America’s Cup race between Britannia and Luna Rossa timed out after winds die

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — America’s Cup officials stopped the third race between INEOS Britannia and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli after winds died and neither team could finish within the time limit on Saturday.

The British yacht was leading when both boats fell off their foils and were left inching along.

Italian fans celebrated on the shore when it was announced the race was being stopped because there was no winner inside the 45-minute time limit that starts ticking after leg one of six.

The challenger final remained at 1-1. The redo of race three was pushed to Sunday.

The sailing conditions changed drastically from Thursday when gusts had the boats zooming past the Barcelona beachfront at speeds of up to 50 knots (57 mph/90 kph).

Race organizers delayed the start on Saturday for two hours before winds finally picked up just enough to meet the 6.5 knot minimum speed. But on leg five both boats went off their foils and just couldn’t get up.

The first to seven wins will lift the Louis Vuitton Cup and try to topple defending champion Team Emirates New Zealand for the America’s Cup next month.

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