More Americas cup stunts

[Cpt. Jon]

Looks like Team Alinghi has added a motor to their sailboat... not for propulsion, but supposedly for sail trim. Are these guys trying to ruin the cup?

Here's the article:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200990714066

 

[MrBee]

Sorry folks but my opinion is the the Americas Cup is no longer "Sailing". It's just another high $$ Event (That happens to take place on a boat.) that the owners will do what they have to to win, no matter the cost in $$ and/or the cost in Morales. Most of the teams don't even have ALL team members from one nation. What ever person, from what ever part of the world, that money can buy....

 

[tsmwebb]

Looks like Team Alinghi has added a motor to their sailboat...

IMO, it's a play for time and a bit of gamesmanship. This way it goes back to court and BMW/O is distracted by the need to develop motors, movable ballast and the like while not knowing what the final sailing rules will look like. A has nothing to lose -- the boat is sailable without the motor -- and gains a delay that they very much want as they are late getting on the water.

--Tom.

 

[Banooma]

My humble opinions....As I read the article, I was getting the same impression that Tom made, that's it's a ploy by Alinghi for time. To MrBee's point, hasn't this race always been about money (in the name of sport)?

 

[sailaway78]

I no longer pay attention

I enjoy sailing, even though I am not a racer. With that being said, I enjoy sometimes watching boat races, power and sail. And have always kept up to some extent with the Americas Cup. But no more. It is no longer about sailing. Only about winning, and who can spend the most bucks. There is no semblance to any reality that I can recognize, so I'll just ignore it from now on.

 

[BobM]

This is getting ridiculous. It has been like "Monster Garage" for the last twenty years, rather than sailing.

 

[Tim R.]

It has been about secret boat designs and money for a hundred years. Why do people think this is a new thing?

Which boat do we need to sail against:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F00E0DA103EE733A2575BC0A9649C946797D6CF


http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F06E5D6163AE633A25755C2A9629C946596D6CF

Excerpt from the above article published in the NY Times on April 26th, 1914.

"How much Sir Thomas Lipton will be "set back" in the challenge no one at present can guess, but he will hardly save much of anything because of the smaller size of the boats-call it a half million dollars for the sake of even figures. Then if these figures are added up it will be seen that before the end of the current season Sir Thomas will have spent very close to two million dollars in his efforts to lift the cup, and that the New York Yacht Club and it's members will have parted with more than two and a half millions in the defense, beginning with the Atalanta-Mischief year, and that the total cost of the contests for the cup, leaving out of consideration entirely the original cost and operative expense of Genesta, Galatea, Thistle and the two Valkries, has not been very far short of five million dollars, or approximately ten thousand times the cost of the trophy in the first instance."

 

[Ray T]

The cup has always been about winning and never about whats fair. That said when the wrangling is over and the actual racing has started I love to watch. You have the best sailors in the world participating and the best boats that can be designed and built. It's like watching any other pro sport. Some of the purists don't like pro sports but I do like watching the very best. The last cup races were very exciting when the best crews screwed up. When I was a young sailor I felt I was as good as the best. I could pick the wrong side of the course with the best of the pros.

 

[Cpt. Jon]

I don't have much of a problem with the huge toys and budgets and pushing the design envelope (in fact I very much like that!), but I am getting tired of the fact that they aren't racing because they would rather duke it out in the courts than on the course.

I just wonder if they are ever going to race or not at this point. I must say that it's going to be a wild one if they race these monsters, it will probably be a little tough to put it in perspective, but last time around the TV coverage was pretty good, so they may be able to do some neat things to keep the size perspective and speed in our minds. Especially when one of them pitchpoles

 

[Tim R.]

I don't have much of a problem with the huge toys and budgets and pushing the design envelope (in fact I very much like that!), but I am getting tired of the fact that they aren't racing because they would rather duke it out in the courts than on the course.

Agreed

 

[cephius (Dave)]

If you read the history of the yacht America, and the "Deed of Gift" you'll realize that nothing has changed since 1851.

The yacht was commissioned by a syndicate of businessmen expecting to make money on bets. The contract indicated that the builder would bear the cost of construction if it wasn't "the fastest boat on the water". It was built in France, and sold after the race for profit.

The "Deed of Gift" for the cup was drafted by the NYYC after the fact and decried by yachtsmen world wide as unsportsmanlike and providing an unfair advantage to the defenders.

