Destination Jeddah

Red Sea sailing is the new new...

By a distance, the highlight for me of the America’s Cup cycle was the utter otherworldiness of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the second Preliminary Regatta on the road to Barcelona. Saying that out loud brings trouble but I’ve never been that shy from a controversial stand-point and whilst every sport on the planet makes a beeline to the Kingdom, sailing wraps itself up in knots and, in parts, finds the highest horse to sit on. I don’t subscribe to the patter, what the Saudis put on was next-level and from a pure sporting and event level, the Red Sea was just about as close to perfect as you can get.