REGATTA GEAR

It’s full speed ahead for the 2013 America’s Cup race in San Francisco, and Regatta Gear will be ready with sailing gear for the crews.

On Tuesday, March 27, 2012, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the agreement to host the America’s Cup in San Francisco September 7-22, 2013.

The 2013 race will be the first time the competition for the “Auld Mug” will be held in San Francisco, a perfect natural sailing arena where more than one million spectators will see the 34th edition of the America’s Cup.

The San Francisco agreement calls for teams to be based at Piers 30/32 and for the America’s Cup Village – the public Race Headquarters – at Piers 27/29. The pier improvements will be funded by the Port.

The race course area for the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco stretches across the city shoreline from Piers 27/29 out to near the Golden Gate Bridge.  The course will bring the action closer to shore than ever before in the 160-year history of the Cup.

“The input and cooperation we’ve received from Bay stakeholders and users has been invaluable in allowing us to reach this point,” says John Craig, the Principal Race Officer for the America’s Cup. “Now we can focus on setting up a race course that will allow the teams to compete and perform in a way that I think will really energize and excite this city.”

Tucked between Alcatraz and the city shoreline, the race course offers up-close viewing from any number of locations along the city front, with the Marina Green and Crissy Field among the prime locations. The exact location of the race course area will change slightly on any given day depending on weather conditions

“We have worked very hard to bring this historic race to San Francisco and we’re very happy to have finally reached an agreement,” said Stephen Barclay, interim CEO of the America’s Cup. “Now we are focused on making this the most spectacular race in America’s Cup history.”

The inclusion of Piers 30/32 as the “pit row” for the teams in close proximity to the America’s Cup Village at Piers 27/29 will make the event’s footprint more compact and will benefit the teams as well as the general public. Racing will be visible from the shoreline – only minutes from downtown shopping and hotels, making this the most spectator-friendly event in the Cup’s 162-year history.

The dates for racing in 2012 for the America’s Cup World Series, the global circuit of events leading up to the 2013 America’s Cup regatta in San Francisco, are:

• AC World Series Naples, Italy: April 11-15, 2012
• AC World Series Venice, Italy: May 15-20, 2012
• AC World Series Newport, USA: June 26-July 1, 2012
• AC World Series San Francisco, USA: August 21-26, 2012
• AC World Series San Francisco, USA: October 4-7, 2012

The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America’s Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America’s Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. The America’s Cup is the oldest active trophy in international sport.

The trophy was originally awarded in 1851 by the Royal Yacht Squadron for a race around the Isle of Wight, which was won by the schooner America. The trophy was renamed the America’s Cup after the boat and was donated to the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) under the terms of the Deed of Gift, which made the cup available for perpetual international competition.

Any yacht club that meets the requirements specified in the Deed of Gift has the right to challenge the yacht club that holds the Cup. If the challenging club wins the match, it gains stewardship of the cup.

The 2010 America’s Cup was raced in 90 ft (27 m) multihull yachts in a best-of-three race regatta in Valencia, Spain in February 2010. Challenger BMW Oracle Racing beat defender Alinghi 2–0 and won the Cup for the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

The Cup itself is an ornate sterling silver bottomless ewer (pitcher with a wide spout), one of several off-the-shelf trophies crafted in 1848 by Garrard & Co.  Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey bought one and donated it for the Royal Yacht Squadron’s 1851 Annual Regatta around the Isle of Wight.