AUDI Medcup - Cartagena Trophy - Day 2: Losing the waiting game again

The 10 TP52 yachts and 6 GP42 boats played the waiting game again today but unfortunately lost it. No racing took place for the second day in row due to the extremely shifty and unstable wind conditions. The cold front over eastern Spain is still affecting the Cartagena region and keeps putting roadblocks on the race committee.

Maria Torrijo, PRO of the event, tried as hard as she could to get at least one race going but it was impossible. After waiting until 2pm ashore, the GP42 and TP52 fleets were sent to the race course, hoping to get racing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was not to happen. The race committee tried twice to get the boats going but had to raise the postponement flag, again, a mere 10-15 seconds before the gun. The shifts were too big to have a decent race.

The 16 boats waited until 5:30 pm but the breeze kept shifting right and pressure kept dropping, letting the committee no option but send them back to port.

Thursday's coastal race has now been moved to Friday and is replaced by 3 windward-leeward races.

Unfortunately, again, that was the only racing we got for the day. The race committee tried to start two races but it wasn't possible. Cartagena, 16 September 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Quote of the day:

Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand: The Race Committee is doing its job perfectly. They are absolutely trying to get the races away and the two races they took they called them 10 seconds before the start. You can't ask for more than that and I haven't heard anybody on our boat having anything other than praise for their job since the very first race in Alicante. In my view they have got only one race wrong in the season, something almost unheard of.

Of course you can always race but if you want the race to be a joke then you race. We got a 40-degree shift in the second race and there was nothing to do but cancel it. They got it absolutely right on the button. Nobody has complained on our boat, not because we are leading, but because nobody wants to go racing when it's all crazy.

You could argue to a point that each abandoned race gets us closer to the championship but even if you drop the long race we still have 9 races to go. I don't think we have done more than 10 in any regatta in any way and everybody obviously remembers the long windless days in Valencia in the America's Cup without racing. Well, good luck to us for having gotten the points in the season so far but I think there isn't a single yachtsman here that doesn't accept that's how the game plays out.

Highlights from the second day of the Cartagena Trophy. Cartagena, 16 September 2009. Video copyright AUDI Medcup