Another lawsuit for San Francisco brought by the waterfront watch for non compliance with the California Evironmental Quality Act.
It is going to be hard for San Francisco to be ready for an America’s Cup in 2013
These photos are today in Newport, It had been 60 degrees yesterday.
The business formula of the America’s Cup seems simple: If you race them, they will come.
But as city officials consider a waterfront investment deal finalizing the terms of the yacht regatta, they are left guessing just how many will come.
Along with the complex long-term agreement for race officials to fix crumbling piers in exchange for lucrative development rights on public property, the event’s popular appeal also is raising questions.
The event’s power to infuse cash into its host city is commonly touted as only less than that of the Olympics and World Cup. But low turnout of spectators and racing teams could make The City’s massive preparations a costly albatross.
The eyes of the sailing world will be fixed on San Francisco Bay’s 58 days of yacht racing over the next two years, but members of the Board of Supervisors want to make sure they won’t only be watching through a television screen. They said an influx of hotel guests who eat and shop will be pivotal to the event’s success.
The City is set to spend $52 million preparing for the race, which it hopes to cover with sales and hotel taxes, plus fundraising by a nonprofit arm of the America’s Cup. But slow fundraising progress has raised red flags with city leaders.
Disappointing turnout for a November event in San Diego raised questions among local skeptics. Supervisor John Avalos said last week he doubts the claim that more than 5 million people will attend the 2013 finals, which could mean up to 500,000 people in The City on peak days.
“I’d say we’re not seeing that,” Avalos said.
A report conducted by an independent firm in 2010 says the regatta will create 8,800 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic benefits. But that analysis was conducted well before officials even agreed to hold the event here.
The analysis based its estimates on past America’s Cups in Spain, New Zealand and San Diego. The benefit estimates included a sizable economic impact from the racing teams themselves, which typically spend months building and testing vessels. But to date, only four of nine anticipated teams have signed up for the 2013 finals, casting doubts over such spending.
Critic Aaron Peskin, the local Democratic Party leader, calls the forecast laughable.
“We should be delighted if we get 25 percent of their pie-in-the-sky estimates,” Peskin said. “There’s no history of sailing regattas being a mass spectator sport in San Francisco or the world.”
Peskin called the regatta a “real estate deal masquerading as a boat race.”
Chief Operating Officer Stephen Barclay of the America’s Cup Event Authority says that while the benefit projections may be shaky, there is little doubt that plenty of sailing fans will come to enjoy a full schedule of events.
“Who knows if the numbers are underinflated or overinflated,” Barclay said. “It’s going to mean a lot of jobs and a lot of economic benefit — that’s the point.”
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/bay-area/2012/02/final-approvals-near-real-draw-america-s-cup-questioned#ixzz1nGbUqQom
Projected costs associated with the America’s Cup have skyrocketed to $163 million — up from the city’s 2010 estimate of $86 million. Meanwhile, doubts are growing about whether the event will be as exciting or as lucrative as initially projected.
The cost to overhaul dilapidated piers has more than doubled over the past year — from $55 million to $111 million.
Under a proposal that will go before the lawmakers this month, America’s Cup organizers, led by billionaire software mogul Larry Ellison, would pick up the tab for most of those costs in the short term, and then recover them from the city and its port through long-term leases or ownership of public waterfront land.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ budget analyst, Harvey Rose, wrote in a report published Thursday evening that the city would need to spend $52 million on police, transit and other services to host the regattas this year and next — that’s up from an estimate of $31 million published in late 2010.
To partly defray those costs, Rose estimated that San Francisco would reap $22 million from additional sales and hotel taxes and other revenues generated from visitors and event-related spending.
A nonprofit group established by America’s Cup organizers to raise funds to defray city expenses aims to raise $32 million. So far, that group has told the city that it has received pledges for at least $12 million.
The supervisors’ budget and finance committee hearing into the proposed deal will be held on Wednesday. The full board will vote on the plan later this month.
Source: The Bay Citizen (http://s.tt/15Djm)
The America’s cup has been moving away from the public a little more every year. At the same time, never has the America’s Cup needed the public as much as now. I find the overtures by the AC to the public are awkward at best. San Francisco is caught in the middle without a voice. As I have written in the past “be careful what you wish for:” Imagine if this was happening in Newport.
