The Canal is Open

[Updated 11:00 Friday -- We note that ACM's webcam is showing live shots of the new canal. The webcam is atop the building on the west side of the Port America's Cup that will become the International Broadcast and Media Center. It looks easterly toward the Mediterranean, showing the end of the Super Yacht Dock in the foreground and the canal in the background.]

[Updated 21:45 Thursday -- As we have come to expect, sooner or later additional good pictures of developments in and around the Port America's Cup appear on the excellent Valencia Sailing site.]

This announcement from ACM's teams liaison, Tamara Martyn, today:

We are starting the year with some news of the Darsena. Works for the opening of the canal are on time and the canal should be opened as planned on the 15th of January. Even if right now works are still going on, it is already possible to sail [one assumes this means "tow"] out of the harbour via the canal respecting the buoyed channel.

As usual, click on the photos below to enlarge.



This is a satellite shot of la Darsena ("Port America's Cup") before the canal was dug, indeed before construction had begun on the team bases. Obviously the blue line represents the approximate location of the new canal. Photo courtesy Google Earth.



This is the most recent (early December) aerial or satellite photo we can find, courtesy of the http://skyscraperpage.com/ forums. The new canal is in the upper right corner. When this was taken the canal was already nearing completion save some work at each end, especially seaward.



This photo is from yesterday morning, and appeared later Wednesday on the ACM website with a nice story about UITG "christening" the canal. An excerpt: On Wednesday morning, the German America's Cup challenger became the first team to transit the new canal linking the Port America's Cup to the sea. The canal was opened over the Christmas holiday, allowing direct access to the north race course area. The result of a massive construction project in the Port of Valencia, the new canal runs approximately 1,500 metres.