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The Log • January 17 - 30, 2014 • 21
San Francisco Makes Pitch to Host 35th America’s Cup
The city hopes to bring the race back to local waters in 2017.
(AP) —In a strong sign that the America’s Cup could return to San Francisco in 2017, Mayor Ed Lee has proposed to organizers that the main venue and team bases be centralized on the Embarcadero and that the schedule be more consistent and con- densed.
Lee said in a letter to the America’s
(Finally) Catching Wind – College and high school sailing teams set off on the 29th annual Rose Bowl Regatta’s trapezoid- shaped course as they raced for top scores. Georgetown University and Point Loma High School earned top spots for College Leaders and High School Gold Leaders, respectively.
Cup Event Authority that the city is making the proposal “guided by the lessons learned and practical experi- ence of the 34th America’s Cup.” The city and the America’s Cup
Event Authority must still agree to a host city agreement for the 35th America’s Cup, with that agreement needing the approval of the Board of Supervisors. Oracle Team USA staged one of the
Georgetown University leads in 29th annual Rose Bowl Regatta
Annual event is hosted by the USC Sailing Team
By Rich Roberts
LONG BEACH — More than 100 of the best college sailors in the country spent more time parked on flat water than racing on Day 1 of the 29th annu- al Rose Bowl Regatta Saturday, Jan. 4, but they didn’t complain much. Many had come to a sublime and sunny Southern California from the miser- able weather conditions the rest of the country has been suffering. Nevin Snow of Georgetown
University in Washington D.C. noted, “Probably 70 percent of us who are racing are from here, so if we’re already here we all might as well be racing in the Rose Bowl Regatta. This is my sixth time.”
Georgetown University and Point
Loma High School will tell you that the 29th annual Rose Bowl Regatta was an event when it paid to pick your part- ner.
With 26 college teams from across the country and 63 high schools from California all sailing little 13-foot, 3- inch CFJ dinghies and winds varying from 2 knots to 7 or 8 knots, nobody needed extra ballast. The San Diego team — with 110-
pound Rebecca McElvain crewing for Scott Sinks on the lead boat, hardly missed a beat in seizing its eighth con- sective High School Gold fleet champi- onship. Meanwhile, on the same short
trapezoid course set off the beach in front of spectators on the Belmont
Veterans Memorial Pier, Georgetown’s A-boat skipper, Snow, went with 125- pound Liz Mulvaney, alternating the boat with B-boat skipper A.J. Reiter and crew Eliana Michaels. The results: finishing of logs of 2-1- 3-7 and 3-6-2-3, respectively, in the 26- boat fleet. The High School Silver fleet for less
expereienced sailors was won handily by Cathedral Catholic’s JV2 team from San Diego, with Ryan Ratliffe and crew Matt Parker on the A-boat and Jesse McKnight and crew Lizzy Matheson on the B-boat. All racing is off Belmont Veterans
Memorial Pier east of downtown in the Long Beach outer harbor. The event is hosted by the USC Sailing Team and organized by the US Sailing Center of Long Beach, which for the first time had everyone launch off the beach.
College leaders 1. Georgetown, 27 points 2. U.S. Coast Guard Academy,42 3. Roger Williams U., 48 4. Eckerd, 50 5. College of Charleston, 58
High School Gold leaders 1. Point Loma Varsity, 17 2. Newport Harbor Varsity, 33 3. Cathedral Catholic JV, 38 4. Santa Barbara, 57 5. Corona del Mar, 57
High School Silver leaders 1. Cathedral Catholic JV2, 20. 2. Loyola, 41 3. Oakland Tech, 50 4. Windward School, 79 5. Sage Hill JV1, 85
greatest comebacks in sports in September on San Francisco Bay by winning eight straight races against Emirates Team New Zealand to retain the oldest trophy in international sports.
While it was the most successful
regatta in the 162-year history of the America’s Cup, the buildup was full of setbacks, including the death of a sailor during training, it generated less eco- nomic impact in the Bay Area than projected and cost city taxpayers more than $5 million. Lee’s letter, sent Dec. 23, said any decision to host the next America’s Cup “must build from and cultivate the suc- cess of the past event while at the same time take account of better ways to capitalize on previously missed oppor- tunities.” He added that he’s looking for an
agreement for America’s Cup 35 “that maximizes the economic, cultural and other benefits for the City and elimi- nates unnecessary risks and uncertain- ty.”
Lee proposed that Piers 27-29 on the Embarcadero not only host
America’s Cup Park again, but, in a sig- nificant change from the last regatta, house the team bases as well. Last summer, team bases were scat-
tered around the bay. Artemis Racing of Sweden was based in Alameda, Oracle Team USA was on Pier 80 and Team New Zealand and Italy’s Luna Rossa shared Piers 30-32. Russell Coutts, a five-time America’s
Cup winner who is CEO of Oracle Team USA, said Lee’s letter is encouraging. “People saw last time that it kind of opened up the city’s waterfront to peo- ple in a way that hadn’t happened before,” Coutts told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his home in New Zealand. While negotiating with San
Francisco officials, Oracle Team USA also is negotiating with Team Australia, the Challenger of Record. Coutts said Oracle and the Australians are dis- cussing an elimination series staged in ports around the world, with chal- lengers hosting the various regattas. The challenger semifinals and
finals, followed by the America’s Cup match, would all be held in August 2017 on San Francisco Bay. The chal- lenger series and the America’s Cup match were spread over three months last summer. Coutts said the two sides are dis- cussing having all rounds be best-of-5. The challenger final last summer was best-of-13. The America’s Cup match was best-of-17, but ended up going 19 races because Oracle Team USA was docked two points as a penalty for a cheating scandal, forcing it to win 11 races to retain the America’s Cup. “We think the more condensed the
race program is, the better,” Coutts said. “We thought it was too long last time. A more intense race program, focused into one month, will make it easier for the city and more doable for the city. It will also be better for TV pro- gramming, and frankly, be more inter- esting for the spectators. The whole series was a little long last time.” — Bernie Wilson
Rich Roberts photos
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