an open letter to larry
Dear Larry,
Seems you have taken the oldest and most prestigious event in the history of sport and run in through the muck of San Francisco bay.
You have now done everything possible to cheapen the sport and the dog and pony show you are about to present is going to be a disaster.
You have insulated yourself and surrounded yourself with yes men who may know something about sailing, but don’t know anything about politics and especially the unique politics of San Francisco.
Hopefully you have now seen how totally dysfunctional SF politics are and that the "MAYOR" is powerless over the various fiefdoms that make up the city.
While local knowledge will help you on the race course, it is essential in San Francisco politics.
Had you written a simple 100 G check to Willie Brown, you would have all you wanted and things would have been built by now. You have demonstrated to those of us in the sailing community how inept you really are at this.
With only three challengers (there were 12 in Valencia) – how did you expect to pull this off? It is essentially a non event.
Being totally isolated at pier 80 doesn’t help. Who is going to go down there – BY BUS???
Apparently you have never ridden the Muni! Pit row is now in the hood! Good luck with that. I for one, am not driving my Lexus down there. I bet you aren’t either.
You have now set the America’s Cup on a path of destruction. No longer is the Cup about national pride with hired guns from whereever you can get them, along with retainers for guys that you don’t want to compete against.
No longer is the Cup the test platform for new development. That is now the bastion fob the Volvo regatta, the Orma’s and the Classe 40’s.
Who’s going to come to this dog and pony show?
You have alienated the monohull guys, who are the vast majority of those who sail.
You have made the Cup the NASCAR of sailing where everyone comes for the crash and burn. Except NASCAR has 43 cars. And 36 races. In one season. And millions of fans.
It will probably take a couple of separated shoulders and some face plants into the main during a pitch pole to understand that trying to sail those things in SF Bay in real breeze is a life threatening experience. Not to mention when they start breaking. And that is when, not if. Wonder what the over/under is on some races having no finishers at all?.
You make no effort to reach out to the locals or the local yacht clubs. Sending a talking head down to the St Francis Yacht Club last Wednesday for the luncheon was a pretty lame attempt to garner support – in the 11th hour no less.
Lets face it, you have very little from the rank and file in that community.
Who’s coming from out of town? Who’s coming to see 3 boats race each other? Yes the 72 footer will be an odyssey, more like a freak show if it actually makes it around the course on a typical 30 knot day, but still, it could be impresive.
Don’t see omega yachts in the crystal ball either, as now you have no facilities!
Your plan to create a Cup Village may never come true if the environmentalists have their way. Hell, they don’t even like your giant floating TV. You should have made a big donation and gotent them onboard instead of alienating them.
So now you pissed off the sailing community, pissed of the local politicians, pissed off the greenies – and have little to show for it.
By the way where is F**K the trophy? Lke the boats, there is no access to this either.
Concerned in SF
