Americas Cup 2007 Final

A short trip to Valencia from Javea, around 1 hour 10 minutes, found us in the Club Nautica Marina, no where near the port that is hosting the special Americas Cup event. It was worth seeing this small harbour though, filled with gin palaces and yachts of all sizes and a chance to have a coffee and wet our appetites for the taste of the larger boats we would see later in the day.

Americas Cup

I guess a lot of these boats don’t make it out of the harbour, which leaves me thinking…. why not buy an apartment overlooking the boats and your investment would increase in value, not decrease. I friend once told me there are two great feelings experienced when owning a boat, buying it and then selling it. Otherwise just keep emptying your hard earned cash overboard. Maybe I am just jealous and secretly envious of all the people that have huge amounts of disposable income to throw at these truly beautifully crafted gin palaces.

Once we found the right harbour, we parked up and headed off to the entrance of this exciting spectacle, the 2007 America’s Cup!

The free entrance was a pleasant bonus, as most countries or local councils would have creamed it, but not Valencia. You could walk, jump on a noddy train or hire a bike to get around this magnificent harbour, we choose to walk, then take a ferry boat across to the other side, have a bite to eat in one of the many restaurants available. We were watching the 2nd race in the eight race final on many small and large screens dotted around the various areas. You could buy clothing, bags, caps, tee shirts and shoes, all with the logos and sponsers names printed all over them and if you are daft enough to pay double the normal price, you could. I purchased a really nice sun cap, 25 euros.

It was an exciting sight, watching the two teams hustling for the best starting positions. Although I haven’t been following much of the pre-final races, it was easy to see the energy and skill these guys need to move these fantastic boats through the seas off Valencia. The race ended in a draw and the regatta then came into the habour and we were spell bound by all the magical boats, as they passed by our view point.