AC35: Forecast may postpone Friday's first day of racing

AS YOU READ HERE ON SAILING ILLUSTRATED yesterday morning, and again early this morning, Friday afternoon it's going to be breezy in Bermuda (sounds like a good name for a movie, like Sleepless in Seattle?) The AC Event Authority (ACEA) have now acknowledged that in a press release a short time ago. An excerpt: "...the current forecast for Friday 26th May is showing wind levels to be gusting above 30 knots in the afternoon. Whilst the wind may drop within the raceable limits of 6-24 knots later in the evening, the safety of both the sailors and spectators is always paramount, and a decision whether to open the America’s Cup Village or not will be taken accordingly. On Friday, racing is scheduled to begin at 5pm and the Opening Ceremony is due to take place at 8.30pm. A final decision as to the opening of the America’s Cup Village may be made as late as 9pm Thursday, after a more updated forecast is assessed. If racing is cancelled on Friday, the America’s Cup Village will also be closed. Racing would then be rescheduled for Saturday afternoon and the Opening Ceremony would also be delayed."

Our SI weather guru, Mark Michaelsen, will have a full report for us Friday morning, which may be moot if they call it off Thursday evening at 2100 Bermuda time (2000 Eastern, 1700 Pacific). So we'll check to see if Mark can advance his forecast to midday Thursday PDT.

Full ACEA press release here.

Maybe one of our SI friends with a cartoonist bent could draw us a "blowing cats off chains."