In this story (read time 7 minutes):
– Cagliari embraces the 38th America's Cup
– Whose boat is it?
– Bagnoli team base delays impact some of the teams more than others
– Meet the new boss
– Stunning conditions deliver amazing racing
Cagliari embraces the 38th America's Cup
Cagliari has come alive over the last 48 hours. Yesterday’s press conference was thronged with Italian mainstream media eager to hear from the skippers of the eight crews competing in this weekend’s first Preliminary Regatta of the 38th America’s Cup. Also in attendance were Tom Slingsby from Team Australia and Ken Read from American Challenger Team USA, although neither of these two late entry teams are anywhere close to being ready to compete this weekend.
Out on the water for the official practice racing, a decent sized – for a Thursday – spectator fleet was spread around the racecourse boundary, and you can guarantee that the marinas in and around Cagliari will be virtually empty over this weekend’s three race days. Then last night’s opening ceremony at the city’s Bastione di Saint Remy and subsequent parade down to the race village drew thousands of spectators and brought traffic to a crawl along the waterfront.
What is really encouraging to see is that the local Cagliari population seem to have embraced the America’s Cup with an enthusiasm that we simply never saw in Barcelona during AC37. Admittedly, Barcelona is a much bigger and busier metropolis than Cagliari with a lot more going on, but last night, as I wended my way home through the crowds around the race village, it was hard not to get sucked into the pervading atmosphere of bonhomie.
