Friday 31st of August was a day dedicated to the Americas Cup.
First up was a gathering at Cowes Yacht Haven: the America’s Cup “Overture”, during which the Cup’s Defender and her Challengers assembled publicly for the first time to officially launch the run in to the 36th America’s Cup to be held in New Zealand in 2021.
The match dates and the race course were announced, the new logo revealed, the skippers of the teams interviewed, and we were treated to a hologram spectacle of the yachts and the silver Cup.
Finally, to top it all: the Auld Mug herself was rolled onto stage in her new Prada travelling case.
(For details, please see Americascup.com)
A little later that day, at the Royal Yacht Squadron, I managed to get ‘a bit’ closer: finally, I had the chance to see with my own eyes if it was true that indeed ‘there was no second’… Of course, there was a second in 1851: the Aurora crossed the finish line after the America but when the Cup was engraved, the little yacht was supposedly omitted (the rest of the fleet is on the Cup).
Afraid I would knock it over somehow, I still didn’t dare to get near, so the kind gentleman of the security had a look for me and confirmed it: no Aurora! Very intriguing indeed.
Again thanks to Jack Griffin, I was invited to stay for the 2018 America’s Cup Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner and was privileged to sit next to Bill Lynn, President and Executive Director of the Herreshoff Marine Museum, who were co-hosting the event along with Prada. During the evening, four inductees were honoured: Syd Fischer, John Marshall, Ken McAlpine and Doug Peterson for ‘their outstanding contributions to yachting’s most distinguished competition’.
As you can imagine, I stayed to the very end of the evening (well, almost) and left with a head full of stories and grateful for the hospitality to a newcomer (:me).
A huge thanks to Jack for inviting me to this event, for ANYTHING about the America's Cup, please do visit his website www.cupexperience.com
