The America's Cup Meets the Local Yacht Clubs

March 13, 2011

During Thursday's meeting between local yacht club representatives and America's Cup Race Management a few new nuggets were released about the upcoming AC34 festivities. America's Cup PRO John Craig revealed that since the races will be televised, the TV people have asked him to keep the races at 45 minutes long. Not 44 or 46 minutes, but 45. To do this, ACRM are thinking about using movable marks (boats) that can compress or expand the course to keep things on time. The TV guys actually asked him if he could fly a caution flag like NASCAR if the race was going too fast. John expects the pre-race to start at 1200 and everything to be over with by 1700 on race days.

A bird's eye view of the racing area. The thick red lines are shipping channels. The blue dashed line is the race area boundary. The magenta dotted lines mark spectator boat areas. ©2011 ACRM

The big question is how the 72-ft cats will work within the confines of the Bay. "We don't have the data to figure out how long of a course or how many laps will be needed to complete a race." Craig added, "We will be testing the scenarios with the AC45s in the upcoming months, but for now we have a preliminary plan that will change for sure."

World Series dates will locked down by June, and some AC72s will be on the Bay practicing in 2012. What does all this mean for our little local races? We should be able to have races as before, but the summer of 2013 looks like a good time to take a break from Cityfront bashing and enjoy the view.