It was an incredibly difficult day on the Gulf of Valencia for the first Fleet Races in the host city of the 32nd America’s Cup.

Conditions looked great early, with a nice Westerly 12-14 knot breeze streaking white caps across the water. But once racing started, on time at 12:40, the first race was a minefield for the tacticians and strategists with many pitfalls across the race course in the form of wind shifts in both speed and direction.

Emirates Team New Zealand, fresh off a win in the Louis Vuitton Act 2, and the French Le Défi team were the best at making sense of the conditions and finished in first and second, while the highly touted Team Alinghi and BMW Oracle had a harder time, coming home in fourth and fifth place.

In the second race, the conditions were even tougher. The wind died completely on the second lap of the course, as a weak sea breeze killed off the gradient wind. The very light new wind came from nearly the opposite direction, so the final run to the finish became a beat upwind, complete with tacking for most of the teams.

This time it was Alinghi who managed to just squeeze ahead of the Kiwis at the finishing line. The French K-Challenge was close behind in third place.

For a time it seemed as though the race might be abandoned with none of the teams finishing in the 40-minute leg time limit. But in the event, Alinghi finished with a full 10-minutes to spare, just two-seconds in front of NZL 81.

The results leave Emirates Team New Zealand clear ahead on the leaderboard with a two-point cushion over Alinghi, and Luna Rossa two further points in arrears.

Both French teams had a good day and hold fourth and fifth, while BMW Oracle Racing, the winners of the Marseille Louis Vuitton Act, are in unfamiliar territory down in sixth position.

The South African Team Shosholoza also had a good day, finishing with boats behind it in both races, for the first time in Valencia. Racing continues with two Fleet Races scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Results