Rumours continue to swirl around the second Preliminary Regatta of the 37th America’s Cup scheduled for the Red Sea city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Latest talk is of a second team, believed to be Swiss Alinghi Redbull Racing, making a new filing to be excused from competing at Jeddah.
The first filing, stating reasonable and genuine safety concerns, by the NYYC American Magic team earlier in the year, was dismissed by the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel.
While there is little chance of demonstrations on the tightly controlled streets of Jeddah, the reputation of the 170 year old event, hawked around the world to the highest bidder, will suffer another hit.
It is likely that teams will consider hiring private security following the updated US Security Alert stating:
‘Reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia due to the threat of missile and drone attacks on civilian facilities. Exercise increased caution in Saudi Arabia due to terrorism. Some areas have increased risk.’
Due to the distance involved and size of the shore structures required, most teams will have the transport of boats and equipment already in progress.
The second Preliminary Regatta, scheduled to start on Thursday 30 November, will involve the six America’s Cup teams in three days of fleet racing in the one-design AC40 class.
To put it in context . . . the International Optimist class is currently holding the 2023 Optimist Asian and Oceanian Championship in Abu Dhabi, with 161 competitors from 29 countries. Including from Britain, USA, New Zealand, Italy and France.
The rival international team event, SailGP, will hold an event December 9-10 2023, in Dubai, and has an event planned in Abu Dhabi on January 13-14 2024.
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