Having watched the races in Newport, from the water, it was very difficult to follow, as the course was not marked - at least that we could see. It was interesting to see these very large boats flying along, but it was not a great spectator sport - at least from our vantage point. The tv coverage in SF Bay should really help to both see and understand what is actually happening. Rob in Potomac
Great. The one recording I just *had* to cancel. Nice CF reveal, though. Along with watching Italy shut the door over the last few leading up to the Final, I particularly enjoyed the variety of Tour de France stages, which aired a week or so ago.
I keep up with America's Cup and yacht racing through a friend who has a sail boat and is really into it. It's amazing the budgets they put into these boats, it makes F-1 look paltry by comparison with the carbon fibre hulls, masts and keels. My friend showed me a video of a new America's Cup yacht that had just been built at the time, must have been around 2002 or 03, on it's maiden run. The yacht which was state of the art carbon fibre everything with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it's production went out with on board cameras rolling on pretty rough waters. The entire mono hull was creaking and groaning which got progressively louder until *SNAP* *POP* the hull broke in half and it ended up at the bottom of the ocean in seconds with the crew left scrambling to be rescued. Still, one of my favorite America's Cup racing stories came from Gabrielle Rafanelli, most recently famous for his Olive Garden sponsored Ferrari 550 GT Maranello team in ALMS. Rafanelli told us over dinner in Miami about some of his adventures in F-1 when he was part owner of the Minardi team and later as owner an America's Cup yacht team. He said, "I spenda $100M ona F-1 and havuh no fun. Then I spend $100M ona America's Cup and havuh lots of fun!". BHW
Check out the new 72 foot flying cats they're sailing in this series - racing this week on NBCSHD - Final Series starts Sept. 7. 50+ MPH [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a49jy9ba4FQ]America's Cup: Teams Foiling on San Francisco Bay, May 24 2013 - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6_Wps1Qk3w]America's Cup: All the Cats Come Out to Play, 3 July 2013 - YouTube[/ame] BHW
I thought this sort of stuff only happened in F-1! Oracle Team USA hit with harsh penalties in America?s Cup BHW
Race 1 lost. Behind 1/2 way through race 2. Fined 2 race wins before the Regatta... Not looking good for Oracle. Reports are a fat lady has been called to the dressing room.
Pretty funny when they call it the America's Cup when the US team skipper is not from the US - not putting down Austraila or New Zealand - both great countries but in the "old days" everything had to be from the US and the challenging country - just different deal - un believable advances in tech - mind boggling for an old f... who sailed on 12 meters in the 60's
Oh, I wouldn't write it off yet - the separations in time and distance from start to each mark to finish are minuscule compared to qualifying. raider - I'd really like to see a thorough retelling of your 12 M exploits! via rubber ducky
Long time ago, in the 60's - never raced the America's Cup but did compete on 12's - was the fore deck boss - changing the head sails - quite a thrill. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam intervened when he drafted me the day before Xmas in 1965 when I was a senior in college - they said my deferment was not valid. After going thru some tough schools in the military and getting wounded a few times in Nam, I did not have the interest in devoting the time and energy to get back into it - ocean raced some but realized at 2:00am one morning freezing cold, soaking wet and hungry that I had enough discomfort - moved to the Florida keys in 1970 and spent the next 35 years in the heat - did get involved in power boat racing some
3 years of design, build, train... USA -2 : NZL 3. Looks like it time to start planning a challenge for the next cup in NZL.
I'd like to see the NYYC be the challenger and win the Cup and return the races to their natural home: Newport, RI.
To me the most amazing feature of the new yachts is to see them get both hulls out of the water and hydroplane on a single daggerboard and two rudders. I wonder how they maintain pitch control and how those three points can be strong enough to bear all the forces involved.
I heard them say both are only size of surfboard and hold up 13,000 pounds! I like to watch if it is on. I agree these new technology boats are awesome.
These things can hit 50 knots. As someone on the radio said this morning, when they're heading towards each other, the closing speeds are incredible.
I have never sailed, I still need to wrap my head around if they are going directly with the wind speed can only be 1x the wind "like a balloon". however, tacking either with or against wind boat can go 2-3x the speed of the wind.
As your speed increases, the apparent direction of the wind changes. Once it's coming over the sides you're in a reach, and the speeds that can be achieved under such circumstances are stunning. On vessels like these, the speeds are crazy.
USA soundly beaten in race 5. USA elect to use their 1 "cancel race" of the regatta to avoid race 2 for the day. Next races Thurs. Score: NZL 4 / USA -1. (1st to 9 race wins takes the cup)
I have watched a few of the races live. There are so many places in San Francisco where you can get a good view of at least half the course, which I think adds a unique dimension to the sport. You can even see it from your car as you're driving down some of the hills, which is a bit distracting. The Challenger series was a bit of a bust, and dampened the mood a bit. But the finals have been great, IMHO, other than the small fact that Oracle can't seem to hold on to a lead. I'll probably watch the next few days closely, as it may be the last chance I'll ever get to see it up close.
See that you have another thread running on silver, so thought that we should have balance and post the New Zealand press thoughts from today. America's Cup: American media turns on Oracle | Stuff.co.nz
