America's Cup in Valencia

The America's Cup is a famous sailing race which has been organised for more than 150 years. This race takes place every four years, each time in a different city.The reason why this race received the name of America's Cup comes from the fact that during the first competion the New York Yatch club crew defeated 14 english ships represented by the Royal Yatch team of London. For more than 130 years, the supremacy of American teams has been constant. Finally in 1983, an Australian team defeated the United States for the first time. The last competiton, in 2003, in Aukland, New Zeland has been won by a Swiss team lead by Alinghi

Organisation of America's Cup race
This competion is divided in 2 parts: The Louis Vuitton's Cup and the America's Cup.
The dates for this year's competition are:

• Louis Vuitton Cup: 18 April- 12 June de 2007
• America's Cup: 23 June - 7 July de 2007

The two Louis Vuitton's races (the first one includes all the participants, and the second one is the ultimate race between the final 2 teams) allow to select the best team which will compete against last year winner, in this case the Alinghi team. After this first selection, takes place the America's cup race.

The America's cup is a one on one race. The winner will be awarded the 100 Guinea's cup. The traditional rules call for to be taken place in the last winner's country. Unfortunately for the 2007 America's cup, the rules has been slightly modified ( as the winner is a Swiss team) which is quite understandable regarding the geographic location of the country. However this decision raised a strong polemic between the America's cup conservatives and the last cup's holders. Indeed, this is the first time since the beginning of the cup in 1851 that the world's oldest cup will be competed for in Europe. Other firsts for this cup will be that it's the first time to be held outside of the host club's country and the first time in a non-english speaking country.

The city of Valencia in Spain has been selected to be the next America's cup host city. Valencia was choosen over three other European candidates: Lisbon, Portugal; Marseille, France; Naples, Italy. "The combination of all the other criteria and the sailling conditions are the reason we chose Valencia " said Michel Bonnefous, the chief executive officer of AC Management, the company set up by Alinghi to organize the defence of the cup.

The inhabitants of Valencia are very proud to welcome such a famous sporting event which will be an opportunity for the city to achieve a world wide celebrity and to improve its tourism economy. Economically speaking, the America's cup is the most important event after the Olympic games and the football world cup. Indeed, the last America's cup, celabrated in Aukland, brought aroud 277 million euros and created more than 900 new jobs.Valencia is actively involved in the oganisation of the sailing race, around 3000 new accomodations have been built to receive teams and tourists, new sailing clubs, restaurants, museums have been created to make the city espacially attractive for this event.