Los flying sailboats of the America’s Cup came out of the water on Saturday in Jeddah and will not compete again until August in Barcelona. In fact, to be precise, the AC40 of the six teams in the Red Sea preliminary regatta they will no longer fight among themselves. From now on, for the next few months, Americans, French, swiss, Italians y British They will concentrate on building the fastest ship, the AC75 that will allow them to snatch the hundred guineas jug to the kiwis. And Emirates Team New Zealand will do the same.
But the celebration of preliminary in Saudi Arabia has served again so that the organizers from the Barcelona edition, America’s Cup Events (ACE), draw conclusions, as they already did with Vilanova i la Geltrú in September. For purposes sportsthe second event has been an incontestable success, while the one held from months ago He suffered too much from disastrous weather conditions (lack of wind, downpour that forced the race to be suspended).
At 40 knots
In Jeddahthe six teams have enjoyed the necessary wind to make the ships fly more than 40 knots. A tough battle has been fought, they have measured the forces of the opponent, they have calibrated their own crews. The comments about the hospitality of the receiving country have been unanimous. American Magic came despite having threatened to be absent for security reasons but, once there, they were seen comfortable.
The great challenge for Saudi Arabiaas the ministerial and sailing federation officials expressed on several occasions, it was attract to that sport to the citizens of the country. They succeeded relatively, at least in person: the high temperatures at the time of the regattas (more than 30 degrees) and the habit of not going outside until the sun sets they made there be little public in the Jeddah Yatch Club. According to ACE, they were removed 48.863 tickets gratuitos stop at ‘Fan Zone’.
3.7 million impact
Related news
In Vilanova, the influx of public, especially on Saturday and Sunday, was more visible. Although the City Council has not quantified the economic return of the holding of the preliminary regatta in restoration or commercethey have highlighted that the population appeared in 130 media outlets and more than 650 publications, which according to ACE represents the advertising equivalent of about 3.7 million of euros. In the case of the Middle East, it is still early to assess the impact, although there were 140 accredited journalists from 14 countries.
The executive director of ACE, Grant Daltonhe seemed satisfied these days with how the Jeddah preliminary, because the simple fact of taking a regatta of this magnitude to the Red Sea for the first time in history was already a milestone. Yes in Vilanova the Barcelona public was missed, now the great organizational challenge for next August is to attract natives. And keep interest during 68 days of competition.
2023-12-05 17:42:26
#AMERICAN #SAILING #CUP #Vilanova #Jeddah #Sailing #Americas #Cup #preliminary #regattas #worlds
