Dubai: With Hong Kong cancelled out as the host of the fifth round of the Louis Vuitton Trophy, Dubai will be the last and final race for mono hull sailing in the highly-competitive series.
"We feel Dubai is an ideal place to sail during winter in the northern hemisphere. There are not many places like this where one can sail during this time of the year," Bruno Troublé told Gulf News.
"The same teams that are coming to the America's Cup will be participating in the Louis Vuitton here. Changing from mono hulls to multi-hulls is really just a change in tools in the fight. Or something like a Le Mans driver jumping into a Formula One car," he added.
Best option
Earlier, the World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA), together with Louis Vuitton and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, announced the cancellation of the fifth and final round of the series scheduled to be held in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong race was scheduled to be held inside the Victoria Harbour in January 2011, but with most of the teams focusing on their preparations for the 34th America's Cup a cancellation was seen as the best options by all concerned.
Troublé, who was Louis Vuitton's organiser and spokesperson for the series, was among the main champions to keep the sailors afloat at a time when the America's Cup battle was being fought in a New York court.
"No doubt, the court fight in New York took away a lot from our sport. Now all that is from the past. We had a responsibility to keep these sailors engaged in competition on the water and also ensure the sport survived in between the two America's Cup. And the Louis Vuitton Trophy Series has done exactly that," Troublé added.
The new holder of the America's Cup, San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club, will confirm the venue of the 34th America's Cup, and timing (2014 or 2013) later this year.
The Louis Vuitton Series was drafted in an attempt to link the gap between two America's Cup.
"The series has achieved its goal to an extent and now we have to think of something that is faster in keeping with the exciting times ahead," Troublé said.