
The weather gods finally were shining on San Francisco today. After delays from too much wind, too little wind, wind in the wrong direction, the only threat to todays event was visibility. And a whale.

A whale spotted Saturday on the race course made officials a bit weary in planning for today's events. But the low lying fog covering the western edge of the course was probably a bigger concern. 72' feet of flying carbon doing 30-48 knots in zero visibility
can lead to some crazy situations. But the fog FINALLY relented and the 10-12 knot westerly filled in on time to provide decent conditions, and wall to wall sun. Interestingly enough, the western course marshall spotted a dead sea lion floating in the area of the South Tower and drifting towards the race course.


The pre race "Dock In Show" was crowded, and it appeared with sunshine and a sunny day, combined with the the home team on a bit of a roll, meant more shouts of "USA-USA" than in days past...



While the races were close at times, other times Oracle scooted away, riding puffs and getting shifts in their favor, while on the other side of the equation, Dean Barker and company could only shake their heads as their valiant attempts to reel in the the locals was consistently denied. With 4 races won in a row, jimmy Spithill's declaration last week that "This could be the greatest come back in modern sport" seemed to gaining some momentum.

If there was one clear winner today, it was the City of San Francisco which saw it's biggest surge of Cup Fans rush into the Embarcadero, North Beach and the Marina, packing every available nook and cranny. Hotel rooms near Fisherman's Wharf reported
selling rooms at 4x's their normal price and visiting Kiwi Fans and out of town journalist's
finding themselves priced out of accommodations.

The Cup officially ran out of time today, and official's are officially now using permit extensions to continue the event, now the longest in Cup history!

But the racing is compelling. Nail biting even and with new found drama, it has found new level of mystique. Will the Kiwi's find that last win they need to take the Cup Down Under? Or will Oracle continue to run the table and win 4 more in a row and create an unimaginable story of comeback unrivaled in the history of sailing and perhaps of all sport?
Stay Tuned!
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