AC Dates Announced, Fiasco Meeting Tonight

America’s Cup Race Management has announced the dates of both the Louis Vuitton Cup and 34th America’s Cup. The former will start July 13, 2013, and run until September 1, while the latter will start September 7 and run until September 22. That announcement came on the heels of another, that the AC 33-winning USA is on her way to the Bay. Unfortunately, it seems she will primarily be a museum piece.

“The handful of us privileged to sail on USA 17 would love to sail her again in an instant," said ORACLE Racing skipper James Spithill. "I dare say all those who never had this chance would like to as well. But the stark reality is that every aspect of the boat, every component, was built right to the limit so that for every hour’s sailing, USA 17 required 20 hours of painstaking and rigorous maintenance. For the time being the team’s focus will be on the America’s Cup ahead.”

The Singlehanded Sailing Society’s Three Bridge Fiasco is closer at hand, and tonight’s skippers’ meeting at Oakland YC at 7:30 marks the end of the entry period for Saturday’s Bay classic. You can register online beforehand though, and join the 346 boats who’ve already done so! One topic that will be coming up at the skippers’ meeting is the fact that there is some kind of swimming race between McCovey Cove and Aquatic Park on Saturday morning that might impact the race course. We’ve been told that the Coast Guard may have a representative at the meeting tonight to provide additional details. The National Weather Service is calling for 5-10 knots of breeze and patchy fog. The more wind the better, as there’s a six-ft swing from a 7:22 a.m. (at the Gate) high tide to a 2:34 p.m. low that should get plenty of extra juice from all the runoff.