[Orm on the way to tests today]

(2002-10-13, Auckland). Örn has one remaining match in the first round of the Louis Vuitton Cup, but has a rest day today.
But there is no rest for Victory Challenge. The crew has to take Orm (SWE 73) out sailing. There are strong winds today out in Hauraki Gulf and she needs to be tested in these as part of the preparations for sailing later on in the challenger series.
Three previously postponed matches are scheduled for today. However, the cold southeasterly wind of 16-23 knots may stop the matches.

The teams now heading out to Hauraki Gulf are:
Le Défi Areva, still without a win, who meet Stars & Stripes
Oracle BMW Racing and OneWorld. When the latter two were due to meet they were both undefeated. Since then Oracle have lost two matches. OneWorld are the only team to have won all their matches.
GBR Challenge and Mascalzone Latino. The latter won their first match yesterday against Le Défi Areva amid huge celebrations.
These matches are from the day when all the matches in progress were abandoned, apart from Victory Challenge and Prada.
The limit for the start to go ahead is 19 knots. If there is no sailing today, the intention is to complete all remaining matches tomorrow if possible. There are two more postponed matches remaining in round robin one:
· Oracle BMW Racing against Victory Challenge
· Prada-Mascalzone Latino.
If today’s matches are put in tomorrow, it means that the competition committee has a hard programme to arrange for the final reserve day in this round, with five matches on the same day. Two of the teams, Oracle and Mascalzone, would then have to sail two matches on the same day. In this case, the earliest start will be brought forward to 23.30 on Sunday evening Swedish time and the course will be reduced to two circuits instead of three.

If today’s matches can be completed, there are only two matches remaining for the early hours of Monday and in this case the earliest start will be 01.15 as usual. That is why it is not possible at the moment to say when TV3’s programmes will start on Sunday night/Monday morning. The latest news will be published on our web site first.

[Orm on the way to test today]

In any case, Monday is the final day of sailing in round robin one. Matches that have not been completed on that day will be moved to the first day of round robin two, which starts on Tuesday 22 October.
Five round robin one matches still remain, with strong winds today and forecasts of equally strong winds tomorrow.
From Tuesday the nine challengers are guaranteed competition-free days. They need the days between then and 22 October to make any necessary modifications to the boats they have used – or to prepare their second boats for the second round.
The syndicates are entitled to change boats for round robin two.
As before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup, they can wait until next Sunday to announce which boat they will be using.
Victory Challenge are testing their second boat Orm in today’s wind conditions to give them as much freedom of choice as possible. These tests are necessary in order to be prepared, regardless of which round the Swedish America’s Cup challenge decides to use Orm.
Just as Orm is being lowered into the water via the mobile hoist, the message comes that it’s currently too windy out in Hauraki Gulf. Today’s matches have been postponed while waiting for the winds to abate. However, it is the intention for Victory Challenge to complete the tests with Orm as planned.
Bert Willborg/Victory Challenge