America's Cup 2013 heads to San Francisco

(GETTY IMAGES)

San Francisco was at last named as the host city of the next America ’s Cup in 2013 after much posturing and hard ball bargaining by the local politicians and the holders, Oracle, who are based in the Californian city.

No date was given, though it is expected to be in early autumn, preceded by a challenger elimination series for the Louis Vuitton Cup. San Francisco will also host in 2012 one of the warm-up regattas in the new 72-foot class of wing sail catamarans which will be used to contest the next Cup.

This year is due to see up to five regattas in 45-foot versions of the wing-sail multihull, but it may be at least another month before dates and venues are announced.

The decision was welcomed by Team New Zealand , whose CEO Grant Dalton said that everything was now in place to raise the necessary funds.

The Italian syndicate, Mascalzone Latino, is the challenger of record, with president Vincenzo Onorato saying he, too, has yet to raise the funds while the Swedish team, Artemis, headed by Torbjorn Tornqvist, is believed to be fully funded. Further interest has been expressed by two French teams, two Australian teams, and a Russian team.

After a slow first night, Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart had taken the lead in the Barcelona non-stop, double handed round the world race with Jean le Cam and Bruno Garcia second.

Dee Caffari and Anna Corbella were fifth with Wouter Verbraak and Andy Meiklejohn 11th in Hugo Boss.