The underwhelming number of entries for the 34th America’s Cup has forced organisers to re-think the format of next year’s regatta.
Just three challengers – Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa and Artemis – have paid the US$100,000 ($121,000) entry fee for the 2013 event. With those teams already well-advanced in the design and build process of their AC72s, America’s Cup regatta director Iain Murray admits it is looking increasingly unlikely that another syndicate will enter at this late stage.
“We’re hopeful of having more teams outside of the teams that are already building, but the reality is the runway is going to run out in the not too distant future as to when they can start building and get to the startline, so it is going to become clear pretty quickly as to who the Louis Vuitton Cup competitors are going to be,” said Murray, who was in Auckland yesterday for a competitor’s forum.
The number of entries are well down on what organisers had been predicting, with the proposed format of the Louis Vuitton challenger series allowing for eight challengers and scheduled to run for two months from July 4-September 1 next year.
But with only three competitors, the regatta is likely to be scaled back significantly.
“It’s going to change what’s on the table for sure,” said Murray when asked if the length of the Louis Vuitton series will be reduced.
“In the next few weeks we’ll start planning on a bunch of potential different formats as to what the Louis Vuitton Cup will look like. We’ll have to look at the mixture of the type of racing we do and how many races we do on each day and the breaks that we give the teams.”
Murray said he was aware of the importance of maintaining the history and heritage of the America’s Cup.
One of the options discussed yesterday was making each of the matches a best-of-three series rather than just a one-off match race.
This format could also be introduced for the America’s Cup World Series regattas this year.
But it is still not apparent how that would fit into an eight-week Louis Vuitton series, much to the frustration of the competing teams who are keen for clarity around this.
Murray said a number of different agendas were emerging in the competitors’ group, with some focused on AC45 issues, with the other four teams more interested in the AC72s.
For the AC72 group their main concerns yesterday were getting the length of course sorted, the format of the racing and the way the racing would be scored.
“What we’re seeing is a number of different agendas emerging and as we go forward we have a number of different subjects we need to deal with,” said Murray.
“The teams that are well-organised and strong are digging deeper into the detail of what we’re going to do.”
Buell: “I get zero salary for this, and I’m busting my ass raising (money) for it.” (Photo by Lance Iversen / The ChronicleThe plan was to have $12 million raised a week ago to help cover the city’s costs for hosting the upcoming America’s Cup regatta.
Here is the diagram of the America’s Cup course for the upcoming San Diego series. It will shut down the port entirely during the event. Granted it is only for a few hours each day and only the days of the event. But no other boats will be moving. In San Francisco it will shut down the commercial port and all commercial traffic.
In Newport, next June it will be no different. For anyone not consumed by the America’s Cup, it is liable to be a nightmare.
Dean Barker is someone, while I do not know him strikes me as a really solid sailor, with his head squarely on his shoulders, so when he speaks on the subject of the America’s Cup I am inclined to listen.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2011
Dean Barker: “We’re about winning the America’s Cup”38-year old skipper Dean Barker and his team Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) currently sit at the top of the leaderboard of the America’s Cup World Series Championship with 38 points (19 scored in match racing, 19 in fleet racing), just four points ahead of Oracle Racing Spithill. With the third and final World Series event for 2011 just around the corner, Barker updated Sailblast on ETNZs training progress…as well as shared some thoughts on the new AC game…
What was one thing that you took away from racing AC45s in the recent in events in Cascais & Plymouth?
The biggest eye opener is the maneuverability and how the racecourse and boundaries operate. It makes the racing just so much tighter and more emphasis on crew work and boat handling than ever before.
Emirates Team NZ (ETNZ) did extremely well – what do you attribute your strength to this early in the game?
We were really happy with our performance. We know we can sail a hell of a lot better but I’m sure like all the teams you make a lot of mistakes around the course but it’s a challenge with these boats in tough conditions and close quarters with other teams. It’s going to be hard to sail at a high level.
We’ve put a lot of effort into our crew work and boat handling and that’s paid dividends. I think during the period in Auckland we’re a bit off the pace. At our first crack at the soft sails, they were good but not good enough so we’ve developed our sails – we’re into our second generation and that’s been a big improvement in our speed. We feel like we’re a lot more competitive now against Oracle who in Auckland who had quite a big jump it felt over the rest of us. We’ve made some good gains there. But we’ve worked really hard on things like getting around the corners and being able to react in all different situations around the course. That’s been a big strength.
