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God Speed, Ernesto

Posted 1 year, 3 months ago

God Speed, Ernesto
A thoughtful and, at least to your Ed.'s eye, balanced piece on the AC 33 Protocol by Stuart Streuli writing for the Sailing World website.... VALENCIA, Spain?Four years ago, when Alinghi won the right to organize the 32nd America's Cup, we all knew the event was in for a big change. So I don't think too many in the press corps was surprised to leave the protocol announcement at the team's base on Halsey Street in early March 2003 with more questions than they carried into it. For today's announcement of the protocol for the 33rd America's Cup, there was the hope, however, that we'd leave the press conference with a good idea what to expect, and when. Many of us were anticipating that Alinghi would announce that the 33rd Cup would be held in Valencia in 2009 in the America's Cup Class boats, albeit under Version 6.0 of the class rules. It seemed like the simplest and most effective way to build on the tremendous momentum created by the remarkable 32nd America's Cup match, which Alinghi won 5-2 over Emirates Team New Zealand on Tuesday. Stuart Streuli.However, that wasn't what took place. Alinghi announced that the 33rd match?for which Desafío Español is the challenger of record?will be in a new class of boat and that Valencia is one of an unknown number of cities that will be considered to host the regatta. The competition could take place in 2009, but only if Valencia and America's Cup Management can come to an agreement in the next few months, or in 2010 or 2011 if the venue changes. The protocol also enables the defender to sail in the early rounds of the challenger selection series. So I emerged from today's meeting with much the same level of confusion I had four years ago. However, what I didn't have was a sense of excitement about the future of the Cup, which was overwhelmingly present four years ago. It seemed bound for a better place then. Now, I'm not sure where it's headed, in every sense of the word. This isn't to say that I doubt Alinghi's stewardship of the Cup. While I haven't agreed with everything they've done this time around, the end result was a fantastic event. The Acts were a huge success and the venue is fantastic. Alinghi deserves credit for moving the Cup forward, for elevating it in the world of sports. It's just that I don't know what to think this time around. Full story Full Story »

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