By Joanne O'Dea
Sailing Events Association San Diego (SEA SD) was proud to host the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) event in November 2011. Event planning and coordination during the nine months leading up to the event consisted of several SDYC members including John Laun, Chuck Nichols, JJ Fetter, Jeff Brown, Bob Vincent, Troy Sears, Bob Copeland, Bill Engle, Tim Kelley, and Joanne O’Dea.
The event kicked off with a “Sneak Peek” preview of the ACWS with Cup Spokesman Tom Ehman speaking to a standing-room-only crowd full of kids representing junior sailing programs and high school sailing teams all over San Diego. He was joined on stage by former AC skipper for France, Bruno Trouble, current Team Artemis skipper Terry Hutchinson, and Ian Burns, the technical team coordinator for ORACLE Racing. Of course, the America’s Cup trophy, with its own security guards, was present as well. Mr. Ehman talked about the history of the Cup, showed video of past regattas and the transformation of the sport to the new breed of wing sail catamarans, the AC45. A few lucky junior sailors were treated to an impromptu autograph session with Terry Hutchinson. All in all, the Sneak Peek was a pep-rally, getting us all excited for the upcoming sailing!
The first weekend of sailing brought the inaugural Port Cities Challenge (chaired by Mary Snow) to San Diego Bay. The PCC featured a series of six fleet races, pairing a racing team with one of the five Port District cities in a competition for bragging rights for the fastest Port City! Representatives from each city were treated to the guest racer spot on the AC45 for one race. Saturday was a rainy light air day, but ideal racing conditions returned on Sunday with 6-10 knot westerlies and bright sunny skies. Emirates Team New Zealand may have been the last crew to arrive in town and skipper Dean Barker had never sailed in San Diego before, but his team dominated the fleet to win the Port Cities Challenge.
The ACWS was split into three events, the AC500 Speed Trial, and the two main events - San Diego Fleet Racing Championship and the Match Racing Championship. The Match Racing event was held over several days, with heats eliminating down to two competitors in the final Match series between ORACLE Racing Spithill and Energy Team. The ORACLE Racing Spithill crew swept across the finish line ahead of Energy Team to a 2-0 win, earning applause from the large crowd gathered just few yards away on Broadway and Navy Piers. The victory gave ORACLE Racing Spithill the title of Match Racing Champion at the ACWS San Diego. The best sailing of the week was saved for last, for Sunday’s fleet race and speed trials. Great racing conditions tested the ACWS fleet with the strongest winds of the week, with gusts approaching 20 knots. The teams didn’t disappoint the fans - the fleet race was filled with intrigue with plenty of lead changes on the race course, lots of near misses, and thrills from start to finish. ORACLE Racing Spithill came from behind to win the Fleet Racing Championship, becoming the first team to secure a double win at the ACWS. The AC500 Speed Trial, fastest time over a straight line, was won by ORACLE Racing Coutts with a speed of 26.87 knots, very impressive.
Along with the regatta planning, as the host committee, SEA SD had a community outreach program, chaired by Julie Servais and her team of volunteers. During the ACWS, over 70 youth group organizations were invited to participate in tours of the event village and team bases. The program included visits from Kids Korp, ABC Youth Foundation, Barrio Logan College Institute, Sea Scouts, Girl Scouts, South Bay YMCA, just to name a few. Over 200 children were treated to guided tours which included the sailing simulator, up close views of the boats and bases, ocean conservation education, and the science of sailing. It should also be mentioned that the ACWS San Diego earned the Sailors for the Sea Clean Regatta certification at the silver level for ensuring that environmentally focused activities and sustainability were on-going during the event.
During the event, over 120,000 fans came to the waterfront to see the boats, watch the racing, and enjoy the entertainment in the AC Village. San Diego proved a spectacular venue for “stadium sailing.” The racers loved the venue and saw typical and atypical weather for San Diego in November, from exciting windy days to light air days to pouring rain and everything in between.
The Sailing Events Association San Diego was created to promote major sailboat racing events in San Diego for the benefit of the local economy. Direct beneficiaries include the tourism and hospitality industries and the tenants of the Unified Port of San Diego. For more information on SEA SD and the ACWS San Diego, please visit www.sea-sandiego.org
