Hong Kong could host a leg of the America's Cup World Series in Victoria Harbour next year if preliminary negotiations bear fruit, said China Team chief executive Thierry Barot.
Barot, who is spearheading the campaign for China Team who have taken part in two of the six legs in the 2011 America's Cup World Series calendar, said officials were looking at the possibility of Hong Kong hosting one of two legs in Asia next year.
'The America's Cup is looking at Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and China as possible stopovers for the World Series in 2012,' said Hong Kong-based Frenchman Barot (pictured). 'Hong Kong would be a fantastic venue for there are not many cities in the world where you can sail in the middle of the city.'
Senior officials from the America's Cup Event Authority, under whose auspices the World Series is held, were in Hong Kong a few months ago to sound out the mood for a top-class regatta in Victoria Harbour, said Barot, a four-time America's Cup veteran, thrice with the French team and on the last occasion, in 2007, when China Team made their debut.
The World Series is a string of races for countries involved in the America's Cup challenger series. It is geared to provide teams with valuable experience and to sort out their team personnel in the run-up to the iconic race, the next of which is to be held in San Francisco in 2013.
'We have heard about it, but it is still early days,' said Koko Mueller, communications manager for the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. 'All we can say right now is that we are very supportive of plans to have it [a leg of the World Series] in Hong Kong.'
Hong Kong came close to holding a major regatta when the Louis Vuitton Trophy, using America's Cup boats, was scheduled to be held in January this year in Victoria Harbour. But the event was scuppered as the teams were focusing their resources and preparations for the 34th America's Cup next year, when the new wing-sailed 72-foot catamarans would be used. The Hong Kong event, which was to feature the older mono-hulled boats, was backed by the government's Mega Events Fund, which was estimated to have given HK$10 million. 'We are now using 45-foot multi-hulls in the World Series, and this is what all the teams will use up to the America's Cup when we switch to the bigger 72-foot boats. But this World Series gives all of us the chance to prepare on a similar boat,' said Barot.