America's Cup Depression

[Tsehum Pete]

The Gray, Gray Market

Hi Fellow Kiwi Guys,Looks like I am going to have to get the Dish Network which carries Versus and a Tivo to record. The main problem is that the regulators have sealed off the Canada-US border to US signals. Going to have to contact Joe Scumbucket in some dark alley apparently.I grew up in a very much simpler time in the 50's sailing dinghies on Auckland Harbour. I yearn for those days. Like you guys do by the sound of it.Let's follow ETNZ, they beat Alinghi in two practice races a day or two ago. Shows huge promise.Nice shot Derek of SNZ. I went to Victoria University so know those hills well. Charisma looks a pretty boat Chris.Pete

 

[Derek Rowell]

Watched the race today (4/3)....

... I got real free with my hard-earned pennies and plonked down $40 americascupanywhere.com. The real-time graphics and ability to concentrate on the various boats in the fleet were superb. Comments:1) The ability to look at the advantage enjoyed by the leader is very useful. I always have trouble working out who's ahead on TV.2) Although the wind direction is shown, speed is not - it would be great to see the weather bouy's readings.3) The audio was about one minute ahead of the graphics, which was quite frustrating especially when the whole race went topsy-turvy on the last leg. I put this down to the buffering of the video - the audio is streamed over a separate internet radio feed.As for the race itself, on the final leg the wind went wonky and the yanks (BMW-Oracle) came from 10th or 11th out of 12 to be the clear winner while the Swedes (who were leading on the first leg) crept over the line 20+ minutes later. The Kiwis crept up to the middle of the fleet. I guess that's racing. ;DToday's 2nd race was postponed due to fickle winds.

 

[Scott]

Reading SAIL Magazine ...

They gave a pretty good synopsis of the AC racing format. Please excuse my entirely out-of-date and probable misconception about the format for this race.I previously thought that racing around the bouys was normally on a trianglar course with basically an upwind leg and two reaching legs with the finish after the last upwind leg. I realized that an upwind-downwind course simply has two markers. But I remember from my Hobie Cat racing days that regattas often used a triangular course with combinations that used all 3 markers on some circuits and upwind-downwind for the other circuits, as indicated at the skippers meeting in the morning. Each race would have up to 3 circuits with the finish usually upwind.SAIL showed how the AC format is basically upwind-downwind, with an optional downwind marker that the trailing boats could choose to round in order to get clear air. They also explained that the finishes are now downwind, which gives the trailing boat better options to gain an advantage on the finishing leg. It seems that in match racing, it is simply a matter of the lead boat covering the trailing boat on the final upwind leg, making the last upwind leg virtually impossible for a trailing boat to win, thus the elimination of the last upwind leg since it is not likely that a lead change will ever occur.Comments from our racing experts?

 

[Rich]

Snippets of sail

You can actually find little doses of sailing coverage after midnight or on Saturday mornings on the Outdoor sports network (can't remember their exact name) and now on the Weather Channel.