America's Cup

[Bruce]

Racing/Competition

Racing - whether it be sailboats, cars, runners, or to the Moon and back is the ultimate expression of mankinds farthest reaching achievements. America's Cup...I have had the pleasure to see competitions in Rhode Island (the good old days), San Diego, and New Zealand. Flamboyant: yes it is.Expensive beyond normal reach: yes it is. Productive: yes it is.Pushing the envelope in whatever endeavor is absolutely required for bettering technology and the untold spinoff benefits filtering down to all of us.Unless each of us built our boat out back in the woodshed, we have the contributions of racing included in the magnificant machines we so much enjoy. I say, get on with. Who knows what wonders lie around the next turning mark.

 

[Brian Blevins]

AC/LVC IS GREAT........BUT

FOR THE AVERAGE SAILOR WATCHING SOMEONE ELSE SAIL IN A VERY EXPENSIVE BOAT ON TELEVISON DOESNT BEAT JUST GOING SAILING,dont get me wrong,nothing wrong with competition but thats toooo extreme

 

[Olivier van Mierlo]

Truecoming dream

Who doesn't dream now and then of having or being on such a raceboat and fly on the seas with 25 knots? These socalled billionares are putting a lot of time, effort and money in the development of new and better technologies wich benefits all sailors.And there's nothing wrong with that!

 

[Jeff D.]

Funny

When I raced Windmills years ago we used to brag they were faster than a 12 meter. Times have changed.

 

[Paul Michaelis]

Cup?

The cup pursuit has almost always been a test of egos, perhaps that's necessary to want to spend serious money and demonstrate for the unwashed spectators.Even the crews participate by moving between national competitors, either for personal gain or the pursuit of small glory. Like most sporting events, money and attention are more important than the act of competition. Note: overpaid "athletes" in other "sports?", 150 million for a ball player!

 

[Carl and Juliana Dupre]

It's Fun to Watch

Hi, all.We have been enjoying watching the LVC races on OLN. It's fun to watch, and it probably beats just about anything else on TV these days (which isn't saying much!). It has to be the epitome of racing technology, at least some of which will hopefully filter down, and it's good to see the practiced teamwork when it happens right. And the occasional antics and tantrums, on and off the water, are amusing. Yeah, we enjoy watching it.Yes, it IS what we all do and love so dearly; just taken to one particular extreme edge of the envelope. We were really reminded of that the other night; it was hilarious when the wind died and we watched these gazillion-dollar ultra-high tech boats dead in the water, sails limp, and going nowhere. We are all tied to and dependent upon the same whims of nature. That's part of what makes sailing so much fun, and what directly and intimately links us to the LVC/AC, as extreme as it may be.As for the "spoiled billionaires", they certainly are that, but we'll take them and their behavior over the mere "spoiled millionaires" of baseball, football, etc. and the behavior that THEY seem to exhibit these days.Carl and Jules/v 'Syzygy'

 

[Don Guillette]

America Cup

These races are fun to watch and you can learn a bit about sail trim from them. Ever notice how much twist they have in their mains. Right, there is none because twist robs power from the main and these old boys are not about to waste one ounce of power.On fractional rig boats, the main is the engine. On mast head rig boats it is the jib.Sometimes I get bored with it because everything is so perfect. Probably, thats why they are pros. I really enjoy the tactics and I try to second guess them. Sometimes I even get it right! Every wonder why the boom is so wide on these boats? There is a very good reason for it. Does anyone out there know what it is?

 

[Bruce]

Character Building

I have some food for thought !For those who bash racing as something from a world most of us only imagine, I wish to relate a tale of a different sort....UBS SWITZERLAND / WHITBREDNot too many years ago, PIERRE FELDMAN, a recognized international racing master, brought together a bunch of kids - teenagers mostly - on the waters of Lac Leman (Lake of Geneva) together with a new 80 foot hull. With limited funds (the first big boat with topsides advertising) and lots of heart, Pierre's kids built that boat from keel up...flew it in the old C-97 Guppie to Monaco for Launching, sailed it to the USA and back to Europe, taking on all comers along the way. I had the pleasure to know PIERRE and the entire crew during their visit to New York City.How did they do? That's history. Changing crew members along the way so all the Kids who built UBS SWITZERLAND could man their creation, PIERRE and his Kids not only won the WHITBRED, they cut days off the previous record...and so doing didn't break any part of the boat and never even blew out a sail.OK, OK, OK. America's Cup, Whitbred, and so many others are beyond the means of most of us. There are significant exceptions, however, such as UBS SWITZERLAND. Be happy our sport/vocation/avocation is so well practiced and thought of. How many do you know who are at this moment safely cruising the waters of the world - sometimes even raising their families aboard - because of the cutting edge efforts of the likes of OUR racers. Thought finished !

