: ITA | Stbd: USA

While you are waiting for the Live Coverage to start:

Virtual Eye

Now, or after the racing you can replay the key points, or the whole race using Virtual Eye from ARL

You can go directly to the Virtual Eye America’s Cup coverage and click on “Watch Previous” then select the race you wish to view. This s 3D viewer so you can zoom in, out, around and up and down just like you could in a helicopter.

Replay from Day 2 on Sunday:

Semi Finals format and progression:

The Semi-Finals see Round Robin series winner INEOS Britannia pitched against the Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who was the fourth qualifier. The other Semi-Final is between second placed qualifier Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic who finished third in the Qualifiers, which finished on Monday.

The winners of their Semi-Finals will be the first boat to win five races in the best of nine series.

Two races are planned for each pair, each day – making four races per day. The same wind limits will apply as for the earlier rounds of the Louis Vuitton Cup – a lower limit of 6.5kts and an upper limit of 21kts, measured at the top and bottom of the course (start line) using recording devices on each gate. There are a total of four devices, with the readings averaged over 30 second intervals over a five minute period between the 9th down to the 4th minute before the start. If the wind is within the allowed limits the Course Director will make a radio call (heard on the TV commentary) telling the crews that the racing is going to proceed.

If the go-ahead is given then the race proceeds regardless of what the breeze does regardless of the wind limits. Once the go-ahead is given, the only constraint on the race is that teams must make a first leg time limit of 12 minutes, and then a race time limit of 45 minutes. The length of legs, compass direction of the next leg and number of legs can all be altered by the race committee during the race.

To date no race has gone over 25 minutes duration.

The race director has the power to not start racing (even if the breeze is within the prescribed limits) if he considers the sea state is unsafe. He also has the ability to call off a race for safety reasons – a power which he came close to using during the lightning strikes on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. However Emirates Team NZ’s decision to drop out of their race and sail beyond the 100metre boundary line, triggering their disqualification, and the immediate awarding of the race to Luna Rossa, meant that the Chief Umpire’s actions forestalled any action on safety grounds by the Race Director.

Our coverage includes Weather, Live video, Updated images live from the race course, mark rounding statistics, rounding times, margins, and other commentary.

Course Location: To be updated when available later today

Weather Information – Louis Vuitton Cup – Semi Finals – Day 3

To be updated when available later today

Monday 16th Sept
In the afternoon, we expect light conditions with the Southerly breeze having a harder time to establish like the previous days. Winds of about 6 knots are forecasted at this stage. Flat sea, clear sky, and similar temperatures should be present on the race course.

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.

Arnaud Monges, former America’s Cup Team Meteorologist

Crew Lists from Sunday to be update when Monday’s are available

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