What's new?

 

[Banooma]

That settles it. When I'm in a position to bankroll, win, and defend the America's Cup, I'll set the rules around a conventional design and mandate wood construction.

 

[Lee Coller]

Sorry folks but my opinion is the the Americas Cup is no longer "Sailing". It's just another high $$ Event (That happens to take place on a boat.) that the owners will do what they have to to win, no matter the cost in $$ and/or the cost in Morales. Most of the teams don't even have ALL team members from one nation. What ever person, from what ever part of the world, that money can buy....

It would be much better if they just did a one-design. 2 identical 40' J boats, randomly assigned and then alternated.

The America's Cup is now simply a joke.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Oh hell, we just need to put a foil on the America's boat. Something like the flying Moth's have.

 

[tsmwebb]

It would be much better if they just did a one-design. 2 identical 40' J boats, randomly assigned and then alternated..

There is a professional match racing circuit that essentially does just that... It ranks even below Frisbee golf as one of the least thrilling and least telegenic sports for disinterested viewers in the known universe. The America's Cup makes the sports page and sometimes even the front page of serious newspapers because the drama includes "great" (or at least very rich and powerful) men, outrageous craft, vast sums and bitter feuds. Occasionally there is some trickle down technology that improves the state of the sport of sailing -- sailing instruments, sail tracks and so on -- but those are unintended consequences. The AC is not about championship merit, is not raced for the community of sailors and is not an international championship. It never has been any of those things. It is a race by and for a segment of societies super-elite and its main purpose is to help them define a pecking order among themselves. We may watch if we're interested but they could not care less.

--Tom.

 

[Napa Ed]

I think it's great that somebody has the money and willingness to try new ideas. Eventually we all benefit as the successful innovations reach the retail level. Auto racing, NASA, sports medicine therapy, this Internets thing all pay dividends. Also, that money is being spent, not hoarded. I for one would love a job working on a new America's Cup boat. Many man-hours of wages being paid out in the pursuit of vanity and glory. You can always go back to wood and canvas if you want but I'll take the best equipment I can afford. I wonder what the "purists" said when the first extruded aluminum masts came along.

 

[cat38skip]

I have to agree with the trickle-down technology support .. however, the technology that trickles down doesn't become available AND affordable for many years. Beyond that, I am sick and tired of the pissing matches and have lost all interest in the AC. It would be more interesting and entertaining if they took their pissing match to the nearest bridge and did it the manly way to see who can 'reach' the furthest.

 

[sailingdog]

I'd second this... but the boats should be a bit bigger and the boat should change from year to year... one year have J40s, the next Gunboat 48s... etc.

This way, you'd really see which sailor is more versatile and skilled, rather than which team can spend more money.

It would be much better if they just did a one-design. 2 identical 40' J boats, randomly assigned and then alternated.

The America's Cup is now simply a joke.

 

[tsmwebb]

strange attraction

Since we all agree that we "don't care and aren't paying attention" to the shenanigans of the terrible ego twins, and since we're all shunning the AC by writing opinion posts, I though some of you might be also want to ignore Cory Friedman's legal analysis (in it's 40th installment for AC 33) on the subject. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p40

A curious side effect of re-writing the RRS so that canting keel yachts and yachts with powered winches can compete under them is that, AFIK, Alinghi/SNG could defend in a RC model under the RRS as long as they put it in the notice... Motors, movable ballast, pumping (presumably with motors) can all be allowed... Bizarre.

Actually, the thing that bothers me because it might have implications in the wider yacht racing world is that ISAF, which is supposed to be an impartial body by and for the sailing community, has been acting as a client of Alinghi since day one. Judges should not sell their allegiance.

--Tom.

 

[Banooma]

Although I think the spirit of America's Cup would serve the Sailing community better by holding competitions in vessels more closely resembling an everyman's boat, it's hard for me to throw stones at the guys who are doing whatever they can to improve their edge. I think anybody who has moved from sailing a Sunfish to bigger daysailer with an outboard, to a small cruiser with a cabin, a head, an inboard.... anyone who has added, or improved upon the stock layout, rigging, or electronics, anyone who has an in-mast furling main sail for convenience or safety, or changed out cowl vents from yellowing plastic to chrome, anyone with two-foot-itis... thinks about, or has done something to their vessel of choice that may not have been quite so "purist" in nature.