Contract between Valencia and America's Cup Management officially signed

As of yesterday, Valencia is officially the host city of the 33rd America's Cup. According to Las Provincias, Valencia's main newspaper, America's Cup Management (ACM) and the three public entities representing Spain (central government, region of Valencia and city of Valencia) signed the final contract for the 33rd America's Cup. The Spanish city will, hopefully, stage during the next 24 months a second edition of the world's oldest sports competition as successful as the first one.

Still, as we mentioned in yesterday's article, there is a lingering issue concerning the presidency of the public entity. According to the newspaper, no agreement has been reached among the three parties that gave themselves till September 14 to decide.

After the signature of the contract, Michel Bonnefous, CEO of ACM, announced he was stepping down from his position although he would remain in the board of directors in order to help his company's defense in the New York litigation. According to the newspaper, he vividly defended ACM's and Alinghi's position, discretized the lawsuit brought by the Golden Gate Yacht Club and stood in support of the Club Náutico de Vela (CNEV).

It is interesting to mention that the Vuelta de España a Vela (Spain Sailing Tour) started on Monday in the city of Ceuta. This reggata is supposed to be the one the CNEV has to organize in order to fulfill its obligations according to the Deed of Gift. It is a 770-mile long regatta with ten boats starting in southern Spain and ending just north of Barcelona.

The first leg, apparently started on Monday, at 6pm, and the boats arrived on Tuesday in Cadiz 70 miles to the north. Boats were also scheduled to have started their second leg, from Cadiz to Malaga, earlier today but there is no information on that. The official website of the regatta doesn't provide any information at all, despite the fact we are into the third day of the event. There are no press releases, no photos not even the standings after the first leg.

We honestly hope this regatta is not a repeat of the fiasco that took place last July in Santander. We will post any information we have available.