Iain Murray, regatta director for the 35th America’s Cup, said it is highly doubtful that any racing will be held today owing to the strong winds on the Great Sound.

Addressing reporters at this morning’s media briefing at the America’s Cup Village, Murray said: “I’m thinking that we’re not sailing today. Currently it’s blowing 25 knots on average and gusts to 26-27, so that speaks for itself.”

Murray said the race committee will venture out on to the racecourse to make further assessments on the wind velocity and sea state before making a final call.

“We will go out and correlate our boat against Pearl Island [weather beacon location] at that wind strength and also assess the sea state, the roughness factor, when I determine to make a call for safety under the protocol.”

Under competition rules teams are prohibited from racing in winds exceeding 24 knots.

“I’m thinking that we are going to race six races tomorrow, which may or not conclude some parts of this series,” he said. “And Friday has moderated substantially from the forecast last night. There’s some hope we might be able to complete the full programme if we are required.”

As it stands, Emirates Team New Zealand lead Land Rover BAR 3-1 in their best-of-nine Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Play-off semi-final, while Softbank Team Japan lead Artemis Racing 3-1 in the other semi-final.

The eventual winner of the challenger play-off final will face two-times defending champions Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton.

• For a media briefing guide, click on the PDF under “Related Media”