How are you preparing for San Diego?
To be honest we’ve been pretty full on working with boat design for the 72. San Diego is rolling around pretty quickly so we will need to get our heads back in the game for racing but we have a few practice days there before racing proper starts so that’ll give us an opportunity to get back into it all. We’ve been doing a bit of sailing back here in Auckland on the 33s as obviously like everyone else, except Oracle who have a couple of extras, our 45 is en route to San Diego.
How’s the transition to the multihull been for you?
I’ve been sailing multis now for a year and it’s amazing. It feels like the progress that we’ve made since we came last in Almeria in the Extreme Series last year. It feels like we’re making some really good progress. I’d say it’s still not necessarily instinctive like monohull sailing was. There’re times when you know what you want to do but you can’t quite make it happen instinctively. But it’s coming – it just takes time to reprogram yourself to adjust to different situations where things happen very very quickly. You have to be able to make decisions a lot quicker than in the monos. But it’s all a really good challenge.
Who is your back-up skipper?
We’re a pretty small sailing team at the moment. We really don’t have a lot of back-ups in any position to be honest! Depending on who is injured at any time we’ve got cover by three grinders and a few others who aren’t sailing on the boat.
When will ETNZ expand its sailing team?
That’s about it really. We’re not going to have two 72s. We just don’t have the resources to do it. It’s too expensive to take two 72s off the dock and go two-boat testing. It’s an expensive game we’re in and to take two 72s sailing, you’d need an army of people. There’s probably only one team that’s in that position right now.
Where are you at in the 72 design/build process?
We’re in the final stages of our design. What we’re learning pretty quickly is that the more you learn the more you don’t know! You just have to try to narrow in on the first design. The good thing is that we’re making good progress, the hard thing to know is what is the level you’ll need to be at in 2013. The learning curve makes it seem like we’ve got a long way to go but we’re at a level where we think we’ll be competitive enough. We have a design group of about 30 people we draw from including Pete Melvin, Scott Graham, Luc Du Bois – there’s a bunch of guys who are contributing. Cookson’s will build the hull and structures, and Southern will build a lot of our wing and wing components.
Who is developing your sails/sailplan?
We’ve done most of sail development in-house so far. We get a lot of input off the chase (boat) and evaluate our sails against where the opposition is. Oracle is by far the most experienced in these boats and have sailed them more than everybody else and have probably built more sails than the rest of us. You’re always looking to measure yourself against where they’re at and the direction they’re going. But, we’re pretty happy with the choices and development we’ve made.
What are some things you can see from the 45 that will translate to the 72?
The 45 is a nicely balanced boat, it’s fun to sail, it’s relatively easy to sail compared to the more traditional X-40 type designs, it’s quite a robust boat and seems to perform well across a variety of conditions. We’ve learned a lot just from sailing that but it is limited in a lot of ways. It’s got straight boards, it doesn’t have any real lifting component, it gets limited by wind speed, it’s a bit hard to push up the range but it’s a fantastic boat for learning about multi hull and sailing with a wing.
The 72 is a hugely more powerful boat. When you scale the 45 up to a 72 boat, it’s quite underpowered. The challenges that are going to go with the size of the 72 are pretty daunting. The boats in a strong breeze are going to be animals. They’ll be very hard to sail in SF conditions and you’ll certainly have to have your wits about you to get around the course. They’ll have capability of very high speed and you’re going to have to be really in tune to sail with them well.
What’s different about this Cup Campaign for ETNZ?
Apart from the obvious, lifestyle and scenery, it’s adapting to a different world. We’ve moved from a world of detailing and fine tuning to one of complete new world of open book, fresh paper design. Any ideas are certainly worth consideration. There are no stupid questions or ideas right now. With this multihull world, we’re just scratching the surface of a huge unchartered territory. It’s not even like a new design rule within the monohull environment.
Do you think it was entirely necessary to move up to the 72 for the real deal in 2013, or do you think a successful Cup could be staged in the 45?