 

[Mac Lindsay]

LVC/AC

I wish I had the OLN so that I could watch the LVC at home. Watching the AC only is like watching only the Stanley Cup in hockey and none of the rest of the season. I like the politics, the soap opera antics of the teams and the racing. As for the money, what do you spend yours on? Some people can afford a $50,000.00 vehicle , and some can't. Or is it just choice of where to circulate your money next. I can only assume that those of us on this site choose to spend our money on sailboats and sailing rather than on more expensice vehicles or houses. Enough said. The bottom line is I enjoy the LVC and AC and would watch more sailing if it was offered on the sports chanels that I can actually get. Hats off to the OLN for showing the LVC.l

 

[Derek Rowell]

Virtual Spectator software?

Has anybody tried the Virtual Spectator 3D software that is being used on the OLN presentations and which gives real-time race progress? Looks great on TV, and not that expensive. I was about to purchase it; I went to their site and then read some user reviews, of which many were quite negative, saying it was "buggy". I'm curious, and may download the free demo version anyway...Their site is on the link below.Derek

 

[Pete Peterson]

Its good

Derek, I used VS for the Volvo ocean race and it performed great. I have purchased it for the LVC/AC and it looks even better, with enhanced graphics and options. So far I have only looked at a few recorded races (in high speed fast forward) and have not seen any live. I have not experienced any bugs, either this time or with the Volvo, and I have received at least three (automatic) updates since last week. I like the commentary, and they even have tutorials and rule explanations on "dialing up" and other starting techniques. If you can't get OLN, this may be even better!

 

[Nat]

UnAmericas Cup

It symbolizes everything that is wrong about 21st century sailing. The ridiculous breakdowns with boats breaking in half; the almost complete removal (as much as can be accomplished) from hands on sailing; the corporate atmosphere; the glitzy media and hype; and on and on...

 

[Juliana and Carl Dupre]

If...

if you had billions and billions of dollars, would you want to participate in the America's Cup? We would!!!Jule and Carls/v H340 Syzygy

 

[Peter Milne]

Wide Boom

Don,I don't have a clue????Peter MilneS/V Blue Heron

 

[Steve Dion]

anti-racing group.

I am just wondering about the group of sailors that do not like the Corp. glitz and all that money.What type of professional racing do you know of that does not cost millions of dollars to support this type of sport. I just so happens that these racing syndicates have about 100-200 employees. I do not think that you can expect to get people to do this for $5.65/hr. Then you need to fly them around, feed them, and the list goes on. Then you need to fly/ship a 70' boat half way around the world with all of the gear. Wow, I have sticker shock buying a new head! I love it. Wish I had 1% of their budget.

 

[Steve Dion]

Wide Boom, no clue too!

[nm]

 

[Tom]

To Don G's question...End Plate effect

Like an extention of the sail area

 

[Derek Rowell]

Booms - wide or narrow?

I'm puzzled - are we looking at the same boats? When I look at the booms on TV they appear to have a very narrow width - and are very tall in cross section. In fact, my first question was why were they so narrow and tall? My conclusion was for stiffness in the vertical direction. I understand Tom's end-plate suggestion (to stop circulation flow around the foot of the sail) but I'm still left with my (visual) conclusion that the booms are NOT wide. (Maybe I need to get a new HDTV format TV to stretch things horizontally - just kidding) Now on the old J-boats, the booms were known as Park Ave booms, and you could literally walk along them... That's a wide boom!Derek

 

[Don Guillette]

America Cup

Steve and Tom: The reason for the wide boom is to combat what is called the end-plate effect.What they are trying to do is prevent air from the high pressure windward side from leaking to the low pressure leeward side. It is the same principle that caused the development ofthe deck sweeper jib, which puts the foot of the sail on the deck thus preventing air from leaking.As Paul harvey would say,"now you know the rest of the story".

 

[Derek Rowell]

Boom width - again....

I've been watching the racing on OLN tonight, and taking particular notice of the booms on the four boats out on the courses. Those booms look VERY narrow, probably narrower than mine, and look as if they are bending slightly to conform with the foot even in the light air. They look to be narrower than the main sheet block hanging from them. So, Don, where did this wide boom stuff come from? There certainly isn't going to be any end-plate (winglet) effect there!Derek