AC News, Weekend Racing Preview
The America’s Cup machine has been in high gear recently, with teams sailing their AC45s in the "test event" you can check out in the video below:
The test event must have been so encouraging that Samsara decided to knock things back to size, with a pretty demoralizing development. Although he had previously dropped hints that not all was well with his Mascalzone Latino team, Vincenzo Onorato announced yesterday that the "Latin rascals" were withdrawing from AC 34. Citing an inability to secure sufficient funding to field a viable entry, Onorato addressed the withdrawl in his typically straightforward way.
"I’m not interested in a hopeless challenge," he said. "I would be lying to the sponsors, to our fans and, last but not least, also to myself."
The Rascals’ departure means that for the moment, there is no Challenger of Record for AC 34, although Paul Cayard’s Artemis Team looks likely to take over those reins. It also means that one of the more colorful characters in the world of sailing will not be at the table for AC 34.
Closer to home, USA 76, which was Oracle Racing’s challenger for the ’03 Cup, has been over at KKMI in Pt. Richmond, undergoing modifications to bring her in line with Coast Guard regulations to do some corporate hospitality. She should be a sight to behold on the Bay. The other tidbit of interest for Bay Area AC fans is that the Oracle Racing will bring two AC45s to the Bay in June for an on-the-Bay test, which should be pretty fun to watch!
For the rest of us, there are a couple cool events on the Bay this weekend. The St. Francis YC’s Stone Cup has drawn 35 boats split between the J/120s, J/105s and IRC boats. Club Nautique’s American Armed Forces Cup goes off on Sunday, and in our preview in a recent edition of Latitude 38, we incorrectly identified the venue as the Estuary. The boats will actually be racing on the South Bay out of Ballena Bay. In any event, bring your rain gear, because if the weather wonks have it right, it’s going to be a gray, wet weekend.