Prada Cup final to resume tomorrow despite organiser’s objections

WELLINGTON: America’s Cup organisers have announced the Prada Cup final final will resume tomorrow, weather permitting.

The challenger of record (COR), Luna Rossa, wanted racing in the bestof13 series to resume today.

But it appears the Italian syndicate has settled for a resumption tomorrow.

Two races are scheduled, with a further two scheduled for Sunday.

Luna Rossa has won the first four races and is three wins away from earning the right to challenge Team New Zealand for the America’s Cup.

It has been a year since race conditions for the Challenger Series finals were signed off among all relevant parties — well before the full force of Covid19 was felt by sports in New Zealand and around the world.

Event organisers wanted fans — Luna Rossa wanted to follow the rules to the letter of the law.

The organiser, America’s Cup Events (Ace) said on Wednesday it would not be prepared to hold the racing until Auckland returned to Alert Level 1, proposing a week’s delay to the race schedule.

It backpedalled yesterday and proposed racing in the bestof13 series resume tomorrow.

Luna Rossa did not want to wait.

Ineos Team UK said it would be ready to race as requested over the weekend.

‘‘We believe this potential outcome would be a shame for the racing fans in Auckland when the city has done such a wonderful job of staging the regatta.

‘‘Given that it is a possibility that Auckland may move to Level 1 by Monday, we feel that delaying the restart until Monday would enable full spectator participation, even if this means racing continues past 24 February.’’

Race director Iain Murray was in favour of racing under Level 2 as long as all the onwater safety measures were in place.

He called off any potential

racing yesterday because he could not get the patrol team together — and he might be in that position again.

‘‘One of the requirements, from the beginning, has been to maintain a safe onwater operation and that relies heavily on more than 100 volunteers that have been trained to man the safety marshalling boats around the course,‘‘ Murray said.

‘‘We had a meeting this morning to discuss that and obviously because these people are volunteers and some of them are in some restrictions there is a fair bit to work through there.’’

Murray said restarting sailing tomorrow provided teams with five days and potentially seven races left.

Under Level 2, the America’s Cup Village on Auckland’s waterfront will be shut and public screenings of the racing will not go ahead.

Race courses which offer the best viewing from land will not be used either, in an attempt to limit large gatherings of spectators at popular vantage points.

The Government has weighed in on the racing without fans — a move Sports Minister Grant Robertson hoped was temporary.

‘‘Obviously disappointing for people who wanted to go and watch the races, but I learned a long time ago that the politics of the America’s Cup is very very complicated indeed,’’ Robertson said.

‘‘There are plenty more races to come in the regatta and I’m sure New Zealanders will get to enjoy them.’’

The rules state two races a day — any move to three races to get the schedule completed in a shorter timeframe would need to be agreed to by the COR and Team New Zealand.

Which means the disagreements could keep coming.

The eventual winner of the Challengers Series finals will be back to take on Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup next month.