Monthly Archives: November 2010

Seize the Moment

Much could be written—much has already been said around these parts—about the San Francisco Port Commission’s special meeting today, which unanimously approved two different visions of how the city’s waterfront could be configured to host an America’s Cup match. With that, the Commission enabled negotiators to continue to move toward a something-that-works-for-everyone solution. Much could [...]

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41 Years in the Saddle

Yes, I thought I felt a trembling in the power of the Force. And there it is, the December issue of SAIL, the first issue in the history of the magazine that does not bear the name Charles E. Mason III on the masthead. “Chip” as his oldest friends call him, was a founding editor. [...]

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An End to History
A Return to History

When the ACC class debuted in San Diego—in 1991 at a fleet race and then at the 1992 America’s Cup match—who could have imagined they would bow out in a non-AC event in the Middle East 18 years later. But, that is exactly what happened on Saturday in Dubai, where Dean Barker skippered Emirates Team [...]

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Torture

A lot of people imagined that San Francisco’s season of torture ended with Edgar Renteria’s home run into the stands at Arlington, sealing the fate of the Texas Rangers and riding Tim Lincecum’s pitching to the first World Series win since the Giants moved west in 1958. No way. The torture continues until we have [...]

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Match Racing Expandinggg

COLLEGE SAILING jumped onto the match-race bandwagon this year, and the inaugural national championship wrapped up memorably on Sunday in the chilly waters of the north shore of Long Island Sound. Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy was the host, and Boston College was the winner, dominating and dispatching St. Mary’s—a team that opened the series [...]

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As the Losers See It

If you’re looking for an epicenter of excitement about the future of America’s Cup racing, I suggest you look to— Newport, Rhode Island. Huh? Their bid to host America’s Cup 34 may have come up short, but the citizens of Newport figure that even a pre-event will be bigger than the AC matches sailed there [...]

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“Real” Match Racing in Monos?

Photo by Gilles Martin-Raget So familiar, and passing into history . . . the next contribution to the “take a ride on an America’s Cup boat” fleet? From the Louis Vuitton Trophy racing in Dubai, as I’m sure you know, where Jimmy Spithill and the BMW Oracle Racing team are showing they still know how [...]

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19,136 Words, HCA 11.9.10

Today I made it to the bottom of the Host City Agreement, the one signed on Tuesday [Correction. Agreed to, but not signed. KL, 11/14/10] between the America’s Cup Event Authority and the office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. I reckon I may have skimmed a few parts of the 19,136 word document, but [...]

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The Stars Align

America’s Cup 34 on San Francisco Bay; artist’s conception Wow, less than a week after San Francisco went happily and harmlessly nuts over the Giants’ victory parade we have a majority of the Board of Supervisors co-sponsoring the Mayor’s Host City Agreement between the city and America’s Cup authorities, and on Tuesday night I found [...]

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Sea of Green, Sea of Orange?

So I tracked down Jon Haveman, one of the guys who authored the study predicting that America’s Cup racing will boost the Bay Area economy by $1.4 billion, and I reminded him that my friend, SF Supervisor Chris Daly, doesn’t buy it. We’re at the tipping point of committing San Francisco to the Cup, so [...]

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