From the Boathouse: The race is on for America's Cup

July 11, 2013|By Mike Whitehead

Ahoy!

I missed all the festivities in the Southern California waterways on the Fourth, as I was visiting Discovery Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta aboard a Mainship yacht. The air temperatures were over 100 degrees, which made for great boating and swimming. However, I thought that the bay and delta were not very busy on the Fourth and the weekend, and there are a few vacant slips at the marina.

However, I did notice a boat from Dana Point and two boats from Newport Harbor that I believe I skippered when the vessels were located in Southern California harbors. I would recommend boaters to visit the waterways to our north, but carry your charts and have the correct chart cartridge in your GPS. It is very easy to be confused with the vast number of channels as to which channel to transit to your destination because of the lack of navigational markers.

I did notice the America's Cup boats sailing in San Francisco Bay on Tuesday as I was heading home from the Bay Area. To have the America's Cup challenge on the West Coast is very exciting, and you might not want to miss the opportunity to watch and join in the activities. These are fast, very fast boats with amazing advanced technological designs that have advanced the world of sailing.

However, as can be expected from prior America's Cup challenges, the race is never without a dispute from at least one team, if not a couple of teams, and the Luna Rossa boycotted its first race that was scheduled last Sunday against Emirates Team New Zealand. The Luna Rossa is for Italy and racing through the Circolo della Vela Sicilia yacht club.

The Louis Vuitton Cup is the challenge series to determine which team will race the defender, Oracle Team USA, for the America's Cup. The Louis Vuitton Cup races began July 4 and will continue through Sept. 1. Then the America's Cup finals start Sept. 7, with races on and off until Sept. 21, and I will be watching and reporting from the media center for a few of the final races. These are very fast and exciting races that you can watch, as the courses are set for the public to view from shore. I highly recommend, if you are visiting San Francisco, to watch a race and visit the America's Cup Park, America's Cup Village or America's Cup Pavilion. Parking is difficult in these areas, so ride public transportation or take a cab, and for detailing directions and event schedules, go to http://www.americascup.com.

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