Sailing

Cruise Ship Terminal Finances Terrified Port Director

The news that the city's nascent cruise ship terminal could well lose the city boatloads of money is disturbing -- but hardly unanticipated. Last year, SF Weekly obtained a January 2012 e-mail from Port of San Francisco Director Monique Moyer to members of her staff lamenting the proposed cruise shi ... More >>

America's Cup: Sailor Refers to Boats as "Godforsaken Deathtraps"

The off-the-water element of the America's Cup has been the antithesis of smooth sailing. Mayor Gavin Newsom and the "city family" pushed a series of fiscally disastrous deals with Larry Ellison -- only for the yachting billionaire to pull the plug on the cusp of all-but-certain approval by the Boar ... More >>

Andrew Simpson: Sailor's Death Following Boat Breakup Forces Painful Questions

Andrew "Bart" Simpson is dead, and that's tragedy enough. Sadly, however, it can't end with that. The Olympic gold- and silver-medalist drowned on the bay yesterday when the America's Cup AC72 catamaran he was racing with Team Artemis broke up, flipped, and trapped him beneath it. The British sailor ... More >>

America's Cup Sailor Andrew "Bart" Simpson Dies After Boat Capsizes

A Swedish sailor with the Artemis racing team died today after the team's America's Cup catamaran capsized as the crew was training near Treasure Island. The Chron reports that the Artemis boat tipped over at about 1:15 p.m. Authorities pulled 13 crew members from the water, including British natio ... More >>

Will Airbnb Stiff San Francisco During America's Cup?

Our across-the-hall colleagues at the Guardian have written a bit about how there seems to be a great degree of ambiguity regarding whether Airbnb is forking over the hotel taxes the city claims it owes. It's always a pressing question whether a politically connected company is paying its fair share ... More >>

America's Cup: A Novel Take on Vastly Scaled-Back Expectations

Most San Franciscans picking up the paper the day after the Super Bowl would be reading sad headlines about the 49ers' agonizing loss. That's bad. But, hypothetically, those headlines could have noted that the city had been spared an expensive and destructive post-win riot. That's ... good? This is ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

America's Cup: Losing Millions Is the Exact Scenario We Were Warned About, Repeatedly

The news over the weekend that the city could be left holding the bag for millions the America's Cup Organizing Committee has failed to provide is a revelation in the same sense that it's revelatory that promiscuous couples in horror films tend to be killed off. The very real possibility of San ... More >>

Food Events to Make Your Crazy Weekend More Delicious

So maybe you've heard: there's a lot going on in San Francisco this weekend. And it will likely result in transitpocalypse. But that doesn't mean you can't eat delicious things while you're having a ton of fun. Check out these food events on the fringes of the insanity that is America's Cup exhibiti ... More >>

Off The Pier Celebrates Fleet Weekend With Street Food

Off The Pier Where: Fort Mason Center parking lot, 38 Fort Mason (at Bay) When: Sat., Oct. 6, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost: Free The rundown: In honor of San Francisco Fleet Weekend and the America's Cup, Off The Grid presents a smaller, daytime version of its massive Friday night food markets. Street f ... More >>

America's Cup Is Here: The Top 7 Things Every San Franciscan Needs to Know About Yacht Rock

Yacht Rock is a kind of smooth, soft rock made by men with pretty voices in the late '70s and early '80s. It's called "yacht rock" now (it wasn't then) because it's pretty much the ideal soundtrack for a crisp, smug, Topsider-wearing day on the water. Given that San Francisco is now in the throes o ... More >>

America's Cup: "Guests" to Be on Boats -- For a Price

​The high drama of the the America's Cup rollout -- Imploded deals! Lawsuits! Hardly anyone participating! -- has obscured one of the zanier aspects of the forthcoming race. Each of the 13-story AC72 catamarans will be mandated to carry a "guest racer" --  a tourist, essentially, who will be ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

America's Cup: SF Weekly Reporter on the Air

​This week, the evolving America's Cup deal underwent a sea change. A proposal to reimburse Larry Ellison's America's Cup Event Authority to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars via long-term leases for waterfront property was abruptly curtailed; now the city and race organizers are wrangli ... More >>

America's Cup: What the Hell Just Happened?

​In around an hour's time, the Board of Supervisors would have likely approved a sprawling America's Cup development plan that would have committed the city to reimbursing Larry Ellison's Event Authority up to $136 million -- perhaps into the 22nd century. Instead, the city and race organizers yes ... More >>

Larry Ellison Too Good for His Own Golden Gate Yacht Club

Not Larry Ellison's style​While the rich like to brag that they lunch at the yacht club, the really, really rich apparently boast that they never go near the place.Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, for one, avoids his own Golden Gate Yacht Club, despite the fact he and his employees spend hundreds of doll ... More >>

America's Cup: Chris Daly in His Own Words (VIDEO)

Rejected headline: Captain Asshole​In this week's cover story, "Captain Outrageous," we explain how Chris Daly's tub-thumping bellicosity blew up a pricey America's Cup deal, saving San Francisco millions. Daly isn't the easiest guy to talk to, but he's a ready quote. He says what's on his mind an ... More >>

America's Cup: City Still Crunching Numbers on 'Doomed' Deal

Can San Francisco afford to have this? ​Being an accountant isn't usually compared to combat soldiering. But, in San Francisco, the city's Budget Analyst's office knows theirs is not to make reply, theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die. So while the America's Cup Powers That Be ... More >>

America's Cup: Yet Another Study, Ahoy!

Coming to San Francisco?​With the Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee today bracing for the cold wind of hours of contentious testimony on the fiscal feasibility of hosting the America's Cup, here comes just what everyone wanted: Yet another financial study! The regatta has already ... More >>

America's Cup: Regatta Argument Sails Into Next Week

Onward...​A new plan for hosting the America's Cup was today emphatically blessed by Port of San Francisco officials as the best deal the city could get. Yet the city's Budget Analyst warned that even under these "best" terms, the city could still end up giving away some $55 million to billionaire ... More >>

America's Cup: Budget Analyst Says It'll Still Lose City $101 Million

Vincent Van GoghWill the latest report take the wind out of the city's sails? ​The latest Budget and Legislative Analyst's report analyzing the potential costs and benefits of hosting the America's Cup regatta has finally hit dry land. But, crunching the numbers, the city's numerical mavens still ... More >>

Hosting America's Cup Would Lose City Millions, Budget Analyst Reports

Them boats is expensive​Earlier this week we reported that the city's budget analyst was at work on a report to answer the big question: Can you actually make money hosting the America's Cup? The report is out, and, according to the city's official number-cruncher, the answer is no. A resounding n ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Bill He Dismissed With 'I F*ck You' Veto on Gov's Desk Again

Life in the capitol...​A Tom Ammiano bill authorizing the city to issue bonds related to the development of Pier 70 has cleared the legislature and landed on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. That's hardly a call for rampant cursing -- yet, the last time this bill reached the governor, it was vet ... More >>

List: How the America's Cup will change our lives

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