“Any woman who loves hockey, usually has an edge to her.”

queencrash:

-Clinton from What Not To Wear

HELL YES.

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Lessons from Goodbye

Today was the last day of the America’s Cup World Series – Cascais. Maddie and I leave the town at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to start the long trek back to the United States. Looking back at my two weeks here, these are the top three things I learned about sailing.

1. Sailors are most definitely athletes.

It’s been said many times this week during the events, but whoever thinks of sailing as cruising along into the sunset is wrong. With the new AC45s, the sailors need to be fit to compete, or they’re going to lose control of their boats. ORACLE Racing has their own trainer and the between weight requirements and strength needed to sail these boats, it’s not a leisure activity.

2. It’s international.

I’m not sure I have ever been in place with so many different languages and types of people than here. The boats alone represented seven different countries (America, Sweden, China, Korea, France, Spain and New Zealand), with numerous more by the sailors, staff, volunteers and visitors of the event. You never knew what language or accent an introduction might bring. And this spreads the pride from this event all over the world. If you’re from New Zealand, you can be proud by Emirates Team New Zealand’s performance and by Russell Coutts, racing for American team ORACLE. There are no boundaries.

3. The America’s Cup is going above and beyond.

I haven’t been around sailing that long and am still learning it’s rich history, but the America’s Cup is a big deal, and it’s being treated that way now. Celebrating its 160^th birthday, it’s the oldest trophy in sports. With all the new technologies, boats and audiences coming to the new America’s Cup, it can only get bigger.And I’m glad I got to be a part of that, even if I was just an intern. 

So, farewell to the America’s Cup (for now) and farewell to Cascais. Thanks for a great time.

Not just another day at the beach

The America’s Cup was a little bit different on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Instead of the normal routine (detailed in my post earlier today), most of the AC staff, representatives from each team and any volunteers headed to the marina entrance at 9:45 a.m. This morning, before going to work, we were planning to clean the beach.

When we met with Maria, the head of the operation, we were informed that we weren’t actually going to clean the beach. Apparently, Cascais cleans their beaches seven days a week, so there wasn’t really any beach to clean. Instead, we were going to go to the rocks by Boca do Inferno and pull up an invasive species the Portuguese call the sour fig. It takes root in areas like this and prevents native plants from growing.

After the group photo, everyone was given a pair of gloves and trash bags were distributed and we got to work. We worked for about 45 minutes, pulling weeds, which were everywhere.

And then Maddie tripped on a rock. It got gross, and she went on the hunt for something to clean it up with. She wandered to the base, where they used a first aid kit to clean it up, including exorbitant amount of Neosporin. [This Neosporin later melted in the hot sun and made even more of a mess.] Then we saw my aunt, who works communications for the AC, sitting down. She had stepped in a beehive. Apparently, our family is not built for weeding on rocky cliffs.

Injuries aside, it was a great event to be a part of, and not the only thing the AC is doing to help environmental efforts. They have partnered up with Sailors for the Sea and are using this event as a base to build up efforts and continue to reduce output and help the Earth and the ocean. Recycling bins are everywhere on grounds, there’s compost, every staff member gets a water bottle and plastic bottles are discouraged at the regatta, and beach clean ups will continue all the way up until San Francisco in 2013.

One thing mentioned by ACEA heads, was the impact and reach this will hopefully have. The AC is an international event and sailors all over love the ocean. This campaign is taking on a huge issue and one that is not usually associated with sports. Hopefully the AC can help make a difference and spread the importance of keeping oceans and our environments clean.

Typical Day

I’m in Cascais, Portugal not only because it’s a beautiful spot, but because I’m interning with the America’s Cup. The America’s Cup, as you’ve probably seen from the videos I’ve shared, is a sailing event. In fact, it’s the oldest trophy in sports. The finals aren’t until 2013, in San Francisco, but the America’s Cup World Series is currently touring around the world, providing a glimpse of what’s to come. The first of these events is currently wrapping up right now in Cascais, and it’s why I’m here.

I’m based in the media centre. I roam around the grounds as needed, but I mostly stay at my corner of the AC Info Team table. Here’s some idea of what an average day is like for me at the America’s Cup World Series – Cascais.

1000 Arrive at the media centre

The first thing I normally do is check my email, check the America’s Cup website (www.americascup.com), check the America’s Cup Facebook page (www.facebook.com/americascup), and check both America’s Cup Twitter accounts (@34thAC and @AC34Races). Then I start my daily duty of putting together press clippings and pulling online news about the event from the night before. My supervisor emails me the clippings we get in Portuguese (emailed to her from a service), and I research the English ones on my own through Google, Google News, Google Alerts and Twitter. Then I compile them into one executive summary. This job continues throughout the day, as there is always fresh news being produced.

1115 Media Briefing

Most mornings before racing, media and some members of the America’s Cup staff and team officials attend a media briefing with Regatta Director Iain Murray. There, he usually gives weather and regatta updates for the morning, and any important notes from the skippers’ meeting. Then press is allowed to ask questions. While not a huge press conferences or big announcement, it’s a good way to get everyone on the same page in the mornings and clear up any confusion about race format.

