summary of Friday's presentation on America's Cup at SFYC

[arghmatey]

First let me thank everyone who put this on and the SFYC for granting the space. For those presenting that was a long time on a beautiful Friday evening.

I'll relate what to me was the new info regarding AC34. I may have missed some points, and if anything below is incorrect I welcome responses. The useful stuff:

New info:

2012 race days: 2 practice days in august, followed by 4 race days. No restrictions during practice days. 5 race days during October fleet week, using the same box as is reserved for the blue angels.

2012 windward marks will be no farther west than the SFYC entry road.

2013 proposed race days are every saturday and sunday from July through September, and a few weekdays.

2013 windward marks location will vary depending on wind strength. Stronger wind requires a bigger course, so windward marks will move farther west on those days and potentially impact crissy.

Wind too strong to race is defined as 33 knots 10 meters above the RC boat.

They are under strong pressure to put the races as close to shore as possible. (AC wants the event to be very land spectator friendly)

They do not anticipate using the full 12-5pm time window every race day, and plan on communicating via social media such as twitter 30 minutes before the end of the race the time the race restriction will be lifted.

Races will not run late (beyond 5pm).

There are discussions taking place among principals about onsite storage for windsurfing and kiteboarding gear. They're trying to figure out what is feasible and if it would be useful.

There are discussions about improving the TI launch.

Coast guard and marshal vessels will monitor for intrusion into that day's race area, and assist any windsurfers or kiters drifting into that water.

The 2013 "green blob", as John Craig describes it, represents the maximum possible area that a race can use, including spectator boats. He indicated most races will not use the full area.

They do not anticipate spectator boats clustering upwind of the windward marks, because wind and water conditions there are unpleasant for spectators. They think it more likely they'll be midcourse, and near the leeward marks and finish line.


Not new info, but recent:

There will be no race infrastructure placed anywhere in the crissy field waterfront (eg. no bleachers, hot dog stands, portapotties, or reserved parking).

[windward1]

Hi Arghmatey,

They indicated that race completion will probably be announced on iWindsurf in some way as well. Also on a radio channel; 23A I think they said.

I am not sure about your 2012 windward marks being not west of the road to the St. Francis Yacht Club. I think that is what we desired, but the green blob is significantly bigger and if they are racing in anything from 3 to 33 knots, we could see days where the windward marks are west of that road. I think it was the goal of John Craig to keep it not past that point, but I did not think it was a guarantee. I am willing and happy to stand corrected.

Thank you for the list in print. It helped jog the memory.

Regards,

Windward1

[dvCali]

Isn't time to stop following this event? It has nothing to do with windsurfing.

The only purpose of the event is for Elly Ellison to grab real estate in San Francisco (and boast that he won a cup) and the corporate spin that is around it is stomach churning at pretty much any level you might consider. (Go to their home page at http://www.americascup.com/en/San-Francisco/AC-Sustainability-Plan/ with photos suggesting that the AC is involved in "beach clean up")

So, enough? The event will not influence our sailing, they will have at most a pitiful 4 boats entering the "race", and we might as well forget about it.

[Riptide]

NO, it is all about windsurfing and kiting. Anybody hoping to sail at Crissy is going to be out of luck.

We need it in writting in the Coast Guard defined restricted zone for the AC.

As of now it is all promises.

It is so important to comment to the coast guard, only eight days left to comment.

http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=USCG-2011-0551-0043

[usa4]

@dvCali the event will be huge for sailing community and no doubt some trickle down effect on the windsurfing community. If it can help make a lasting effect on our launch site at crissy field- all the better!
Nothing comes for free.

How do you think your freeride gear got to be easy to ride- from the r&d of the race dept from your sail brand and that comes from the greater sailing community.

Yes- having the restrictions on the water from 12-5 is pretty lame but youve got a chance to voice your opinion thru the proper channels.
This is how democracy works!
Already through our actions weve had the footprint of the AC at crissy being reduced. They've moved their concessions, vip, grandstands and vending to marina green.
That didn't come from people being complacent.
This came from people voicing their opinions.
Please take the time to fill out comments.

[windfind]

dvCali said

"the corporate spin that is around it is stomach churning at pretty much any level you might consider. (Go to their home page at http://www.americascup.com/en/San-Francisco/AC-Sustainability-Plan/ with photos suggesting that the AC is involved in "beach clean up")"

Hi dvCali,

I was in San Diego for 7 days this fall doing the race forecast for that leg of the Americas Cup. This gave me a good inside view of how the AC events are run.

I was struck by a couple of things:

1. The AC committee did not allow the sale of single-use plastic junk food containers or plastic water bottles within the San Diego event sites.

2. The had really nice places set up where people could fill their own water containers with high quality water.

3. For those who forgot to bring their own drinking containers they had souvenir type reusable water containers selling at cost and you could refill them free throughout the event.

4. The whole event was remarkably recycling oriented. I have never seen a major pubic event that was so environmental "correct". So I don't think the "clean up" statement is "corporate spin".

5. Larry Ellison had no significant visibility at the event. Instead the event was dominated by hundred of totally stoked young sailors from China, Korea, Italy, New Zealand and many other countries all racing their hearts out.

6. There was time between races each day when sail boats were all over the course. Then there were clear signals that a race was beginning and the public moved to the edges of the course.

I will post a video soon of the San Diego event and you can check it out yourself.

The bottom-line, at least based upon what I saw, is that given the 5PM end time each day and the ability to cross over the course between races more advanced kiters and windsurfers will still be able to use the water most of the time on most days.

Mike Godsey
weatherflow.com
iwindsurf.com
ikitesurf.com
sailflow.com
fishweather.com

[dvCali]

[windchamp2]

dvcali- its hard to argue with your logic but Ill bite.

Not sure if you are aware but the area just in front of crissy is not restricted. Feel free to boycott the event from there!

As for the corporate sponsorship for the event- ask yourself this:
Are the piers 'as is' now a better solution to whats being proposed?
Do you think there's a reason why no developer has touched this area!

Im assuming you haven't watched any of the current AC matches but its really different from the previous cups where monohulls were racing 1 mile apart. The current 45' cats are reaching up to speeds of 30k in very close areas restricted by boundaries to keep the action close. It's probably the most exciting sailing package thats been put together.

Sure the event will cost SF money but youve got to spend money to make money. No ones going to rebuild this those piers with out some economic incentive.
As for the sustainable spin.
Here's some proof for you:
http://sailorsforthesea.wordpress.com/tag/americas-cup/

http://www.americascup.com/en/Teams/ORACLE-Racing/Latest/ORACLE-Racing/2011/9/Thrown-away-but-not-forgotten/

http://www.sea-sandiego.org/news/

[mac]

dv--it isn't yet over. There were a number of things that were not good about the deal that Newsom cut with the America's Cup group that have dropped out of the deal, including:

--giving them the right to build 4 marinas in designated open water basins
--sweetheart deals on long term land leases on piers that would have cost the Port of San Francisco lots of money without any revenue to pay for the cost
--turning Crissy Field into a private party area to raise funds for AC.
--floating televisions in Aquatic Park where people now swim and row.

Lots of people have worked very hard to make the deal make better sense for San Francisco, leave a legacy for local sailing and kayaking, and still have an exciting event that would draw new folks down to the waterfront.

There is nothing yet on the table to offset the impacts to windsurfers and kiteboarders--but I think that there will be. So try to make your judgements on the whole package, not the first piece