Louis Vuitton Cup Semi Final tickets on sale beginning Tuesday

by Tim Jeffery, America's Cup on 30 Jul 2013 This Tuesday afternoon at 3:00pm, tickets for reserved grandstand seating at the America’s Cup Village at Marina Green will go on sale for the Semi Finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup at www.americascup.com.

The Semi Final pits Italy’s Luna Rossa Challenge against Sweden’s resurgent Artemis Racing in a best-of-seven format beginning August 6.

Tickets for the Semi Final will be available in the East Grandstands and The Deck, positioned directly opposite the start line and the first mark of the racecourse where the boats approach the first turn of the race at maximum speeds near 50 mph.

'It’s become clear that the America’s Cup Village at Marina Green is the place to be for the start of the races,' said Stephen Barclay, the CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. 'These seats will provide unbeatable views of not just the start of the races, but the top two-thirds of the race course.'

Construction of the grandstands begins today.

The release of additional tickets was made possible by Sunday’s confirmation that Artemis Racing was targeting a return to racing for the Semi Final. This, after Emirates Team New Zealand elected to advance directly to the Final which set up the Semi Final pairing of Luna Rossa vs. Artemis Racing.

'We’ve had great support from all the teams and it’s nice that everyone has recognized the effort our team has made to get on the water…' Artemis Racing skipper Iain Percy said on Sunday. 'At the end of the process we’ll be good to get out there and race. We’re really looking forward to it.'

Tickets for the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals (Emirates Team New Zealand vs. the winner of the Semi Final) and America’s Cup Finals (Oracle Team USA vs. the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup) are already on sale.

Ahead of Sunday’s press conference with the skippers of the three challengers, Barclay also paid tribute to the response from the public in San Francisco to the opening weeks of preliminary racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup, America’s Cup Challenger Series.

'Over these opening weeks, we’ve had nearly 175,000 visitors at America’s Cup Park (on the Embarcadero at Piers 27/29) and over 25,000 at the America’s Cup Village (at Marina Green). That’s around 200,000 for the first three weeks which exceeds our expectations,' Barclay said. 'So a big thank you from us to San Francisco for the way you’ve supported the early stages of the event.'

In electing to advance directly to the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, Emirates Team New Zealand also confirmed it would put its boat into the shed for modifications immediately, meaning the team will not race Tuesday’s match against Artemis Racing.

But Luna Rossa Challenge has indicated it plans to race on Thursday, when it is expected to sail the course alone in the last race of the Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin.

Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin Standings

1. Emirates Team New Zealand 9-0 – 9 points (1 race remaining)
2. Luna Rossa Challenge 4-5 – 4 points (1 race remaining)
3. Artemis Racing 0-8 – 0 points (2 races Americas Cup