Bermuda’s three resident America’s Cup teams opened their doors to the people of Bermuda at Foil Fest on Saturday, June 25.
Thousands of residents and visitors were treated to a look inside the teams bases, a meet and greet with the sailors and three drags races between the “super charged” AC45s in the waters just off the cruise ships berths in Dockyard.
Oracle Team USA and SoftBank Team Japan welcomed the public into their Dockyard facilities and Artemis Racing, who are based at Morgan’s Point, had a booth at the event village where they signed posters and took pictures with the fans.
“This was a great chance for us to meet with and thank the community in Bermuda who have supported us so much since we moved here last year,” said skipper Oracle Team USA skipper, Jimmy Spithill.
The event, hosted by America’s Cup Bermuda [ACBDA] and WEDCO, also featured a variety of local vendors and demonstrations from Dolphin Quest, the International One Meter remote control sailboats and Coconut Rockets flyboarding team.
Throughout the day a number of local fleets ran the same drag race course as the America’s Cup boats, with 12 year-old Rian Geraghty McDonnell winning the Optimist class, Quinton Simons, onboard “Stir de Pot”, winning the Comet class and Scott Mello first across the line for the Windsurfers.
“It was great that these fleets supported the event and I think they enjoyed the races,” says Adam Barboza, project manager for ACBDA. “I’d like to thank DeDe Cooper, Gladwin Lambert and David Kendall for organizing their fleets for the day.”
The Bermuda Pilot Gig Club also staged two races, the first between their competitive races teams and the second with “celebrity” teams, one of which included Bermuda’s Governor, George Fergusson.
In the main event the America’s Cup teams took to the water in their AC45 “test boats” that they are using to develop the technology and systems that will power the official America’s Cup Class in June of 2017.
“We had about 10 knots of wind, maybe a little more at times, and the boats reached speeds up to 30 miles-per-hour,” says Mr Barboza. “Very few people have seen these new boats race so it is fantastic that they put on this show for Bermuda.”
After three closely contested races, SoftBank Team Japan emerged as the winners of Foil Fest, with Oracle Team USA in second and Artemis Racing in third.
For their victory, SoftBank Team Japan will donate the $12,500 in prize money, which the teams put up for the competition, to the Centre Against Abuse and The Reading Clinic.
“We know there are a lot of charities doing important work in Bermuda, in fact we were supposed to choose one and ended up settling on two,” says Dean Barker, skipper and CEO of SoftBank Team Japan.
“I hope the people of Bermuda enjoyed all the activities and races at Foil Fest, we certainly enjoyed being part of it.”
Another important occasion taking place at Foil Fest was the introduction of the finalists for Team BDA, Bermuda’s entry into the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, taking place in Bermuda in June, 2017.
Oracle Team USA has adopted the Bermuda team, meaning that they will automatically qualify for the event. Mr Spithill introduced the team and explained that the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup provides a “pathway” for youth sailors into America’s Cup sailing.
Mike Winfield, CEO of ACBDA, thanked the three AC teams, and the event’s community supporters, Butterfield and Vallis, BELCO, BF&M, Butterfield Bank and Logic, plus the staff of WEDCO and ACBDA for all the work that went into planning and running the event:
“There is no official America’s Cup racing in Bermuda this year so we wanted to do something special for the community.
“The teams immediately embraced the idea and I’m really pleased that so many people came out and took advantage of this unique opportunity.”
