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Lorient
and Fort-de-France join the fleet (03/09/03)
(source
: Yahoo.fr)
|
The French cities of Lorient (Britanny) and Fort-de-France
(Guadeloupe) have made a formal offer to host the
cup this week-end. Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca
are also preparing bids.
Lorient was the homebase of the ill-fated Le Defi
Areva challenge for the last Louis Vuitton Cup; it
boasts a harbor of sufficient depth for the AC class
boats and adequate winds.
22 other ports showing interest including Cascais
in Portugal, Cowes on England's Isle of Wight which
hosted the first race for the cup in 1851, Marseille
and Copenhaguen in Denmark.
"We're analyzing the offers," said Alinghi technical
director Michel Bonnefous. "We expect to narrow it
down to three or four candidates then we'll ask for
more detailed bids."
A decision is expected "after the summer," he said.
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Three
news formal America's Cup bids (03/04/03)
(sources
: FoxSports
& Ireland
on-line
& Yahoo.fr)
|
Victorious America's Cup syndicate Alinghi has
not yet decided where it will stage the next regatta
for sport's oldest trophy and Swiss pharmaceuticals
billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, the head of Alinghi
hopes to announce a venue within three months.
The city best able to provide a combination of reliable
wind conditions, accessibility, infrastructure and
outlook will be chosen.
"Ideally we want to find a venue that has constant
weather conditions so that we can plan television
coverage, plan a schedule knowing that racing will
begin at a certain time every day," Alinghi skipper
Russell Coutts said.
First, the southern Spanish city of Cadiz, which will
host the world sailing championships in September,
has made a formal offer to host the next America's
Cup last week but it was formally announced Tuesday.
Alinghi is committed to visiting Cadiz over the next
two weeks to tour marina facilities and receive a
detailed report on weather and sea conditions in the
Bay of Cadiz, said Carmen Horta, spokeswoman for a
grouping of town halls in Cadiz province. Cadiz .
Moreover, the Secretary General of the Irish Sailing
Association, Paddy Boyd has written to Ernesto Bertarelli,
asking him to consider Ireland as a potential venue
for the title defence in three years time.
"I wrote to him before they won the event, asking
him to consider us as a venue in the event of their
success," Mr Boyd said yesterday. "Obviously
the Mediterranean will come in for consideration given
its closeness to Switzerland but indications are that
they will explore options throughout Europe."
"There are a number of factors to be considered,"
the ISA secretary general added. "The area must have
reasonably good weather. There must be reasonable
landscape for each syndicate, for their facilities
and for their back-up teams. The issue, for example
with the Med is that these areas are well developed
and are costly".
"The Swiss will also hope to host it somewhere neutral
and not give advantage to nations like France or Italy,
who may themselves be competing", Mr Boyd said,
who believes that Ireland can easily match the requirements
of the organisers.
"Ireland has a very good track record of hosting and
managing these type of events. In particular, Cork
has the ideal conditions both on water and on land,
with the dockyard in Cobh and the deep water harbour.
Cork also has a great reputation for hosting such
events and the weather usually provides for reasonable
racing conditions".
Finally, French town of les Sables d'Olonne, where
Vendée Globe begins and ends , has officially offered
to host the Cup. |
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Cowes
considering a bid to hold the Cup (03/03/03)
(source
: femail.co.uk)
|
The historic British home of the America's Cup
is considering a bid to hold the 2007 competition
after landlocked Switzerland won the supreme yachting
trophy.
Cowes on the Isle of Wight now sees its best chance
of getting the competition back home for the first
time since 1851. It was then that the Cowes Royal
Yacht Squadron lost the first competition to the Americans
and the trophy has never been won by Britain again.
The chance has arisen because the Swiss yacht Alinghi
beat Team New Zealand 5-0 in the final of the cup
in Auckland to become the first European country to
win it.
With only Lake Geneva available, the victorious Swiss
are going to have find somewhere else to hold the
competition.
Leader of the Isle of Wight Council Shirley Smart
said contact has been made with the winners to try
to get a deal to bring the "Auld Mug" back home.
"We would love to attract it back to the island. It's
the home of the competition and it would put the island
on the map," she said. "I know inquiries are being
made and we have contacted the Swiss."
The council is now entering into talks with the Royal
Yacht Squadron to put in a formal bid. They have already
said they are keen to hold the event.
Mrs Smart said the island could not hold the competition
on its own and would be looking for a "Solent challenge",
bringing on board the bigger neighbours of Southampton
and Portsmouth. |
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An
Alinghi Triumph Will Trigger Changes (02/25/03)
(sources
: Washington
Post
&
La
Tribune de Genève)
|
The contest is not over yet but it was apparent
the next Cup will most likely be in Europe as Swiss
challenger Alinghi held a commanding lead in the 31st
Cup over defender Team New Zealand.
