ACWS Bermuda- Down on the waterfront

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World.com on 16 Oct 2015 Today, the waterfront is Front Street, Hamilton, Bermuda, and the town is gearing up for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series regatta this weekend. Tomorrow is mandatory practice day, and racing takes places Saturday and Sunday, two races a day. At a slated 25 mins per race that means a total of 1 hr 40 min racing which seems like not much for a Major Event.

Iain Murray, Regatta Director, fronted a short press conference this morning, but there wasn’t much for him to say as there’s nothing happening yet.

The potential effect of something the scale of the AC on a place the size of Bermuda could be huge. Murray pointed out this morning that “the AC seems to work well when it is a big fish in a small pond – Newport, Perth, Bermuda… But when it has to compete with the Golden Gate Bridge it’s different.” Hmmm.

Bermuda is a tiny speck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s an atoll, 10km end to end and 5km across, and lots of water in the middle. Pop 65,000. And it is just starting to wake up to the fact that there’s something big happening this weekend. One shop assistant told us, “I don’t think anyone here has realised up to now that this is quite a big deal – but they are starting to get the message.”

The town is getting gussied up for the weekend. Front Street will become a pedestrian precinct as of tomorrow. Showtime.