Crew members of the Swiss America's Cup defender Alinghi 5 work on the boat at Valencia's port,... 
(AP)
If Valencia is indeed the right place to contest the America's Cup, it's looking more and more like February isn't exactly the right time to do it.
Race 1 of the most contentious America's Cup in 159 years was postponed again on Wednesday, this time because of big waves on the Mediterranean Sea.
The giant carbon-fiber multihulls USA and Alinghi 5 didn't even leave the docks. Principal race officer Harold Bennett decided just before noon that waves of between 4 and 6 feet whipped up by overnight winds made it unsafe to send the big boats some 24 miles offshore to start the race.
Race organizers will try again on Friday to get in the first race of the nautical grudge match between American challenger BMW Oracle Racing and two-time defending champion Alinghi of Switzerland.
On Monday, the boats idled for four hours in light, unsteady wind at the starting line before the race was called off.
Bennett said there's still a learning curve with the 90-by-90-foot monsters, which are the most technologically advanced sailboats ever built for the America's Cup.
The problem wasn't the wind of 17 to 18 knots, Bennett said. He was concerned with cross-seas formed when a swell from the northeast left over from overnight winds collided with waves whipped up by a west wind, leaving some areas with conditions similar to inside a washing machine.
"Conditions like today, well, that's interesting. I'm not sure that they would have done too well with it," Bennett said. "Safety's always there. The last thing you want to see happen is one of these boats break something that's going to hurt somebody, or even make it not finish. We've got to weigh all that up as well."
Alinghi agreed with Bennett's decision.
"We've been out in conditions not quite that bad, but it's heinous," Alinghi strategist Murray Jones said. "I think they've done the right thing by not sending us out there."