1200 – 1300 Find lunch

I usually go get lunch around this time. The America’s Cup provides lunch bags for all of their staffers. The typical lunch consists of Portuguese fair, usually including a sandwich, a wrap and other bread-based side or pasta, fruit, a juicebox and crackers or cookies. 

1400 Racing begins

Racing normally begins around 1410 , unless delayed (usually until 1500 or 1600). During racing, many people in the press centre watch both on the televisions set up and stream it through our laptops. I continue to compile press clippings, while also tracking the AC social media streams, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I usually have open one of the YouTube streams and our virtual eye technology to make sure I know what’s going on with racing.

1800 Post-race

After the race, there are usually two possibilities of what is going on – the mixed zone or a press conference. Both of these are ways to talk to sailors and for the press to get quotes, video and photos. The mixed zone is an area by the team bases with a backdrop and media area set up to move the sailors through and allow the various media to ask questions. The press conference is a basic press conference, with all nine skippers.

2030 Get clips from ACTV

One unique thing about the America’s Cup is that it runs its own television production, ACTV. All of the television containers (there are a lot) sit behind the media centre. After racing is done, I wait in the media centre until one of the packages is ready, usually a couple hours after racing. Then I go over to the containers and get it on a flash drive to bring back to the press centre.

After that, I’m usually done for the night and head home to figure out dinner plans with my sister.

Our First Days

Monday - Parks and Peacocks

The last few days have been filled with Portuguese sunshine, touristing and getting ready for the America’s Cup. But first, we had to find our luggage, which was allegedly left behind in Amsterdam.

We went to sleep on Sunday night, having been told that our luggage would be dropped off sometime the next morning. We expect “sometime the next morning” to be like when they tell you the cable guy is coming between certain hours - a very large, wrong estimate. 

At 10 a.m., we awoke from our deep, jet-lag induced sleep to an obnoxious buzzing. It was someone asking to be buzzed into the apartment with our luggage. Getting out of bed (in the clothes we had put to get on the plane the 36 hours before), we buzzed him in and went to unlock the door.

Except we couldn’t figure out how to get the inside chain undone. That led to an awkward 15 minutes in which we tried to explain to the guy what was happening while simultaneously trying to unlock the door. Turns out we needed another key. One we didn’t have. We called our landlord and finally got out of our apartment and retrieved our luggage.

It rained most of the day, and we ended up staying inside and getting settled for most of the afternoon. Later, once the rain let up, we walked around downtown Cascais before heading to a massive, beautiful park by our apartment. This park had a pond with ducks, pigeons and roosters; sculptures and fountains; peacocks; wild cats; vegetation; and a large castle with a swimming entrance to the ocean in the back.

Tuesday - Sintra’s Grown Up Playground

On Tuesday, we headed to Sintra to explore one or two of the city’s many famous castles. We attempted to use the bus system. Ceci made us get off at the wrong stop and we were stuck in the middle of a small empty intersection. We found a cab and took it the rest of the way to one of the castles (we weren’t sure at the time which one).

Upon receiving a map, we realized the grounds of the castle were huge. The first big decision was whether we wanted to start our caste adventure at the main house or up near the waterfall and initiation well. 

We wandered through the skinny staircases and museum-type displays. We stopped by the next door food area, where we were offered the meal menu or the snack menu. Basically all that meant was a “snack” of sandwiches and sides or an entire meal. This was when Maddie tried to steal Ceci’s salmon sandwich to feed the cute feral cat.

Quinta da Regaleira had huge grounds, including the main castle, a waterfall, caves and tunnels, stone bridges, hills, towers, wells and paths. Essentially, it was a playground for grown ups. There were almost no boundaries in terms of what visitors could do or touch, whether we wanted to walk all the way down to the bottom of the initiation well or crawl through the caves and dip your feet in the water of one of the ponds.

After the extensive castle touring, we walked through downtown Sintra, looking through the shops and eateries. Then we found the correct bus stop and headed back to Cascais.

Wednesday - The Walking Bike Adventure

Wednesday’s plan was all set. We were going to the free bike rental place and bike around and outside of Cascais, enjoying the weather and the tourist sites. But that didn’t quite work out as hoped. 

We spent the morning wandering around the market. Colorful clothes and accessories hung or splayed about a normally empty lot. There were unique sections in different areas - objects, clothes and food. 

After lots of looking and a few purchases, we went to the bike rental station. We inquired about bikes, and were told that there were none left, and our best bet was to get there early in the morning next time.

So plans changed. We decided to walk to Boca do Inferno, about a mile up the road. In English, this phrase means Hell’s Mouth. It’s named this because the unique rock structure combined with the rising and lowering tides can create a terrifying result. The waves and wind can crash up against the rock walls and form strong currents, making the site both beautiful and dangerous.

Once we had explored Boca do Inferno, we wandered back in the direction of downtown Cascais. 

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This whole time, set up for the 34th America’s Cup was going on…

Check out coverage so far at www.americascup.com and check back here for more coming soon from my perspective as an intern.