Summer in Newport for many still means sailing, and the city this year will host two major events, though not the one state and city officials had hoped for.
Some 30 vessels from nine countries will take part in the Transatlantic Race 2011 from Newport to Cornwall, England, scheduled to start at the end of June, and 22 yacht club teams have been confirmed to take part in the Invitational Cup Sept. 10-17 along Rhode Island Sound, according to New York Yacht Club members overseeing the organization of both events.
Together the races are expected to bring about 1,000 visitors to Rhode Island. While certainly welcomed by sailing enthusiasts and city and business leaders, those races don’t carry the prestige or potential economic impact of the 2011 sailing event the City by the Sea was unable to land, hosting preliminary races for the next America’s Cup.
Local and state officials have already set their sites on the 2012 pre-regatta race venues, which will be announced in October of this year.
“We continue to be in talks with [BMC] Oracle” Racing, said Melissa Chambers, spokeswoman for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, of the racing team that won the last Cup competition and the right to select the location of the 2013 America’s Cup matches and the preliminary races. The final Cup matches will take place in the United States for the first time in 18 years, Sept. 7-22, 2013, in San Francisco Bay.
Newport hosted 12 of the 33 America’s Cup races, from 1930 to 1983, and is home of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame. The city made a late bid for the 2013 races but lost out to San Francisco.
Newport’s chances to land a pre-regatta race depend heavily on the status of Fort Adams State Park, which state officials have said requires about $500,000 worth of basic improvements before the city can host a World Series race. State funds have been budgeted for this purpose, state officials have said. The R.I. Department of Environmental Management is taking the lead on the repairs, slated to begin this summer. Enough work will be completed to host a 2012 event, according to Joseph Dias, DEM chief of planning and development.
Stephanie Martin, spokeswoman for the event authority in San Francisco, told Providence Business News that 2012 pre-regatta venues will be announced in October of this year and the 2013 sites, the year after.
In April Keith W. Stokes, EDC executive director, said that while a 2011 pre-regatta race would have been nice, a 2012 race “puts us in a better position to ensure success for a large-scale, international event that we anticipate will generate tremendous visitor and media excitement.”
Local officials say they won’t be able to determine the economic impact of a pre-regatta race until they know the number of days and boats involved. But they expect it would be much greater than the two races coming this summer.
A 2010 study commissioned by the Newport County Chamber of Commerce said the America’s Cup finals could have a local economic impact in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Every hotel room within a 50-mile radius of Newport would be rented leading up to the finals, the 2010 study said. Interest in the America’s Cup, internationally and domestically, also can extend over several years for a longer impact than other races, sailing advocates have said.
“We want the America’s Cup trials, we want it badly,” said Evan Smith, president of the Newport Bristol County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
For now, local officials will have to make do with lower-profile races.
Stephen A. Frank, NYCC member and co-chair of the Transatlantic Race, said 30 boats are scheduled to take part in that event, representing nine countries and 300 individual sailors that make up the crews. The event is the centerpiece of the seven-part Atlantic Ocean Racing Series.
He estimated about 400 people (including crews) will be in Newport for the start of the race from the Castle Hill area. Three staggered starting dates – June 26, June 29 and July 3 – will see the smallest boats take off first and the bigger boats follow. Staggered starts are set so that boats arrive in England at about the same time, Frank said, between July 8 and July 16.
Boats will vary in size and type, but one of the largest is sure to be the 289-foot Maltese Falcon, captained by Chris Gartner and one of the largest privately owned sailing yachts in the world. “She is just vast,” Frank said of the Maltese Falcon. “She is really a small ocean liner.”
The Falcon has 15 square sails, five on each 190-foot mast, he noted. Other entrants include several boats based in Newport, such as the PUMA Ocean Racing Team led by Ken Read that placed second in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race.
Regarding the 2011 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, sponsored by Rolex, event chairman John Mendez of the yacht club said 22 teams representing 16 nations have been confirmed for the Sept. 10-17 event to take place in Rhode Island Sound. These waters are “absolutely fabulous” for sailing, Mendez said. “It’s where we used to run the America’s Cup. It’s the same body of water.”
Although this Newport-based race has only been held once before, in 2009, “it is rapidly becoming a popular event,’ Mendez said, estimating that 600 sailors and spectators will come to see it. Base of operations will be Harbour Court and, Mendez said, a considerable number of spectators are expected both on-shore and in boats every day. A parade of boats “with battle flags flying,” visible from shore, will be held Saturday morning, Sept. 17, in Newport Harbor, he said.
With considerable overseas press expected to cover the event, Mendez said the invitational, “with an influx of about 500 people flying in from around the world,” will provide “enormous exposure” for Newport worldwide and “bring a lot of business to the Newport area, as it did two years ago. This race draws a lot of people who want to see it and be part of it.” Plans already are in the works for the 2013 invitational, he noted. •
