I am not making this up.

Following event CEO Stephen Barclay’s proclamation yesterday that he wouldn’t be surprised if a whale popped up on the race course, today at the morning briefing we are told of a whale sighting in the Bay.

“The whales have been on our radar in the past and if one does come onto the race course we are obliged to deal with it,” said regatta director Iain Murray.

How would he do that he was asked?

“We would have to stop the race,” he replied.

Whales are not uncommon in San Francisco Bay at this time of the year. Last year at the AC World series hump back whales were reported as being seen.

Given how this event has rolled out so far, no one here would be surprised if we did see one, although the consequences of a conflict between a boat and a fish of this size don’t bear thinking about.

But there was one question that remained unanswered according to my desk buddy Justin Chisholm, “So if the whale does enter the course, does it do so from port or from starboard?”

It’s been a long Cup.

If you still don’t believe, take a look at the opening seconds of today’s preview video below.

Meanwhile the conditions for today look good, albeit light, at least to start. According to Iain Murray the breeze is expected to start at around 10 knots from the SW and build throughout the day to around 20 knots by the end of the day. Upper wind limits are not expected to be a problem with the flood tide increasing the effective wind limits to 24.4 and 23.3 knots for each of the scheduled start times.

Once again we remain on match point, if the Kiwis win it’s all over, if Oracle wins two the story gets even bigger.

When it came to the dockout show the atmosphere was charged once again. Here’s how it looked from the middle of the crowd.

Racing starts at 1315 local 2115 BST

Picture courtesy www.monsta.co.nz