AC34 News
2012 Fleet Week & America’s Cup World Series
Fleet Week & America’s Cup
World Series
Join us for Blue Angels & Big Cats!
Watch the Fleet Week Air Show from our deck and the AC34 races on our big screen TV; enjoy special Fleet Week hospitality at the club. Or, if you’re watching the air and sailing shows from the water and on your way back from the City, join us for Happy Hour. Special drink prices and $5 appetizer plates will be featured Wednesday-Saturday.
On Sunday, we’re offering a special Fleet Week Brunch and will be broadcasting live coverage of the final day of racing.
Wednesday, October 3
Happy Hour & Special $5 Appetizers: 1600-1800
AC34 Match Races: 1600-1800
Thursday, October 4
Happy Hour & Special $5 Appetizers: 1500-1800
Blue Angels Practice: 1600-1700
AC34 Match Races: 1700-1800
Friday, October 5
Private Fleet Week Event (dining room): 1230-1600
Air Show Practice: 1230
Blue Angels Practice: 1500-1600
Happy Hour & Special $5 Appetizers : 1400-1800 (bar only)
AC34 Fleet Races: 1600-1800 Dinner (full menu): 1800-2200
Saturday, October 6
Fleet Week Air Show: 1230
Happy Hour & Special $5 Appetizers: 1400 -1800 Blue Angels: 1500-1600
AC34 Fleet & Match Racing: 1600- 1830 Dinner (full menu): 1800-2200
Sunday, October 7
FLEET WEEK BRUNCH – $15-all-you-can-eat Brunch Buffet with $5 Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas; watch the Air Show and live coverage of the AC34 Races
Brunch: 1000-1500
Fleet Week Air Show: 1230
Super Sunday AC34 Fleet Race: 1350-1430
Blue Angels: 1500-1600
AC 34 World Series
Watch the races on our big screen TV and enjoy special regatta week hospitality at the club. Or, if you’re watching from the water or on your way back from the City, join us for Happy Hour. Special drink prices and $5 appetizer plates will be featured Wednesday-Sunday. On Sunday, we’re offering a special bayside brunch and will be broadcasting live coverage of the final day of racing.
Get the latest on America’s Cup 34
THE BIG BOATS ARE COMING!
Join fellow members and guests for an exciting AC34 update & new, unreleased video presented by acclaimed international yachtsman Tom Ehman:
Golden Gate Yacht Club Vice Commodore
America’s Cup Executive Director
Tuesday, August 7th
18:00
Sausalito Yacht Club
Bars & BBQ will be open for your drinking & dining pleasure!
America’s Cup World Series Races — August 22-26
Tom Ehman
Born: 1953
Nationality: USA
Position: Vice Commodore, Golden Gate YC
Executive Director, America’s Cup Properties, Inc.
The 34th America’s Cup is the eleventh straight AC campaign for Tom Ehman. A consummate veteran of international yachting, he has been at the forefront of many of the changes and innovations that have transformed top-level sailing into the modern, professional and more media-friendly sport that it is today. Notably, Tom spearheaded on-the-water umpiring that has been used in the America’s Cup since he instituted it for the 1992 Cup in San Diego.
A former collegiate and North American sailing champion, and winner of the 1976 Championship of Champions, at age 25 he became the youngest-ever Executive Director of the USA’s national sailing association – indeed, the youngest of any national governing body for an Olympic sport in America. Since he started with the America’s Cup in 1980, Tom has served in many roles including rules advisor, team executive, event manager, and chairman of the Challenger Commission. He is the only person of long-standing involvement in the Cup who has worked only for American campaigns – New York YC, San Diego YC,
St. Francis YC, and now Golden Gate YC.
For the past three campaigns, Tom was Head of External Affairs for ORACLE Racing. He now serves as GGYC Vice Commodore and Managing Director of the GGYC America’s Cup Committee, and is Executive Director of America’s Cup Properties, Inc.
Where to watch the America’s Cup races on TV or Internet
America’s Cup World Series 2011-2012: Television and Internet Schedule
Welcome to San Francisco Bay America’s Cup Competitors
ORACLE Racing CEO Russell Coutts pushes his AC45 boat to the limit and beyond in fresh conditions on San Francisco Bay. The result is a spectacular capsize. Just wait for the AC72, which is the boat that will be used for the final races.
The boat that started it all
This is a replica, built in 1995, of the yacht America. The eponymous trophy was named in honor of the first yacht to win the race, which was around the Island of Wight in 1851.
This photo was taken of America in front of the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, current home of the America’s Cup trophy.
