Opening ceremony, there's going to be a boat para....uh, I mean, there will be time tri......uh, crap, wanna meet some sailors?

I do want to put forth some caveats here.  Tim and I wound up having a great time immersing ourselves into the AC stuff, we are just disappointed...as are a lot of sailing fans.  I hope it starts building momentum during the Louis Vuitton Cup and the AC racing will be an 'event'.

However, I do want to be honest on what is happening.  Despite that, we are actually thinking of going back.  Even if Dean Barker files a restraining order against me.

So, on Friday the 5th, the ORIGINAL plan was to have a boat parade featuring different models of AC boats over the years and then the big boys.  Well, evidently some people pulled their boats out, they decided not to do the big boys because of high winds in the morning (or maybe it was the snarl fest that the press conference turned into).

Instead, they brought over the crews from the boats and then they participated in the parade on their tenders and chase boats. The only absence was the Artemis folks because the team is working hard on trying to get the new boat ready for at least part of the Louis Vuitton.  That being said, Artemis is the emotional favorite and have a HUGE following.  (The story on Artemis is here.)  I would say the popular favorite is New Zealand with the home team not getting as much support as you would think, but that might change later.

Emirates Team New Zealand

Luna Rossa
(rocking those Prada jackets)

Oracle USA

The boat parade wound up being San Francisco FD boat, the Schooner America replica, one of the older AC boats (back with they were monohulls), the AC boats, and the team chase boats with the crews.