* How did the America's Cup AC45 Circus land in San Diego? Well, a bunch of J/120 sailors got together
and said it had to be done! In a few short days, the America's Cup
returns to San Diego, the Auld Mug's home from 1987 to 1995, when Team
New Zealand and Black Magic snatched it away in a dominating
performance. But this time around the action won't happen out at sea,
out of mind of all but the most hardcore sailing fans. "Stadium sailing"
is coming to San Diego, promising enough thrills, chills, and spills to
entice a whole new generation of fans.John Laun, lifelong sailboat racer and owner of the San Diego Yacht Club-based J/120 CAPER, watched the America's Cup making its "victory tour" around San Diego in 2010 and knew the city still had the interest and the ability to run a Cup regatta. He and Chuck Nichols, owner of the J/120 CC RIDER, former SDYC commodore and 1995 AC President, formed Sailing Events Association (SEA) San Diego to make that goal a reality. On the eve of the America's Cup World Series in San Diego, Laun talked to CupInfo about the steps they took to secure the regatta, lessons learned, and what it will take for the event to be a success in his view:
"We formed the Sailing Events Association San Diego to pursue America's Cup regattas," explained Laun. "It was clear early on that if we could demonstrate our capabilities and showcase San Diego -- our team, our environment, our stadium sailing concept -- that it would promote ourselves as a viable venue."
Step one was to host an event to demonstrate to the America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA) that SEA was capable of staging a major regatta inside San Diego Bay, including providing facilities for teams on the downtown piers, spectator viewing options on and around the race course, on-the-water race management, and plenty of waterfront entertainment. Enter the RC44 class; for their first event SEA signed the international one-design fleet for a west coast stop. The regatta in March 2011 featured the top RC44 teams from around the world, with names familiar to America's Cup fans, such as Russell Coutts, Paul Cayard, Cameron Appleton, and Paolo Cian.
"We wanted to host a spectator event that people could enjoy, something that would energize the San Diego community around sailing. It was our first event and it was exactly on spec for what we wanted -- spectator-friendly and exciting. We had a meeting with the ACEA the night of the trophy presentation and were up in San Francisco the next week and it was a done deal." For more SEA San Diego America's Cup sailing information
