Sail-World New Zealand- October 3, 2012

by . on 29 Sep 2012 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for October 3, 2012

The America's Cup scene boiled over today, following the publication of comments in the Emirates Team NZ skipper's blog critical of an announcement by the America's Cup Event Management Authority, that they were moving the hospitality area for the 34th America's Cup from the America's Cup Village to Marina Green.

ACEA CEO, Stephen Barclay, claims the move came at the suggestion of the teams, and then couldn't see the necessity of having all the teams in a single location. But the Protocol requires that all teams lease a base and work out of the same venue.

Quite where this is all headed won't be known until Sunday, but some very terse words were exchanged via media releases today.

We have the story as best we understand it from a distance, plus Bob Fisher's take from on the ground in San Francisco. We also spoke with Stephen Barclay this afternoon, who explains the situation from ACEA's perspective.

On Monday (local time), Oracle Team USA, the America's Cup Defender, passed an important milestone, more psychological than real, when they achieved airborne status with their AC72. The team were given a special exemption by America's Cup Regatta Management to sail on a day designated as a sailing day for the America's Cup World Series.

Oracle became the second to (hydro)foil, of what increasingly looks to be a group of just three Challengers and a single Defender, who will make up the Class of 2013 for the 34th America's Cup.

At first blush, the US Defender's flight did mot seem quite as smooth as the first foiling team, Emirates Team NZ, who became foil-borne early last month.

Over the next few days we expect that more images and maybe video will be released. But in the meantime we have a selection of images from today's event.

The America's Cup World Series gets underway on Thursday (NZT), and usually once the racing begins the pre-regatta shenanigans soon assume a lot less importance.

We have Bob Fisher at the America's Cup World Series, and have the first of his reports in this edition. He'll be reporting daily, and we'll have reports from the teams.

As the schedule currently stands, this ACWS is the last for almost seven months, with the next round in Italy in April 2013.

Many thanks to those who have contributed to this edition, particularly those using our online submission and image loading facility which can be accessed by http://www.sail-world.com/admin/add_story.cfm?rid=6!clicking_here

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

nzeditor@sail-world.com

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