Day 99 - Valencia, Spain

 

Date:  April 17

 

Location:  Day 99 – Valencia, Spain

 

Next Port:  Malaga, Spain, April 18

 

Quick Summary:  We enjoyed a brief in stop Valencia, primarily for an exclusive America’s Cup Regatta event at the spectacular “City of the Arts and Sciences.”

 

Report:  Larry had a beautiful spring day in the Med to celebrate his birthday. Our “main event” was learning about the 32nd America’s Cup competition that is entering its final competitive stages here in Valencia.

 

If you are interested in a refresher on how this competition is current run, here is what we learned:

 

The America’s cup takes its name from the schooner America, which in 1851 beat the British fleet in a race around the Isle of Wright. The cup was bequeathed to the New York Yacht Club to be held as a challenge trophy to foster friendly competition between nations.

 

Since 1851 it has been contested 31 times. As a challenge-based trophy the event relies on a yacht club challenging the current holder to a match for the trophy. When you win, you also win the rights to the event.

 

For 132 years, the defending NYCC had a stranglehold on the trophy. But in 1970 the NYCC allowed multiple Challengers who could run their own selection series (known today as the Louis Vuitton Cup) to determine who would ultimately race the Defender for the America’s Cup.

 

The Challengers and the Defenders have split the six matches since the Australians took it from the USA in 1983. Swiss Alinghi won the trophy in 2003 by beating New Zealand. The win brings the competition to Europe for the first time. The Swiss, with no sea, chose Valencia as the site to defend the cup.

 

For the first time, a series of 13 preliminary fleet race regattas, the Louis Vuitton Acts, have been conducted over the past four years. All the teams have been competing in these Acts, with the results counting towards bonus points for the Louis Vuitton Cup.

 

Now the 11 Challenger team, armed with their bonus points, are meeting in Valencia for series of two round robin match races. The four leading teams will advance to the semi-finals. Winning the semi-final allows that team to Challenge the Defender, Swiss Alinghi. All the decisive duels are a best-of-nine series.

 

We departed the ship in a caravan of buses shortly after 8:00. First, we toured around the basin where the 12 competing teams have large, hangar-like structures that are the bases for their dockside operations. We made a brief stop at the VIP hall and climbed up on the deck to see some of the boats being made ready for the day’s competition.

 

The first Louis Vuitton round robin match was supposed to begin yesterday (April 16), but was called off due to lack of wind. The final 32nd America’s Cup Match will run from June 23 – July 7.

 

We drove to the City of the Arts and Sciences. This large tract of public buildings on the former bed of the Turia River was designed by Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava. Built between 1991-2001, it includes an opera house and performing arts center; an IMAX theater and planetarium; a science museum; an open-air oceanographic park; and a walkway/garden. The buildings are strikingly beautiful white structures – all curves and glass – surrounded by attractive streams and pools of water.

 

(We’ve visited Calatrava’s impressive winged-addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, and his Olympic Stadium and other buildings built for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Plus, we are watching with interest his plans for a developer in Chicago. It would be the world’s tallest residential building and would be built on the city’s lakefront. It would be taller than the Sears Building and personally, we don’t believe its fits in on the small chosen site. It’s already been dubbed the “Drill Bit.”)

 

In the auditorium of the Science Museum we had a very informative presentation by Andy Green about the entire America’s cup operation and competition. Though he seems to still be a young man, Andy has been a very successful professional sailor – rising at one time to number 5 in the world rankings. He will be doing the radio commentary for this year’s America’s Cup.

 

Following this we walked over to the covered outside of the Hemisphere (Planetarium) for cocktails and local refreshments – accompanied by music and folk dancers.

 

We then re-boarded the buses for guided tours of downtown Valencia. We passed the important monuments such as the Central Market, the North Train Station, the Post Office and the Cathedral. It is am impressive city that would be well worthwhile for a future visit.

 

Capt. Dag had hoped to take the Voyager out too the race courts to watch the 11 boats in competition. We hung around awhile by some of the buoys on the western end of the course, but it appeared lack of wind would again cancel the day’s competition. (We had to leave before it was officially called off.) 

 

Karen arranged a special birthday dinner in Compass Rose for 11 of us. We were joined by Jenny and Kevin, Barb and Jim, Ken, Marji and Dave, and Judy and Kirk. We had balloons and table streamers. Judy presented Larry with a jester’s cap (actually one from FCB – the Football Club of Barcelona). Something to make Larry look funny! We had a birthday cake and of course all the waiters led the singing. (In addition, Larry received a small cake, two glasses of champagne and birthday wishes from Capt. Dag, delivered to the room in the afternoon.)

 

 Afterwards, Jenny and Kevin, Marji and David, and we retired to the Voyager Lounge where we were joined by Phyllis and Eddie. And Elisa sang “Will You Still Love Me When I’m 64?”  A fun day!

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Photos of our visit to Valencia have been added.