Editor's Note: Fresh Water Foiling
This week, the America’s Cup World Series has stepped up proceedings as we cross the one year mark before Bermuda in 2017. To celebrate this fact, the America’s Cup teams are in Chicago to face off against one another during the Qualifiers, on fresh water for the first time in 165 years no less.
It was an honour to help BWA Yachting launch the official America’s Cup Superyacht Program in central London a few months back, and as I prepare to watch the Qualifiers tomorrow, it got me thinking about the general spectatorship of the America’s Cup.
Tomorrow the teams will be heading across Lake Michigan from Navy Pier to Adler Planetarium, and as the qualifiers heat up and Bermuda approaches, the amount of eyes on the water will be monumental.
The primary attraction of the America’s Cup for me, is that this is a true spectator sport. There are a lot of great spectacles in stadiums, just look at the Euros, but here everyone in the immediate area can watch the open-air race, tune in around the globe or make the most of it by booking in a berth to watch it from the sun deck. No matter who you are, you can enjoy the America’s Cup.
Seeing the Duchess of Cambridge on a high-speed yacht with Sir Ben Ainslie during her visit to Land Rover BAR in Portsmouth, is what I imagine drew me to this unrequested conclusion. Throw in thousands of onlookers and there you have a complete mix of people, all enjoying the water and watching what these boats can do. Enjoy it Chicago.
