Too much breeze

Fleet racing canned for the day at the RC44's Copenhagen Cup

The weather in Copenhagen led to the cancellation of the races scheduled today. With gusts blowing up to 35 knots and rain squalls, PRO Peter Reggio had no other choice but to call the day off at 15:00.

The RC 44 fleet set sail this morning in fairly strong winds and headed for the starting line. The wind was already blowing at 20+ knots, with big black clouds in the sky. Team Aqua hoisted a spinnaker and broached spectacularly right after, leading the other teams to sail more conservatively towards the starting line. Only Russell Coutts and Larry Ellison were keen enough to also hoist a spinnaker; they said later that they had reached speeds of up to 25 knots.

Big black clouds and heavy rain soon after led the Race Committee to send everyone back home.

The RC 44 teams will gather back tonight for the traditional gala diner, during which the match race title will be awarded to Chris Bake’s Team Aqua and their helmsman Cameron Appleton.

The fleet racing will carry on tomorrow.

Fleet race, results after four races:

1) Team No Way Back, Pieter Heerema, 10, 1, 4, 1 – 16 points
2) CEEREF, Igor Lah, 5, 2, 7, 3 – 17 points
3) Artemis, Torbjorn Tornqvist, 3, 5, 8, 2 – 18 points
4) Team Aqua, Chris Bake, 2, 3, 9, 5 – 19 points
5) BMW ORACLE Racing, Larry Ellison, 8, 6, 2, 4 – 20 points
6) Team Sea Dubai, Harm Muller Spreer, 7, 4, 3, 6 – 20 points
7) Katusha, Guennadi Timtchenko, 6, 8, 1, 8 – 23 points
8) 17, Anders Myralf 4, 7, 6, 7 – 24 points
9) Team Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, Daniel Calero, 1, 10, 5, 9 – 25 points
10) AEZ RC44 Sailing Team, René Mangold, 9, 9, 10, 10 – 38 points