I'm scratching my head at this one.
After all the national attention that cats got during the America's Cup, and after the endless (and I mean endless) editorializing by anyone with a keyboard about how the sport of sailing needs to get faster and more exciting, the Extreme Sailing Series, which is one of the best sailing shows in any town, isn't coming back to the United States.
Dates and Venues:
Extreme Sailing Series ™ 2014 Host Venues:
Act 1: Singapore, 20-23 February
Act 2: Muscat, Oman 19-22 March
Act 3: Qingdao, China 1-4 May
Act 4: Saint Petersburg, Russia 26-29 June
Act 5: Cardiff, UK 22-25 August
Act 6: Istanbul, Turkey 11-14 September
Act 7: Mediterranean 2-5 October
Act 8: Sydney, Australia 11-14 December
Not Newport, not Boston, not San Francisco, Miami, or (heaven forbid) Annapolis.
I got to ride along with Terry Hutchinson during the Boston stopover, and alongside getting married and the birth of my kid, that was definitely one of the greatest days of my life. I feel like someone needs to call up Terry and see if he can do anything about this schedule. The Extreme Sailing Series was a great economic generator for the city of Boston, and people of all ages, sailors and non-sailors alike, had an incredible time. Sailing events do pull visitors to the cities - just look at the economic impact the Sailabration of 2012 had on Baltimore. As far as the Extreme Sailing schedule, the most likely place I'd be able to go to see it is Cardiff. And honestly, no. I just can't justify buying a plane ticket to a country that believes in Marmite.
Somebody call Terry.