GoSailing SF Meeting at GGYC March 8, 2011
The AC34 in San Francisco
Yesterday a group called GoSailing SF (formerly Sailing Renaissance) held a seminar at the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco. Gary Jobson and ACRM PRO John Craig spoke and then 3 panelists, Ashely Tobin (ACOC counsel now, BMOR prior), Howie Shiebler, and Eric Holzeimer gave 10 minute talks. The seminar was targeted to people in the marine industry and the room was standing room only ~ 150 or so people.
John Craig reviewed the slides (we’ve seen most of these from the NOP) of the bay and fielded questions about the race course. This for him was a friendly audience and he went from slide to slide and took questions along the way. He deflected questions that weren’t under his purview, like what will happen to USA17, what the status is of the EIR right now, and others. The below are not direct quotes, but my notes are contemporaneous. He went through an overview, which we all know, so I’m going to jump in where I think folks will be interested.
On Spectator Areas:
Similar to fleet week week, but with spectator areas on the north of Alcatraz and to the east of Alcatraz, but not infinging on the traffic lane. We feel that there will be a push at the finish line so we are working to figure out how to cope with it. As for the course: We don’t know. We don’t know what the boats are gonna do, we don’t know how many laps, we’ve thought about marks inside the gate, outside the gate, reaching marks, leeward marks at blossom…etc
At end of April or beginning of May we will run a test event in NZL with 4-6 boats and will figure out how to set up the courses and how to work with the media, the public and get them close to shore.”
Then we will have an idea of how narrow the corridor should be. if we move in the spectators, it will force them to tack more, which may be something we want to do. (crowd laughs)
Q: How will spectator spots be allocated?
A: We don’t know what the interest will be. I’d love to see a lot of boats out there, but I’d also like to see people on shore.
Q: From the image it looks like the spectator fleet goes all around the shore, but I’ve also heard from the AC that you want people on land to feel like they can reach out and touch the boats. How will you accomplish this?
A: We may limit parts of the spectator fleet so that teams can go in at certain piers along the city front.
Q: Any idea on mega yachts?
A: Not yet, we think there will be a lot.
Q: Did you hear about the tonnage change for piloted boats that went into effect on January 1?
A: Yes and were were happy to hear about that. Thank you. Tonnage went to 750 from 300 for mega yachts. Meaning that they <750 can come in without a pilot.
Q: Do you have concerns that the races will be less than an hour (given that in the AC there will only be one race per day)?
A: No…we have the pre start, the race, it will be an hour and a half, two hour tv show.
Q: One course or two?
A: We are anticipating one course. There may be two, but that would add another layer of complexity. He presented a few more slides (from the NOP) and said “follow the blue box.” In 2012 the teams will be housed on Pier 80. In 2013 The team base will be at 26-32. At 30/32 the back of the bases will have “wing retrieval and hull launching”
Q: Any chance of there being a defender series here?
A: Yes, we hope so.
Q: Will the defenders be moored with the challengers?
A: Yes.
Q: Will the wings be up while the boats are moored?
A: “Work in Progress” (crowd laughs) We are still figuring that out with the 45s. (He reviewed their so far successful mooring projects in NZL. We are hoping that will work with the 72s.
Q: Will we keep Reds Java House? (crowd laughs)
A: I have no idea.
Q: Will teams be practicing here?
A: Only if they have additional boats (meaning the 45s).
Q: When and how will the 72s be practicing on the bay?
A: I don’t envision restricting any practice area for them.
Q: When do you think the 72s will come in?
A: He expects they will come in pretty close to the date of the first race.
Q: How many 45s will be built? I hope a lot.
A: There’s a desire to see that class develop.
Q: How many teams are there – I see you have 10 blue circles, what if there are 12?
A: We have 6 declared teams and 2 undeclared. So 8 for sure, and we are hopeful of 10-12. We are hoping to see more. We will find a way to make it work if we have 12 teams.
Q: What happens to BBS and the YRA schedule?
A: Some events will move to other dates, some can co-exist, we just have to go through that calendar and see what we can do. Our goal is to make it such that the bay is not shut off for racing. The Circle, South Bay and North Bay are all open. He went into an explanation about how they planned to hold the rectangle area for the racing and keep spectator boats from drifting in. He said they will need to have what he called “Marshall Boats,” who will protect the perimeter, similar to what’s done for Fleet Week. We will probably need 150-200 marshal boats. We know we’ll have about 50 from the Coast Guard, 30-35 from the ACRM. The rest, we will ask clubs to help us maintain that zone, part of what we will be doing at the YRA meeting with representative from all of the clubs on Thursday. We will probably begin training boats to help with this.
Q: What kind of boat would be best for this?
A: It could be any type of 25-35 ft boat range with good operators. It’s one big piece of the puzzle we’ll be looking for help with. We’ll also be looking for help with the races. All of these sorts of notices will be posted on the America’s Cup web page.
Thank you to Paige Brooks for the meeting summary. See Facebook page: The AC34 in San Francisco.
Where to Go for Information about AC34