Well, the 45 would really detract from what the essence of what the America’s Cup is about. It has always been a design race. I think to take away that aspect of the Cup would be a tragedy. It’s about managing so many different aspects of a campaign for a successful America’s Cup. When you get it right, then rightfully you deserve to win the America’s Cup. From a sailor’s point of view, one design racing is great because in the end the best team wins. There’s no argument about who had the better boat. It comes down to who sailed the best. So, there’s two schools of thought but in some ways I still believe in the traditional values of the Cup. It’s about managing a whole lot of different aspects: design, sailing team, campaign management and just getting to the start line. I still think it’s the right move that we’re racing in a development boat in the America’s Cup.
If Oracle was so committed to keeping costs down for AC34, how could they then go buy four AC45s while the other teams have only one? What’s ETNZ’s position on this?
There’s no way Oracle is committed to keeping costs down. It’s a complete fallacy that they’re trying to keep costs down. It’s absolute bullshit. The whole idea of this next America’s Cup was to try to make it more affordable for the teams. I can tell you right now that the budget for doing this campaign is at least what we spent last time and you can do it for less but you just don’t have a chance to perform. It’s a complete joke if they can sit back and say it costs less money, it’s not. It’s way more expensive. But that’s the game we’re in. If you want a crack at winning the America’s Cup you have to play by the rules and these rules are more expensive.
* Ed’s note: America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) does not limit the teams’ training outside of World Series events, for instance, some teams will sail as soon as boats are off the ship in San Diego and others will opt not to sail until closer to the start of racing. And, any team can purchase an additional AC45 for training…assuming that they can afford to.
If ETNZ knew what it knows now before you signed up, do you think you guys may have given this next one a miss?
Definitely not. Emirates Team NZ exists for the America’s Cup and we’ve weathered the storm since 2007 to give ourselves the opportunity to compete in the 2013 event. You can’t afford to sit out, it’s just too hard to come in green and expect to get straight on the pace. If you miss a cycle, with all the development you’ll never catch it back up. It’s too much time. We decided that whatever the direction the Cup took that we’d contemplate it seriously, evaluate whether we could raise the money and give it a really good go at winning it. We’re not it in to make up the numbers, we’ve only entered because we think we can put up a challenge with a team that’s good enough to win. Time will tell if that’s the case. But, we’re a team that’s about winning the America’s Cup.
Much of the excitement over the 45, particularly for the non-sailing fan, is thanks to the crash factor. We wont (hopefully) see that with the 72. Without the crashes do you think the event will remain interesting for the non-sailor?
There’ll be an element who tune in to just watch the crashes, looking for the capsize or the collision. Those people you’ll try to capture – you have to accept that there’ll be that element. Hopefully people will be interested in watching the racing for what it is as well and we’ll be able to capture a new interested audience. In the short-term while there’s still a lot of spectacular action that’s going to motivate people to watch. It’s no different to the X-40s – the biggest hits come with the best action.
Do you think a nationality rule would help the AC grow as a fan sport?
I think it helps countries identify with their teams. We’ve got other nationalities involved in our team but it’s still pretty much all NZ, which certainly helps our fan base within NZ and the support we get as opposed to some of the other teams. Even though they may represent the US, Sweden and so on, they’re not true national teams to the degree we are.
How does your family take your busy lifestyle?
Fortunately my wife Mandy is really good with it all because I’m a bit of an absentee dad at times. I have four kids – 3 girls and a boy between six and one. It’s a lot of fun, never a dull moment. You feel like you leave one circus and go home to another one!
What’s your other business and how do you find time for that while still running a top AC team?
My primary focus is with the team so I spend the majority of my time sailing and working with the design group when I’m not traveling to events. When I do have a little down time I try to keep up to speed with Kiwi Yachting Consultants, a company I’m involved with in NZ, and also Nexus Marine which marine electronics company in Sweden.
When do you expect to be moving full-time to SF?
As a team we wont go up to San Francisco – mainly because of cost – until April/May 2013 full-time. We’ll be there next year for the events in August and September which will be great. I’m absolutely looking forward to sailing on the Bay, I’ve done a little bit of sailing there but not much. It’ll be an amazing spectacle for sure.
