Courtesy photo

The three S's in Artemis' Racing burgee stands for Kungligu Svenska Segelsallskapet or Royal Swedish Yacht Club. The crown represents the K.

With summer fast approaching, the city of Alameda and the rest of the Bay Area are starting to get America's Cup fever.

Recently, reports of families in the Bay Area renting out their homes to tourists traveling to watch the preliminary races, taking place from August to October, have surfaced.

While some tourists will be setting up in Bay Area homes for the two-month race, one racing team participating in the preliminaries will be housed in Alameda as they set up for the race.

The Artemis Racing team, a 70- member crew racing team that is the Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup representing the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, has leased an 110,000-square-foot former airplane hangar at Alameda Point. Artemis is expected to make maintenance to its boat and hold team meetings while at the Point.

Artemis is expected to arrive at Alameda Point in July, according to Lori Taylor, city of Alameda community development director. Artemis signed a three-month deal with the city to dock at Alameda Point, which will begin in July and end in October, coinciding with the end of the preliminary races. Artemis has an option to remain for up to a year as part of three, three-month extensions with the city.

Even with the possible extensions built into the lease, Artemis might have to make another extension with the city. If Artemis makes it to the past the preliminaries this summer, they will race for the Louis Vuitton Cup from July 4, 2013 to September 1, 2013 — with the winner to face defending America's Cup champion Oracle Racing for the title. The last of the three, three-month extension would end in July, just as the Louis Vuitton Cup kicks off.

"After the year is up, they would have to get a new lease deal," said Taylor.

So the Artemis team might make Alameda its home for a long time.

Nonetheless, both the city and Artemis are happy to be making Al- ameda Point the home of their racing team for the summer.

"Alameda offers convenient shoreline water access to our racing grounds in San Francisco Bay," said Paul Cayard, CEO of Artemis Racing in a press release. "It will allow us to operate efficiently and immediately in 2012."

"We are honored that some of the most elite sailors in the world, commanding the fastest sailing vessels, have chosen to make Alameda their home port," said Mayor Marie Gilmore in a press release.