Best places to watch America’s Cup becoming clear
We may not know how the legal wrangling surrounding the America’s Cup will end, but at least we know where to find a good seat for the race.
Organizers revealed a number of different course designs this past week – and things could still change pending review by the city, the National Park Service and the all-powerful TV folks, too – but the basic idea of how the races will be run is taking shape.
The 72-foot boats will start near the Golden Gate Bridge, crossing the start line somewhere near Crissy Field or the Marina Green and hugging the coastline for optimal public viewing.
Once they pass Alcatraz, on the island’s south side, they’ll have to take a relatively hard left.
“That landing mark, or first turn, we’ll have the ability to move that up and down the shore so we can have that first turn wherever we think it’s best,” said John Craig, the course designer and principal race officer for the America’s Cup.
After they get around that first mark, they’ll blast toward Treasure Island. The second turning mark will be just north of Pier 39, in the vicinity of Blossom Rock, a submerged rock in the bay. From there, the boats will do a series of laps, back and forth between the two turning marks, before taking a final turn and heading up the city’s coastline to finish before Pier 27.
All in all, that should make for a pretty tight course, with lots of hairpin turns and plenty of opportunity for calamity.
“We’re trying to highlight the boats. And we’re trying to challenge the sailors,” Craig said. “The boats in this course configuration will get around very quickly, and they’ll be very exciting to watch.”
“As far as the sailors, because there are so many turns, there will be a lot of boat handling. That will be challenging in the 72-footers. This tight course should also create a really great viewing arena from anywhere on the city shore, from Crissy Field to Pier 27.”
Most of the legs of the course will be about 3 miles, with the huge boats and their fixed sails reaching about 35 to 40 knots (or 40 to 45 mph) on the straights.
We’ll get a chance to see the course, and its various configurations, in action when the America’s Cup World Series comes to town this year, featuring 45-foot replicas of the big boats racing in 2013.
