America's Cup- What one can see in the Valencia Darsena

by Lorraine MacIntosh on 9 Feb 2010 Where's this cup going? For the Opening Day the Cup was spotted whizzing across the Village after it had impressed the crowd at the Sunday opening event.

But if you missed that there was still plenty to check out along with hamburgers and paella in plentiful supply. Even with such a completely different event from 2007, Valencia has a great venue for the America's Cup.

The turnout for the opening event on Sunday was reminiscent of scenes during the 32nd America's Cup events apart from the crowd being coat clad and the skies overcast. The Valencians turned up in mass, indicating that at least the local television had been getting the message out, although one could be forgiven for thinking the offer of free paella or America food – hamburgers may have been the drawcard.

The public opening didn't disappoint, with first a drum band and then finishing off with a body shaking mascletá. All guaranteed to satisfy a noise loving, Valencia crowd. Once the mascletá's smoke cleared, the crowd moved en masse to the giant paella. For non Spanish the queue looked formidable but queuing is part of the fun for the Spanish and a social occasion for catching up on the news.

The big Veles e Vents building is the centre of social activities with food stalls, bars and restaurants for hanging out in. Of course the upper floors have restricted access providing the lounges for both teams and the Valencian City Consortium running the show. After the paella there was plenty of space for a walk around with some cow bell totting, Arab dressed Swiss supporters presumably showing their support for their RAK associates. With the Alinghi boat docking in the Darsena, the public get a good view of the activities around this, in contrast to BMW Oracle who dock their boat a good 2 km drive into the commercial port, all out of bounds to the public and only accessible with an invitation from BMW Oracle.

The word is that the City has put up 8 million euros to run the event. This can be seen in the effort to get the show on the road in an almost impossibly short time. While only half the Darsena area is in use, the logistics of setting up had a small army of people working 24 hours right up to the opening ceremony.

Saturday night saw the first parties with the teams and dignitaries having a formal dinner in Veles e Vents while a fully catered Warm-Up Party, with a sumptuous smorgasbord meal, was held on the opposite side of the Darsena in the Tinglado shed alongside the New Zealand shed from 2007. This party was for helpers, media, and Spanish suppliers but it was clear there had been quite a market on exchanging and cajoling the wrist bracelet required for entry from various sources.

As for foreign visitors present, the Americans and Swiss supporters are noticeable with their respective supporter's gear on and there are a reasonable number of them. Of course it's easier for the Swiss to arrive and interest is huge in Switzerland with racing even being provided at ski resorts. Larry Ellison has assured the media that interest is running the highest for many years in the US and Cup news is front page in San Francisco. But perhaps the biggest number of visitors from other countries would be in the media.

The old office for AC Management next to the Alinghi base has been converted into the media centre with 600 registered media. Whether they are all here in person is unclear as desk space runs at about 220 although most of the TV media are located elsewhere. Also both teams have substantial media teams themselves.

Onshore facilities for the media are good and there's even a bean bag area for the long waits for racing action. But it's not all lying about or waiting, there is work to be done whether there's racing or not, as the editor of this newsletter shows when caught at his station.