Regatta Director: 2007 Schedule

Earlier this week Regatta Director Dyer Jones issued a memorandum to the "Competitors" (Challengers and the Defender) outlining next year's racing calendar. It mostly confirms dates and formats long-since agreed and published, however there are a few new wrinkles, notably:

+ The "Declaration Date" is confirmed as 31 March, at which time all Competitors must declare the one or two yachts (which must have been built in the country of the yacht club they represent) they may enter in the various phases of the LVC and, if successful, the AC Match.

+ The "Unveiling Date" will be 1 April. That morning teams will have an "open house" of sorts at their bases to allow the other teams, media and public to view the underbodies of their declared yachts. Thereafter, no yachts may be skirted through the end of the AC 32 Match. That unveiling will take place on April Fools' Day was schedule-driven and pure coincidence, but the irony is not lost on any of us.

+ The Round Robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup will begin on April 16th not April 18th as previously advertised. This to assure enough race days to complete two rounds robin for the 11 Challengers. Also two dates previously scheduled as "Off Days" are now "Reserve Days" -- given the vagaries of the wind and weather in April/May of 2005 and '06, it was felt more potential race days were needed to assure completion of the RRs.

The 2007 calendar issued by Dyer is below, and a larger .pdf version is available to download here.