The Meeting, My Report

From the time the America’s Cup landed in Don’t-Call-It-Frisco, plenty of people were wringing their hands over whether or not the 2013 match would really be sailed on San Francisco Bay.

No guarantees, but nothing in the proceedings of this week’s meeting of the Design Review Board, Bay Conservation & Development Commission, raised any alarms. BCDC has been instrumental in controlling what once was rampant landfill in San Francisco Bay. Here the commissioners were more concerned with making sure that America’s Cup spectator facilities not block the Bay Trail that, piece by piece, is being linked along the bay shoreline.

To a schematic of proposed tenting of Crissy Field and the Marina Green—site of the America’s Cup Village for AC45 World Series racing in 2012—the commissioners suggested that the tents were too scattered and should be tightly grouped to reserve non-America’s Cup space and view corridors. I’m guessing that, if necessary, that can be arranged.

Alcatraz and Fort Baker? In the plan, but in the plan for hospitality events.

Ticketed bleacher seating? That’s in the design for 2012 and again for 2013.

And then, from the Commissions’ bench, a question that others have raised: Why put a spectator-boat zone between the bleachers and the race?

And speaking of the race, it’s still on to complete all the elements of environmental review in 2011 so construction crews can get cracking in 2012 for a downtown AC village for AC34. Here is Rolex Sailor of the Year/AC Technical Director Stan Honey, from a recent supplement to the San Francisco Business Times: “What’s interesting about the America’s Cup is the urgency. We have a sport that needs more visibility. We have an America’s Cup in 2013. We don’t have much time.”