The gang’s all here!

We’ve been enjoying the America’s Cup atmosphere here in Bermuda for over three weeks now (see previous posts here and here) and have been taking in as many of the festivities and racing that we can! For the final full week we were happy to share the experience with Jenn’s folks who came down for a visit, as well as my dad who arrived mid-week. Of course it was all a new experience for our parents but we were also fortunate to be able to watch the racing from a few new vantage points, too!

Before the remaining few races of the America’s Cup series, however, the J-class yachts (think classic America’s Cup boats) held a regatta early in the week (we had Monday off for an annual public holiday). As the boats are quite a bit bigger and less maneuverable, their racing was held offshore so we weren’t able to get too close to the action, though we had a good time and enjoyed the weather sitting on the rocky shore at Ferry Reach, watching the yachts and all the spectator boats in the distance (not too far away!).

Jenn was lucky to be invited out on a boat mid-week to watch a round of racing in the Youth Racing series, Bermuda actually had a team in the running and they won a race that day! Ultimately they would lose out to the other teams but put up a good fight.

Come the weekend, we had tickets to watch races 5-6 on Saturday from the grandstand in the Village, which we hadn’t done before. (Jenn and Ryley were supposed to have been able to watch racing on opening day from there but it was cancelled!) It was pretty fun, most of the TV coverage was centered around the grandstand area and the announcers’ station was a few rows in front of us so I’m sure we were on TV for a few fleeting moments! Watching in a seat with shade, a giant TV nearby, and exclusive access to the bar was a pretty good way to watch the racing for the day.

The champs – team New Zealand

We also had grandstand tickets for races 7-8 on Sunday – except my dad managed to get he and I tickets on a pirate ship (an official spectator boat) to watch up close from the water! It was a great vantage point and we had a good time watching from the water. Meanwhile, back in the grandstand, the rest of the fam was now right behind the announcers and managed to score a few good photos of the kids taking over!

However, while the experience of watching was awesome, the racing results didn’t pan out the same way – the Kiwis dominated Oracle for all but one of the races over the weekend (we were happy to see the lone Oracle win in the final). Oracle’s win pushed the racing into Monday (which we took off work to go watch in the village), but New Zealand once again turned in a great race and finished off the American team to win the America’s Cup! We stayed for the awards ceremony, then bid the Village adieu for the final time.

By all accounts, Bermuda did a great job hosting the event. It also likely goes without saying that we had a great month+ with the AC in town, it was certainly fun while it lasted!