AC World Series comes to Southsea
02 Mar 2015
Sir Ben Ainslie sailing his foiling AC45 past the Royal Yacht Squadron – photo: Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images
AMERICA’S CUP: The America’s Cup will return to race on UK waters this summer when the first AC World Series comes out to play off Southsea Common from July 23 to 26 this year.
The entertainment will start on Thursday 23 July with an opening ceremony and a parade of sail. This will be your first glimpse of the competing teams and the boats out on the water.
After the parade there will be entertainment in the purpose built “Great Waterfront Festival” site and Race Village Area.
Practice racing will follow on Friday 24 July. All competing teams will be out testing the waters and familiarising themselves with the race course.
Racing will take place literally right next to Portsmouth’s extensive shoreline, promising great views to spectators and fans.
Saturday 25 July and Sunday 26 July will both be race days culminating in the ‘Super Sunday’ racing showdown.
A chance to see the teams battle it out on the water, collecting points that will determine rankings in the lead up to the America’s Cup in 2017.
The blurb goes on to say crowds of ‘up to 500,000 people are expected over the four days’, so the always hard pressed A32 could be a nightmare if you’re heading for the Gosport area.
But it looks as if the racing will take place out towards Southsea Castle, which means it might be better to head into Portsmouth and follow signs from there.
An Adult Fanzone single ticket for the first day of racing will cost £48.50. A Four Day Adult Fanzone Pass with grandstand seat will cost £73.50.
There is a ticket limit of nine per person for this event, it says here… But Fanzone tickets for groups of 10 or more are available from Ticketmaster Groups on 0844 844 2121.
This is likely to be an enormous event for the area, so be prepared for some traffic to going the same way you are…