North Bay Emerging as Top Site for Cup Activities

The San Diego Unified Port District, working with the group that’s trying to bring the next America’s Cup defense to San Diego, has identified potential sites along San Diego Bay that could house 20 to 25 sailing syndicates and a media headquarters.

While a final plan is still several months away, the Port District has focused attention on centralizing the event in North Bay locations within about a five-mile swath from the B Street Pier north to the Commercial Basin and Shelter Island.

As a result, some of the potential sites south of the B Street Pier, including boat yards south of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, are now being considered more as backup locations. The South Bay locations are considered to be too far from both the race course off Point Loma and the main activity centers for tourists and spectators that officials are trying to create in the North Bay.

It takes about one hour to tow a 12-meter boat from the South Bay to Point Loma, and about 30 minutes to an hour more to get to the race course.

Shelter Island Focal Point

Meanwhile, Shelter Island--with its hotels, restaurants, long linear park, grand views, boat yards and overall nautical atmosphere--is shaping up as the focal point for much of the America’s Cup pageantry.

“Shelter Island has sort of a village feel to it, it has a nautical theme and character to it, an atmosphere to it . . . as well as accessibility,” said Fred Trull, the Port District’s head planning official, who traveled to Fremantle to see how the Australians put on the event. Trull is now evaluating the various potential sites in San Diego Bay.

Adjacent to Shelter Island, which also could house a sailing syndicate near the lower parking lot and landing ramp, is the Commercial Basin, which houses several boat yards, along with both a sports fishing and commercial fishing fleet.

The basin was highly touted during a tour last Friday by the Port District and the America’s Cup Task Force, the group of civic and business leaders pushing to have San Diego selected as the site of next Cup races in 1991. The tour was held to show out-of-town sailing writers the areas under consideration as locations for staging the regatta.

The Port District’s emphasis is on using the five to six private boat yards situated within Commercial Basin. The boat yards have offered to rent part of their property to the syndicates, a move that would save the Port District money.

Other syndicates could be housed on the other end of the basin, where a fleet of commercial fishing boats is now berthed. The piers in this area are, in many cases, dilapidated and in need of repair. The idea would be to fix or replace the piers and rent them to the syndicates. During construction and the races, the commercial fishermen would be relocated, probably to the G Street Mole, said port officials.

Also in the basin is a large fleet of sport fishing boats. They would remain and be used as the backbone of the city’s charter fleet of spectator boats to take visitors out to the race course to view the regatta. The San Diego Sportfishing Council last month strongly endorsed the notion that it could provide such charter excursions.

Overall, what makes the basin attractive, say port officials, is that it is near the bay’s exit to the ocean, close to boat yards and their supplies, and helps in centralizing the focus of the event. But Commercial Basin is not large enough for all the syndicates.

Traveling south, the next potential location is Spanish Landing, across the west end of Harbor Island. This area is now a park, and the shoreline is primarily composed of a small sandy beach and an area of large boulders meant to protect the land from washing away. Some of the area would probably have to be dredged, port officials said.

The other site under review is on the other end of Harbor Island--an area along Harbor Drive known as East Basin. The location is now used by the Convair Division of General Dynamics and is across from the new Sunroad Resort Marina, a 532-berth facility that opens this month.

General Dynamics officials have told the Port District that they are interested in using their property for an America’s Cup syndicate.

While it’s expected that most of the syndicates would be in the Commercial Basin-Spanish Landing-East Basin-Shelter Island areas, an Australian syndicate--the one that sponsored Kookaburra III in Fremantle--is seriously considering renting space at the Knight & Carver boat yard in Mission Bay.

As for the media center--a facility that would serve as headquarters for the army of international press that covers sailing’s premiere event--two specific locations are under consideration: the B Street Pier and the Westy’s Lumber & Building Materials store, on Port District-controlled property on North Harbor Drive. The store is across the street from Commercial Basin.

There is also the possibility that the media center might be placed inland, though officials say they are trying to keep it near the water.

Cost Still Unknown

Exactly how much it will cost to provide the various syndicate and media facilities is not yet known, and probably won’t be known precisely for several more months, port officials said.

What is more likely for now, according to Trull, is that the Port District, through the America’s Cup Task Force, will be able to have an estimate soon on “some order of magnitude” of the costs. This information, included with a broad concept of development, would be used when the task force makes its presentation to the America’s Cup Defense Committee, the group responsible for selecting which community will be host to the Cup races.

On Friday, Board of Port Commissioners Chairman Dan Larsen said the Port District was prepared to spend “$5 million, $10 million, $15 million, whatever it costs” to make the races a “first-class event.”