Andy Rice from Boat International reveals 6 reasons why Bermuda won bid to host the America's Cup. Today islandstats.com brings you 3 of the six.
This past December, speculation and rumors were finally put to rest as Bermuda was officially announced as the host of the 35th America’s Cup, taking place in December 2017.
1: Bermuda has the space for teams to be based side-by-side, creating a “Cup Village buzz”
Coutts is excited that Bermuda affords the prospect of all six America’s Cup teams – and at the last press conference in New York, Schiller mentioned the possibility of two more – having their team bases situated side-by-side together. The last time we saw this was Valencia 2007, when the presence of 11 teams all in one spot really did create a special “Cup Village buzz”. The same thing was meant to happen in San Francisco, but it never did because waterfront property close to the city was too hard to come by. When the America’s Cup was twice hosted in San Diego in the early 1990s, the teams were scattered around different parts of the city and most locals were scarcely aware the event was going on. Coutts says that finding a central location in San Diego would have been a struggle. Bermuda solves that problem.
The idea of a “pit lane” where fans get up close and personal with the teams implies the live spectator experience remains important to Coutts’ vision for the America’s Cup. That was one of the great appeals of San Francisco with its proximity to the city and the natural amphitheatre of the Bay. However, buying a plane ticket and finding hotel accommodation (which currently is in short supply and expensive) is going to take some serious commitment from an America’s Cup enthusiast.
2: Bermuda can be developed to accommodate America’s Cup tourists
More hotels are set to be built before 2017, not least by Hollywood power couple Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who added some glamour to the front row of the New York press conference. But however much additional accommodation is built in the next two and a half years, it’s hard to see how Bermuda is going to attract anything other than the committed America’s Cup enthusiast, and the chances to convert new fans are certainly slimmer.
3: Bermuda offers a more exciting America’s Cup race course
Coutts’ mission to commercialise the America’s Cup, and attract a broader and younger audience, has also been cited in the move to racing on the high-speed hydrofoiling multihulls. The “extreme” boats promise more excitement for viewers, not just for the high speeds they reach and daring manoeuvres they make, but for the sheer ability to race quite close to shore. But how crowded will the shoreline be in Bermuda compared to, say, San Francisco or another US city?
For those who do make the pilgrimage to witness the live action of the America’s Cup, they certainly can expect to watch some thrilling racing inside Bermuda’s Great Sound. Sailing on board a 40-knot AC62 foiling multihull, the Great Sound is going to seem mighty small. Coutts raised the idea of reducing the size further (bearing in mind the AC62 is already 10 feet shorter than the 2013-vintage AC72s), but the Challenger teams rejected this proposal. So the course will be tight, although it would have been even more so in San Diego.
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