AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Strong winds Sunday forced postponement of America's Cup racing for the third consecutive day.

Strong northwesterly winds across Auckland's Hauraki Gulf averaged above 20 knots and gusted to 30, prompting officials to abandon racing.

The postponement was the eighth in 20 days of scheduled racing in the challenger series for the Louis Vuitton Cup.

The third flight of matches in the second round of the series was first abandoned Friday before yachts had put to sea. Yachts reached the race course Saturday before a further abandonment was announced.

Wind conditions were sufficiently unfavorable Sunday to prompt officials to abandon the day's racing before boats left their docks.

A fourth attempt will be made Monday to sail matches between Prada of Italy and Le Defi of France, Alinghi of Switzerland and Mascalzone Latino of Italy, Stars & Stripes of New York and the Victory Challenge of Sweden and Britain's GBR Challenge and OneWorld of Seattle.

Monday's forecast also is for strong winds and rough seas.

Five reserve days are built into the second-round program to allow the re-sail of postponed races. With the postponement Sunday and the need to sail a deferred first-round race on the first day of the second round, four of those days have already been used.

When all reserve days have been used up, officials might have to sail two races on each remaining race day to complete the second round on time.

The first round began Oct. 1 and was due to finish 10 days later, after a mid-round reserve day. It was finally concluded on Oct. 22 when a match between Prada and Mascalzone Latino, postponed on four occasions, was completed.

The second round began Oct 22 and was due to end Oct. 31. It will now continue until at least Nov. 3. The round must end by Nov. 4 to allow the teams that progress to quarterfinals time to improve their boats before racing resumes.

Nine teams from six countries are contesting the challenger series. At the end of the second round eight teams will progress to seeded quarterfinal and the team in last place will be eliminated.

Alinghi leads the challenger series with nine wins in 10 races.