But the prospect of Alinghi as defender raises as
many questions as it answers. If the Swiss challengers
win, it will be one of the biggest upsets ever in
this historic event and will have huge implications
for the sport.
From what salt water port would this first Cup winner
from a landlocked country elect to race, for example?
(Under the 126-year-old Cup Deed of Gift, racing must
by rule be on an arm of the sea.)
Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi's backer, has made it
clear it would be somewhere in Europe, either on the
Mediterranean or Atlantic coasts, in a place where
winds are strong and predictable.
The rumour mill currently favors the little Portuguese
port of Cascais, located on the Lisbon coast as the
number one choice.
Portugal is considered less expensive to host an event
than other parts of Europe, particularly when one
considers the cost of living in high profile places
such as Palma, Barcelona and Marseille, other leading
contenders. Portugal is favored because it’s considered
neutral, unlikely to host a challenger.
Patrick Monteiro de Barros, commodore of the Cascais
Yacht Club, said that he and Bertarelli had discussed
Cascais for a Swiss America's Cup defence more than
two years ago.
Cascais, with reliable northwesterly trade winds from
April to September, has hosted scores of world and
European sailing championships over the past 60 years.
With the soccer World Cup to be held in Germany in
2006, a cup defence is likely in the European summer
of 2007. "I am ready,'' de Barros said. "I
have the power of attorney from my club. I have the
backing of the Portuguese Government. It will do whatever
is necessary.''
It's all part of Bertarelli's strategy to professionalize
the Cup should he win, making it better organized
and more appealing to commercial sponsors, TV and
the general public.
Bertarelli and his aides are too superstitious to
talk in detail about the next event before winning
this one, but sources say Alinghi would change the
rules on a grand scale.
Bertarelli wants to shorten the regatta from the current
4½ months to two or three, eliminate noncompetitive
teams early or before they even get to the venue,
and put challengers' racing and the Cup final under
the same umbrella of rules, oversight panels and sponsorship,
all of which the defender would control.
Among other likely changes is an end to nationality
rules, opening the way for anyone to sail or work
on the design or building team for any challenger
or defender without establishing residency in the
nation represented, as is currently required.
Because all Cup rules other than the basics covered
in the Deed of Gift are arrived at by mutual consent
between defender and a challenger of record, Alinghi
could get away with these changes only if it finds
a willing partner.
The Swiss have prepared a protocol for the next Cup
and shopped it around to various potential challengers,
sources say.
No deal has yet been signed, but the leading candidate
for challenger of record if Alinghi wins is said to
be San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, which sponsored
software billionaire Larry Ellison's Oracle challenge.
Ellison plans to come back and he and Bertarelli became
friendly here.
One thing that seems certain to change if the Cup
goes to Europe is the number of challengers. If New
Zealand were to rally and successfully defend for
a second time, observers reckon as few as six challengers
might make the long trek to the Southern Hemisphere
for the next Cup.
But a shift to the Mediterranean or Atlantic Coast
of Europe, bringing in major population areas for
commercial sponsors, could raise the number as high
as 16, sources say.
That's why Bertarelli is considering elimination challenger
rounds as early as a year before the Cup to arrive
at a more manageable number of competitors for a shortened
Cup season.
For decades, Cup followers have complained about the
antiquated format of the regatta and the problems
it creates. Bertarelli and the highly professional
aides he brought from his business to run Alinghi
reckon they have the expertise to help the event into
the modern world. |
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Next
Cup campaign is under way (01/28/03)
(source
: Libération)
|
After Sète last week, the City of Marseilles
(France) has officially launched a bid for the America's
Cup 2006, if Alinghi win the cup.
"If the Swiss win the Cup, we are candidate"
said yesterday Jean-Claude Gaudin, mayor of Marseilles.
"We want to make all effort to accommodate them".
The existing large-scale port activities, the perfect
weather (Sun and wind), the size and importance of
the agglomeration of Marseilles. All key advantages
for the success of this ambitious project.
More, Marseilles is recently entering into a grandiose
urban renewal plan called Euromediterranée.
The first stage of the 20-year project, which has
already converted the old docks warehouses into offices,
also calls for the renovation of the La Joliette industrial
port.
In an interview with the Geneva daily "Le Temps",
Ernesto Bertarelli cited ports of Naples, Barcelona,
Palma de Majorca, Lisbon and Saint Tropez as possible
venues for the event but on Wednesday was less categorical
saying it was "a bit premature to speculate on the
place and reasons for the choice".
"It is a relatively complicated process. We have started
to think about it. The first criteria is the weather,
then the logistics".
"If we bring the event to Europe it has to be done
on the large-scale that a great sporting festival
deserves." |
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