Mexico City, MX; December 17th,
2009- Mexico’s Ministry of Tourism,
the Navy, the State of Nayarit, the Mexico
Tourism Board, Fonatur, (Mexico's
National Trust for the Promotion of Tourism) and the Mexican Sailing
Association will head the official “Bicentennial Edition” of the
Mexico Cup Regatta.
This world class event will take place in Riviera Nayarit on February 27th
to March 13th 2010, as part of Mexico’s Bicentennial
Independence celebrations and centennial of the Mexican Revolution. This elite
event will continue to position Mexico
as the best destination for sail and sport fishing, while at the same time,
promote the country’s tourism attractions on a national and international
level.
This magnificent event will bring together a variety of sectors within Mexico
including the participation of government and private initiatives. The Mexico
Cup Regatta will set international standards for sailing competitions,
generating important benefits for the country’s tourism promotion and
will also have an important impact within the international nautical community.
As a result, the organizers and Sailing Associations involved have set
forth more than 1,500 national and international athletes and support personnel
to help make this event a success and position it as one of the most
competitive events within the sailing spectrum, similar to those such as
America’s Cup, Copa del Rey, Volvo Ocean Race and the Rolex Cup Racing.
Participating in the official event presentation were, Ralph Nelles,
President of the Mexican Sailing Federation, Oscar Fitch, CEO of the Mexico
Tourism Board, Miguel Gomez, General Director of FONATUR, Bernardo de la Garza,
General Director of the National Commission of Physical Culture and
Sports; Jose Manuel Villalpando, Executive Programs Coordinator for the
Bicentennial Independence and Centennial Mexican Revolution festivities
Organizing Commission and Ernesto Amtmann, President of the Mexico Cup
Regatta Organizing Committee.
Carlos Ortega, Communications Director for Nextel Mexico said, “Over the past eleven years,
since its initial start in Mexico,
Nextel has positioned itself as a leader and supporter of a wide variety of
sports. And on this monumental occasion, we are once again very proud to
present such an amazing event that we are confident will be well received in
both the sporting and tourism industries. ” Said Ortega.
First Level of the Tournament:
The Bicentennial Edition of the Mexican Cup will
include five classes of vessel participation in each regatta: the Oceanic
class, the J-24 class, the Windsurfing, the Kite-surfing and the Optimist, all
guaranteed by the Mexican Sailing Federation and the International Sailing
Federation (ISAF), in addition to the respective Mexican Associations for each
class.
The Regatta will take place
in Bandera’s Bay, in front of the Riviera Nayarit coast; with distinct
areas established by marked buoys that create different routes and distances
that follow the guidelines for each class.
For the Oceanica class, there
will be routes of up to 35 nautical miles with different destinations, one to
the MarietasIslands and another to The Caletas,
located in the south zone of the second largest bay in the world,
Bandera’s Bay.
The Kite-surfing event, will
take place in Bucerias, in front of the beach allowing the community to be
included in this spectacular sport.
Schedule:
During the first week of the event, February 27th
to March 6th, the Oceanica Class and the Kite-surfing Class will
participate, while the Optimist Class will take place at the end of the week,
finishing on Saturday the 6th with an award dinner being held for
each class.
On Wednesday, March 10th, will be the
initiation of activities for the J-24 Class, the participation of the
Windsurfing Class will be incorporated, ending the event Saturday March 13th
with the corresponding awards dinner for these classes.
In the past, Mexico has been host to similar
events in the sailing industry. In 2007, Bandera’s Bay played host to the
J-24 World Championship, with teams from Brazil,
Argentina, United States, Canada
and Portugal.
In 2008, this destination hosted the Mexican Circuit of Oceanica's Regattas
MEXORC, where vessels from the United States,
Mexico and Canada
participated and it will also host the Pan American Games in 2011.
In addition to these events, the Mexico Cup Regatta
will also have two other events; one will be the beach festival Mexico Cup with
beach activities such as beach football tournaments and ladies beach volleyball
tournaments that will include the participation of international teams.
For these events, a stadium will be placed on the beach with a capacity for
2,500 spectators.
The second event “2012 Challenge”, Tania
Elias Calles will establish a Guinness World Record by sailing a Laser boat,
which is a smaller sailboat, 300 nautical miles departing Los Cabos, B.C. Sur
to Bahia de Banderas.
The Mexico Cup Regatta will be celebrated biannually on a permanent
basis, without a doubt boosting the sailing industry and help generate a
tourism platform that will allow Mexico to take advantage and maximize
it’s coastlines while steering promotional efforts and diversified
activities towards those less explored such as nautical sports.
About the Mexico
Tourism Board
The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal
and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico’s
tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the
MTB is Mexico’s tourism promotion agency,
and its participants include members of both the
private and public sectors. The MTB has offices throughout
North America, Europe, Japan and Latin America. For more information on
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