Sailing: Italy's Weather All But Wrecks America's Cup Warm-up

Stormy weather yesterday wreaked havoc on the fifth day of the latest America's Cup warm-up regatta at Trapani in Sicily. The wind ranged from 12 to 17 knots with gusts in excess of 20 knots.

Conditions were in marked contrast to the previous day and the first to suffer were the South Africans, who were unable to get their main sail up in time for their race against Alinghi.

Another victim of the weather was France's K-Challenge. During a close race with Sweden's Victory Challenge, the French boat's head sail fell to the deck and a man had to go up the mast for repairs. This allowed the Swedes to sail away to a comfortable victory by 2min 59sec.

After taking their first race, Alinghi won the second, using an excellent start over Emirates Team New Zealand to finish 1min 43sec ahead. The victories added to those of the previous day when they had beaten Italy's Mascalzone Latino and United Internet Team Germany.

The America's Cup defenders have now won all nine of their match races in the Louis Vuitton Act 8. BMW Oracle of the United States and Italy's Luna Rossa are next with eight points each, followed by Emirates with seven.

The second flight of races was delayed to allow the stormy weather to pass through, but it was still marred by rain as the wind eased late in the afternoon.

When they finally got under way, K-Challenge pulled out of their race against Luna Rossa after being penalised just after the start. K-Challenge later reported structural problems and made an early decision to head back in for overnight repairs in an attempt to prepare for today's races. Match racing continues throughout today, followed by three days of fleet racing from Friday until Sunday.

The Louis Vuitton Acts are a series of 14 regattas that started last year as a prelude to the 2007 America's Cup, which will be held off Valencia, Spain. The results of the acts will help seed the competition for the 2007 challenger trials.