The Dogs Bark, But The Caravan Moves On. The top-end global sailing focus is heading southwest from the Olympics off Marseilles, and moving along France's Mediterranean coast towards Spain and the accelerating 37th America's Cup circus at Barcelona in Catalonia. This will be officially declared opened next Thursday (August 22nd) and will continue for two months in what is hoped to be a rising crescendo of events of variety and intensifying competition, until on October 27th the latest holder of an international sailing trophy that has been raced for since 1851 is declared.
At Marseille, the easy headline-grabbing dog-bark idea for the general sports writers was the basic high expense of sailing, its reality of being a vehicle sport, and its non-viability as a stadium sport, thereby making its presence as a genuine Olympic activity an arguably tenuous matter.
The Olympic Harbour 2024 at Marseille was impressive in its way, but unlike Barcelona the coastal highway maintained a distinct and possibly welcome border with the city. Photo: IOC
Barcelona, where the America's Cup base has been created within Port Vell on the right. Irish sailors might well crave some more green spaces, but the economic power of one of Europe's most vibrant cities is evident at every corner. Photo: Wikicommons
MOVING UP THE SPENDING SCALE
They thought Olympic Sailing was expensive? They ain't seen nuthin' yet. In Barcelona, the focus will be on which of the six teams is in the unfortunate situation of trying to get by on the smallest budget. We'll be talking squillions. And for would-be spectators, while commercial spectator vessels will be available with places for hire, there will be little sympathy for those who haven't access to some very expensive but useful viewing platform, preferably a corporate yacht with a skilled captain who can find a clear view, and a thoughtful stewarding staff who will tend your every need. Stadiums? Fuggedaboudit.
Some of the handy little runabouts currently berthed in Port Vell. Photo: Port Vell
That said, while the City of Barcelona may have seen some of its citizens demonstrating recently against the price-distorting over-crowding by the many visitors to their remarkable range of attractions, as a wealthy place with a powerful Mayor entrusted with genuine and well-resourced executive authority, it has shown that America's Cup shoreside preparation can been well done, yet quickly and in sympathy with their often ancient surroundings.
HARBOURSIDE'S HISTORIC CHARM RETAINED
Thus the formerly slumbering part of town around the under-utilised oldest harbours has retained much of its historic charm while being transformed to become Port Vell, with modern facilities providing appropriate berthing for the weird machines that are today's hyper-fast foil-flying America's Cup boats.
In an era when human interest is reckoned more important than ever in making sport attractive viewing, the 37th America's Cup will have to show its human side when the boats are stopped. Photo: Port Vell
The six America's Cup team bases are located around Port Vell: Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand is at the corner of Moll de les Drassanes, which leads to the World Trade Center. INEOS Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing are next to the Aquarium, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic bases are on the southern side of the port towards W Hotel, while Orient Express Racing Team is on the Moll de Ponent.
Generally, access to the team bases is not permitted, but this is a matter for each team to advise, and if you want the nearest hint of stardust, you can still get very close and watch all the action as the teams dock in and out each day after what will have been an informal daily parade out and back through the harbour.
Ben's Boat is some fish…. the Ben Ainslie-skippered Ineos Brittania will be based in Port Vell at the Aquarium. Photo: Port Vell
CITY POWER AND FAVOURABLE WEATHER
When you realise how Barcelona's sheer city power, good maritime infrastructure, and generally favourable weather combine to provide a fine setup for what promises to be a top notch America's Cup series, it takes an effort to remember that only a couple of years ago, some folk gallantly hoped that Cork Harbour would do the job.
This was despite the inescapable reality of Cork's location being further – sometimes by a very long way - from the Equator, further than any other America's Cup host port all the way back to 1851. Certainly the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Drift can sometimes work benevolent wonders for Irish weather. But any challenging team moving its centre of operations to Cork Harbour early in the season would have had to deal with the Irish weather at its most wayward.
It may not be Cobh's handsome waterfront, but it will have to do. Port Vell in Gaudi's city of Barcelona rates quite highly in the architectural stakes. Photo: Port Vell
We may have enjoyed a brief if interrupted summer these past few days. But the idea that the comfortably perma-tanned America's Cup people would have been increasingly focussed on Cork and its summer weather these past two years is enough to give anyone the palpitations.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, FABULOUS WEALTH, AND SPORTS CLASSIFICATION PROBLEMS
Because the point of the contemporary America's Cup is that it provides a focal point for the Beautiful People at least as much as it does for hardened America's Cup veterans and sailing addicts. So ever since the AC began its rapid ascent to become a sort of peak of sailing as the personification of wealth and vehicle sport, reporters and editors have had a problem in classifying it, as they felt it properly belonged somewhere between the business pages and the society spreads
With the flurry of America's Cup activity off America's East Coast in the early 20th Century, the Sports Editors of the New York newspapers found themselves in something of a quandary
Thus in addition to the fascinating technology of developing some way-out but hugely fast "boats" and their gear, you'll discover at an America's Cup series find that the visiting Captains of Industry with trophy wives will seemingly effortlessly find their way aboard some very luxurious yet manoeuvrable spectator-ready power yacht with a commodious deck saloon.
Up on the bridge a knowledgeable commentator of the calibre of the late Bob Fisher will be streaming information to the chosen few in the saloon. They in turn will be networking like crazy among themselves, taking no notice whatever of the historic cutting-edge yacht racing going on comfortably within sight, and completely ignoring the very informative commentary as they swing a deal or two.
UNCONVINCED THAT AC BOATS ARE REAL BOATS
As for the rest of us, the entire circus has something unreal about it. Because the fact is that AC boats are so unlike any other boats, with their racing being screen-analysed with so many graphics, that your brain is telling you that you're only watching an electronic video game. And once your brain gets wired that way, it's difficult to change it back to reality.
SHOCK BACK TO REALITY
One way might be shock treatment of seeing the ancient film of the off-the-scale American defender Reliance doing her thing in 1903, but the Library of Congress clip only shows her and challenger Shamrock III in light breezes, and the whole thing in any case badly needs re-mastering
So for now we make do with the photo of Reliance in all her crazy glory, tearing along with the mixed metals in her hull burning each other off to such good effect that at times she needed 20 men on the pumps (she'd a crew of 64) simply to stay afloat and keep racing.
Crazy, but she did the job. The mighty Herreshoff-created Reliance of 1903 may have been a nightmare of electrolysis, but the America's Cup was safe with her as she raced to first on the finish line and a welcome from the various billionaire-owned steam yachts
STIMULATING VISIONS OF CLASSIC SAILING
So if stimulating visions of sailing are what is required, we still can do no better than the sheer size of the huge America's Cup boats pre-World War II, or the more recent 1980s images of 12 Metres slugging to windward in a good breeze off Fremantle.
We can still see it in clips from the commercial movie drama Wind, inspired by the 12 Metre golden days, which appeared in 1992 and bombed heroically at the box office while still being cherished worldwide by sailaholics, even if the people in it get in the way of those of us in the sailing anorak category who could watch displacement boats bashing their way to windward for hours.
Caption: For those of us who could watch displacement boats bashing their way to windward for hours on end
REALITY INTRUDES?
That is, until it suddenly strikes you that it's like watching camels in a hurdles race up at Leopardstown. Camels? That seems to be where we came in.
