Light winds played havoc with the final day of competitive sailing before the America's Cup challenger series starts on Jan. 15, with only one of Sunday's four scheduled races able to be started but abandoned after it exceeded the 45-minute limit.
The British challenge for the America's Cup suffered another major setback on Saturday with Team INEOS UK's 'Britannia' again off the pace in their World Series races, while defenders Team New Zealand threw down a marker ahead of next year's event.
Ben Ainslie's Team INEOS UK produced a much better display in the America's Cup World Series on Friday, shaking off two poor performances and a war of words with defenders Team New Zealand (TNZ) a day earlier.
Holders Team New Zealand (TNZ) have defended the reliability of the foiling cant system that is used by all of the America's Cup teams after Britain's Team INEOS UK blamed it for two sub-standard performances in the World Series events on Thursday.
Years of planning and design work for the four teams hoping to get their hands on this year's America's Cup will come to fruition on Thursday when the superfast AC75 foiling monohulls get to "race in anger" for the first time.
America's Cup holders Team New Zealand (TNZ) were hoping to get some much-needed match racing under their belts on Friday but were left to race alone after the three challenging syndicates withdrew from the official practice sessions.
America's Cup veteran Jimmy Spithill will lead the United States SailGP Team when the high-speed "foiling" catamaran championship resumes in April after a pandemic pause.
French sailor Kevin Escoffier was rescued in heavy seas off the Cape of Good Hope by rival Jean Le Cam on Tuesday, more than 11 hours after his yacht broke in two during the Vendee Globe race.
Briton Alex Thomson has been forced to abandon the Vendee Globe round-the-world sailing race after incurring damage to the starboard rudder of his boat, his team announced on Saturday.
America's Cup defenders Team New Zealand are confident their second generation AC75 foiling monohull 'Te Rehutai' is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 50 knots (92.8 kph) when they begin their trails with the new boat later on Friday.