19 September 2013
The America’s Cup – the world’s oldest active trophy in international sport – has an Island connection: the race management company and fleet of support vessels are registered in Jersey.
The race, which is expected to reach its climax tonight (Thursday 19 September), is managed by America’s Cup Race Management Ltd, a Jersey-registered company, and 30 of their support vessels are registered with the Jersey Ships Registry.
Jersey's easy registration process
Head of Fleet Procurement and Management, David Powys said Jersey’s registration process had been simple and efficient, and made complying with American regulations easier.
“With the company registered in Jersey, it was pretty obvious that the support boat fleet should also be registered in Jersey,” Mr Powys said. “Our vessels were registered as pleasure vessels under terms of a ‘members club’ within Jersey shipping regulations, and each vessel complied with the comprehensive Jersey-registered safety requirements. This made compliance with safety regulations easy at the four countries we visited, especially America where the United States Coast Guard are quite demanding; the Coast Guard were very happy and we have had no incidents.”
'Jersey' on support vessels
The event has attracted around 45,000 spectators per day, and includes a series of stadium rock concerts and other sailing events. Jersey’s name is on every support vessel.
Debbie Podger, Assistant Registrar at Jersey’s Registry of British Ships, said “Having such a high-profile race associated with Jersey is fantastic. When we attend shows, we are able to use our link to the America’s Cup to demonstrate our credibility, which hopefully enables us to attract more quality business to the Island.”
Emirates Team New Zealand are one win away from beating the defenders, Oracle Team USA, with the next race scheduled in San Francisco to start tonight (Thursday 19 September) at 21:15 BST. New Zealand are leading the USA team 8-1, and have to win nine races to take the 34th America’s Cup.
gov.je