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26-08-2010, 09:39
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#1
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CF Adviser Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Montrose, Colorado
Posts: 9,845
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Sorry, San Francisco . . .
It appears that the next running of the America's Cup will not take place in San Francisco Bay. This is from the latest 'Lectronic Latitude:
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"How Much Do You Wanna Bet . . .
"August 25, 2010 – The Bay
"That the match for the 34th America's Cup will be sailed on San Francisco Bay? In the wake of yesterday's news that the City would not seek a one-time exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act for the infrastructure improvements necessary for a Cup village, we are all but certain that the next Cup match will be held in Europe."
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To read the entire piece, go to:
Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude
TaoJones
__________________
"Your vision becomes clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens."
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
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26-08-2010, 09:58
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#2
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: May 2008
Location: near Annapolis
Boat: PDQ 36 & Atlantic 42
Posts: 1,178
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America's Cup in San Fancisco Bay makes about as much sense as running relays in Grand Central Station or speed skating on a Bird Bath. With an infinite host of special interest groups wanting some special recognition, and a court system that easily accomodates some pretty bizare contentions, the part of this showcase actually having to do with water and boats would be doomed, pushed aside by the legal foreplay and wrangling that only came into being in the most recent campaigns.
I blame the automatic dishwasher for this regrettable decline in morale standards.
May I see a show of hands of those who took me seriously?
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26-08-2010, 10:08
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#3
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CF Adviser Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Montrose, Colorado
Posts: 9,845
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandy daugherty
I blame the automatic dishwasher for this regrettable decline in morale standards.
May I see a show of hands of those who took me seriously?
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Okay . . .
__________________
"Your vision becomes clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens."
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
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26-08-2010, 11:38
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#4
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cruiser
Join Date: May 2010
Location: SF Bay Area; Former Annapolis and MA Liveaboard.
Boat: Looking and saving for my next...mid-atlantic coast
Posts: 6,197
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ummm
cant see it in the bay...though it was gonna be outside the gate
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26-08-2010, 12:48
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#5
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CF Adviser Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Montrose, Colorado
Posts: 9,845
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It isn't a question of where to hold the actual races, it's a question of where to construct the facilities to house the fleet. That would necessarily be within the confines of the Bay, somewhere. And since no one is pursuing the necessary environmental waiver to construct those facilities and that BMW / Oracle Racing has placed a very nearby deadline (September 30) to have everything in place and signed off by the various interested parties and authorities, there's just no way that's going to happen.
Because of the construction of elaborate facilities at Valencia by Berterelli, it actually makes the most sense for host locale from a facilities and infrastructure standpoint. Throw in the tax advantages of not holding the AC in California, and it becomes obvious, I think, that it will be held elsewhere.
TaoJones
__________________
"Your vision becomes clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens."
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
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26-08-2010, 12:49
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Montana
Posts: 391
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Ah, for the good old days of iron men and wooden ships....who didn't need no stinkin' 'village'.....
__________________
Healer52 / Lisa, Rick and Angel the Salty Dog
Currently on the hard, looking for a boat
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26-08-2010, 13:03
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#7
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cruiser
Join Date: May 2010
Location: SF Bay Area; Former Annapolis and MA Liveaboard.
Boat: Looking and saving for my next...mid-atlantic coast
Posts: 6,197
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Healer52
Ah, for the good old days of iron men and wooden ships....who didn't need no stinkin' 'village'.....
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We also didn't need no stinkin' expensive rich mans race either. Everyday was a race.
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26-08-2010, 14:39
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Vancouver, Wash.
Boat: no longer on my Cabo Rico 38 Sanderling
Posts: 1,810
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If SF Bay wanted the Americas cup they would find a way! For starts there's the old Alameda Naval Air Station which used to home port two very large aircraft carriers and all the support for those ships. There's Hunters Point, which used to be the Navy's Largest ship repair facility on the West Coast. There's Treasure Island where mulitable Navy ships used to dock. All three are vacant.
SF is more in love with their own picture than doing anything sensible! Besides anything the majority of people want can and will be over-turned by one very prejudice Federal Judge.
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26-08-2010, 15:49
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Montana
Posts: 391
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey
We also didn't need no stinkin' expensive rich mans race either. Everyday was a race.
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Still is, for most.....
__________________
Healer52 / Lisa, Rick and Angel the Salty Dog
Currently on the hard, looking for a boat
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26-08-2010, 16:47
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#10
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Boat: 1976 Sabre 28-2
Posts: 7,505
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The race would have been staged in the Bay. Probably the best spectator venue anywnerer in the world for such an event. There would be prime sears on Yerba Buena, Angel, and even Alcatraz Islands as well as the City front in San Francisco Proper. The Bay is largely never much deeper than 80' and less in a lot of places so there would be course side anchorages for as many as 10,000 boats.
Having said that, the hopeless political situation in SF and the East Bay doomed the chance of bringing the America Cup to the Bay. They can't govern what already exists and are riddled with the bureaucracy of can't. The filing for an Environmnental Exemption for the Cup infrastructure is just one of the myriad things that Mayor Newsome and Dellums wouldn't make the effort to back or initiate. Couple that with the near/actual bankruptcy of the two largest Bay Fronting Cities and a couple of the smaller ones, they just don't have the priority to seriously fight for the Cup.
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26-08-2010, 17:07
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#11
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ohio
Boat: Now boatless :-(
Posts: 11,580
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Isn't it jsut par for the course that the AmCup "stuff" has to be in court for two years before a couple of maga-rich-ego filled guys can go play with their sailboats...
My cynical side says the court stuff is all about the advertising...
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26-08-2010, 17:26
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#12
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cruiser
Join Date: May 2010
Location: SF Bay Area; Former Annapolis and MA Liveaboard.
Boat: Looking and saving for my next...mid-atlantic coast
Posts: 6,197
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Sorry, then I am in the minority. I'm glad they will take it somewhere else.
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26-08-2010, 20:47
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada on Lake Ontario
Boat: Roberts Offshore 38
Posts: 1,287
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My view would be more along the lines of "Is it actually going to happen? Is this the last one we will ever see??"
Europe is in the toilet financially, so is the US. Anyplace that they want to run this show will need to spend money they don't have on infrastructure. Unless they decide to stick the competitors with the bill, I don't see any city anywhere spending the money for this. Sure its a tourist draw but are the numbers there to support it? These days its harder and harder to tell if an event will break even or win a little. Most cities are now too gun shy to be willing to spend money on that sort of stuff.
Sabre
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27-08-2010, 00:02
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Adelaide Aus
Boat: Tasman elite Cat
Posts: 82
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Why worry about where its going to be sailed has SF got a big enough court house
cheers Steve
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27-08-2010, 00:33
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: New Mexico, USA
Boat: International Etchells USA 125 Black Magic, Santana 20 475 Ghost, Hobie 33 3100 Bruja, dinghies,
Posts: 1,118
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As far as I can tell, San Francisco politics are so murky that it might be easy to mis-read the meaning of the mayor's decision not to pursue the exemption during the waning days of the state legislative session. There might be an alternative path to getting enviro approvals that would work better. Which is not to say that it will or won't happen, just saving that things may not be as they appear.
Another complication is whether San Francisco thinks it can produce the bid alone, and without involving other municipalities and entities that might actually have more room or a more supportive legal/government environment.
Because Larry Ellison/Russell Coutts/BMWO apparently want a very large-scale event with a cast of thousands, vehicle and crowd access/movement might be an issue for some proposed venues, but that may be getting a little ahead of things.
Unfortunately, a lot of the motivation for the current cup plans seem to be commercial and perhaps not particularly focused on amateur sailing.
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