EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S CORNER

A PLEA TO BRING THE CUP DEFENSE TO THE U.S.

By Guest Columnist John Arndt

“Special Message About the America’s Cup from Long-Time Sail America Member and Supporter John Arndt”

Dear Sail America Members,

There is an active debate regarding where BMW/Oracle should defend the America's Cup - Europe or the US. Having just gone to Oracle World in San Francisco and watched their Cup presentation to Oracle clients, I think it would be a real shame if the Cup ended up going to Europe. The Cup has the potential to bring massive dollars and attention to sailing (the merits of the Cup's representation of sailing can be debated but I think it would be a net positive). Anyway, the decision will be made in the next few weeks and I think the sailing industry should look at this as a campaign that will benefit sailing around the country not just San Francisco.

The show they put on at Oracle World was 3 times the size and scale of what they did at Strictly Sail Pacific - really impressive. The audience was thousands of non-sailors, many of whom were in awe of what sailing can be. I haven’t seen any other corporate $$ being spent on this scale to promote sailing in the US for years. So, I'm looking to enlist the sailing industry to support the effort to bring the Cup to the US.

America's Cup Organizing Committee-SF is making a big push for public support for the AC34 in San Francisco. It's vital right now to both the San Francisco city government and BMW Oracle Racing to have a tangible show of support to indicate that AC34 should be in San Francisco and in the United States!

To show your support for defending the America’s Cup in America, please take a few minutes to do the following:

• Post a Facebook message here.
• Send an email of support to the San Francisco Mayor's office.
• Send email of support to BMW ORACLE Racing: media@bmworacleracing.com
• Post a Twitter message here.

The aim is for 20,000 names on the Facebook page and hopefully thousands of letters to the Mayor's office. Please forward this email to help spread the word. If you don’t do it, who will?

It’s critical that this happens in the next 2-4 weeks since they will likely decide before the end of November.

Please email me at john@latitude38.com or call 415-383-8200 (ext. 108) if you have any questions or further thoughts on how to bring the Cup to San Francisco.

Fair Winds,
John Arndt

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