The Golden Gate bridge is one of those places that never looks the same from one moment to the next. It is no wonder that the number one business in San Francisco is tourism. The bridge also showcases the micro climate that is San Francisco. It was built to connect San Francisco to the Redwood Empire, what I might today refer to as the 101 corridor.
The America’s Cup will be sailed under the bridge a year from now.
This video showcases not only the joy of sailing but the true beauty of San Francisco and the bay. It also demonstrates the ability and imagination of the people who now have a new means of expression through simple and inexpensive video cameras.
The soap opera that there is the America’s Cup continues. Yesterday the organizers of the 34th America’s Cup along with the mayor of San Francisco to announce 8 challenger teams plus one more to be revealed on june 23rd.
Everyone would agree that this event is reshaping not only the America’s Cup but sailing as we have known it and has not been without growing pains exacerbated by a fragile economy.
This is a story I have been interested in particularly given that Newport RI was the supposed runner up to host the America’s Cup. I wrote then: Be careful what you wish for. Newport never had and could never find the resources potentially available to San Francisco. It was clear even at the beginning that San Francisco would have an uphill battle. While from a viewing point of view, it is a great venue; from a logistical position, not so much. Tide is a huge factor. Sailing in the commercial traffic channel another potential problem.
The America’s Cup has it’s own issues with a number of teams withdrawing from the competition. I am not saying that the event will not take place, but the timeline may even be altered. there is a lot to accomplish. so far it is mostly a discussion.
Published on San Francisco Examiner (http://www.sfexaminer.com)
Home > America’s Cup short of cash for planning 2013 regatta
America’s Cup short of cash for planning 2013 regatta
The America’s Cup is supposed to provide a huge boost for the local economy while coming at no cost to taxpayers.
America’s Cup organizers have netted only a fraction of the funds The City needs this year to plan the massive 2013 yacht race, but officials said as soon as they receive their tax-exempt status, the money will start flowing.
If it doesn’t, San Francisco taxpayers will be on the hook.
Some $12 million is budgeted in the coming fiscal year for the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development to conduct environmental planning and get necessary state and federal permits. Yet the nonprofit responsible for offsetting The City’s $32 million in costs has only $2 million on hand to mitigate the bill.
If the America’s Cup Organizing Committee can’t come up with the other $10 million, it would have to come from San Francisco’s general fund, which is dedicated to basic city services such as police, fire protection and road construction.
A big selling point of the America’s Cup was that it would provide a huge boost for the local economy while presumably coming at no cost to taxpayers.
San Francisco voters have traditionally resisted backing private endeavors with public money, including the rejection of two proposals in the late ’80s for taxpayer money to fund a new waterfront stadium for the Giants.
Under new ownership in 1995, the team announced it would build the first privately financed ballpark since Dodger Stadium went up in 1962.
Voters narrowly approved two 1997 measures that allowed San Francisco to borrow money to rezone and develop the area around Candlestick Park, but The City never moved forward with its $100 million in bonding permission.
Kyri McClellan, executive director of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, said the tax-exempt approval is expected in August. After that, she predicted, donors will become more comfortable writing seven-figure checks and the committee should raise the remaining millions by October or November, when final impact reports are filed under the California Environmental Quality Act.
“I have every confidence we will meet our obligations in the host-city agreement,” McClellan said, adding that after this year’s $12 million goal, the committee would raise the additional $20 million over the next two years.
The America’s Cup money came into question last week at the Board of Supervisors Government Audit and Oversight Committee during an informational presentation by Mayor Ed Lee’s staff. Supervisor David Campos said later that the committee should be following the money and making sure the entire city has a chance to hear about logistics and impacts of the event.
Most of the 35 or so informational presentations about the America’s Cup “people plan” have been limited to The City’s eastern and northern shores, where the event will be focused. Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to watch the races.
“I think we can do a better job … this belongs to all of San Francisco,” Campos said. “The City doesn’t have money right now, which is why we need to make sure this is done right.”
A Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee hearing on America’s Cup funding is set for June 20.
Costs and benefits
$300 million Projected cost for race
$32 million Cost to The City (to be raised by America’s Cup Organizing Committee nonprofit)
$270 million Remaining cost (to be paid by corporate sponsorships and broadcast rights)
$1.4 billion Estimated economic benefits for The City
8,000 Jobs created
Source: Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development
