Australia puts out the Welcome mat for the America’s Cup

by Rob Kothe on 7 Nov 2009 Swiss America’s Cup defender Alinghi has proposed an Australian solution with a southern hemisphere venue to the US team BMW Oracle as the two year old bitter legal battle continues.

In a letter to the Media and to the New York Supreme Court, the Alinghi camp have suggested Australia as a southern hemisphere option after their first choice, the Gulf Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, was rejected last week.

BMW Oracle had wanted the race, which dates back to 1852 possibly, when the first legal actions started, held again in Valencia, Spain.

However Alinghi seem to be hoping to avoid further legal action with their suggestion of an Australian East Coast venue.

Australia II skipper John Bertrand predicted yesterday the Swiss offer would be accepted.

'There's a very strong likelihood now that the America's Cup will be held now on the east coast of Australia,' he said.

'The north coast of Australia is preferable because of the lower wind speeds,' Bertrand told AAP. 'They need relatively flatish water. These things are high-speed projectiles.'

While the whole possibility might turn out to be just a southern hemisphere dream, Queensland’s Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke and the Southport Yacht Club Commodore Neale Hollier both told Sail-World last night they would be very keen to be involved in a 33rd America’s Cup series sailed on the Gold Coast in February 2010

Commodore Hollier was quick to point out the event would be well beyond the resources of the Club, who would need Queensland Government support to allow them to stage the event. (Anna Bligh’s Queensland Government does have a strong track record in supporting major sporting events)

He envisaged crowds of 300,000 watching the racing if it was sailed off Surfers Paradise's Main Beach.

Mayor Clarke said ‘We are an event city. We’d love to see those giant boats racing here. It would be a wonderful spectacle. We would do everything we could to make the event possible.’

Water depths in the Broadwater, from the Gold Coast Seaway to the Southport Yacht Club, are in many places less than the three metres which would be needed by the giant multihulls on their way out to the ocean course, but a State Governemt funded dredging program would be very popular with the local marine industry.

After that it would be just the simple matter of handstand areas of giant proportions for the two protagonists.

Cranes are certainly no problem in this high rise coastal city.

The short time frame and high speed logistics needed to make this event happen in south east Queensland are all do-able as far as the locals are concerned, however right now the focus is back on the US courts and the discussions between the two Clubs in New York over the weekend.

Both sides, the Golden Gate Yacht Club and the America’s Cup defender Société Nautique de Geneve have agreed to meet to discuss the venue and timing issues over the weekend and report back to Justice Kornreich on Monday.