Is America's Cup half empty?

[Dan Johnson]

Personally...

I think that the "America's Cup" should be reserved for racing among singular nation-crewed boats and a new trophy called the "Corporate Cup" should take it's place for the Oracles, Pradas, BMW's and the like of the world to vie for. MHO.

 

[Jeff]

!2s gone, I'm gone

Once all of the wing keel,catamaran nonsense started, I lost interest. Today the boats and technology means I can't relate.

 

[Benny]

Some talk about the loss of the traditional

aspect of the America's cup but the reality is that common folks like most of us only heard about who won from an article on a newspaper as we had no chance to watch the races, see the boats or get to know the participants. At present and as a result of the commercial realization we can watch live the competion in the comfort of our homes, get blow by blow commentaries and even get to know of the individual crew members from the aterguard, to the grinders and even the sewer man. I first became aware of the Americas Cup races in the early 60s but did not get to see one until the 90's when televised coverage began. I can now record the shows and watch them at my leisure. Is this progress? I think it is.

 

[capn Bill]

Can't watch it on TV

My biggest beef with the America's Cup is that I have no way to watch it. My cable company does not provide the VERSUS channel so I miss the races. Repeated requests for it fall on deaf ears. The America's Cup - perhaps more than any other race series - provides a developmental platform for manunufacturers to excel in the introduction of new and better products for the rest of us. That's good! Look at any boat at today's shows and compare them with those of even ten years ago. Bill on STARGAZER

 

[Dave]

Mercenary Racing

The Americas' Cup Challenge has become a corporatised spectacle dominated by obscenely wealthy boys and corporations who hire mercenary crews and prostitutes of the business of competing in the event.The crews of the various boats have no loyalty to the nations that they supposedly represent other than to the bank that issues their paychecks and buys their airfares and hotel rooms. An indicator of who is intersted in what happens in the event lies in who covers the event as news and who pays attention to the reporting. None of my sailing friends (racers or cruisers) pay attention to the event. Bye the way, who does cover the event as news??????

 

[sailme2]

Let's see now.......

Where did the America's Cup coverage go?If it's televised at all, it's at a time - allowing for various time zones - that most folks can't watch it....even it it were shown.Next, we have a minimum of 20 min of commercial breaks per hour.Then, 20 - 25 min of voice over commentary about what might have happened if.... or some really intense coulda-shoulda-woulda bs between the commenators, who may or may not know anything to begin with.Finally, we have the shots of past action, previews of almost anything else to come, and if we're lucky, 5 - 10 min of actual racing scenes per hour.And....newspaper coverage......if it doesn't involve some kind of a ball or fight.....foget about it.I'll take a nice relaxing sail up Lake Huron to my favorite ports any day.

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Commercials! What are those?

I record the races with my DVR. Then fast forward to what I want to see. We haven't watched commercials since 2004, unless we want to see something truly 'live'.

 

[SailboatOwners.com]

Final results

Final results for the Quick Quiz ending June 10, 2007:What's wrong with the US America's Cup effort?45% Who cares? It has nothing to do with real sailing.23% Wrong people19% The race is broken13% Wrong tactics

 

[Mike Davis]

Get past the corporate stuff

Boats are really expensive, crews are really expensive, and countries have more pressing priorities. If you want to see no-holds-barred sailing competition, this is how it is going to happen. I don't own a BMW and probably never will, but that didn't stop me from considering BMW Oracle as "my" boat. For what it's worth, I think BMW got eliminated because we had Captain Ahab in charge. There is such a thing as delegating, after all.Once you get past all the "it's not how it used to be" crap, you get sailing. I still recall watching the previous Cup and the Alinghi crew through the Challenger series and the Cup itself. It was perfection wrought by Coutts & Butterworth. Never saw a mistake made by the crew. In some 20 races, their kite never touched the water during the drop. That sort of perfection is a joy to watch, regardless of the sport, but particularly in sailing. Maybe I'll get to see it again starting next weekend.

 

[Capitan Juan]

US and the cup

I agree that only nationals should be on the boats in order to make it a truly national competition. As sailor I am happy to see other countries competing and making sailing a world class sport. Americans: instead of complaining about money (which the US has lot of) technology (which the US is a leader) and talent (which the US is #1) as negative factors, you should be thinking about putting those things together and win the cup. If the US had been on the final, half of these commentaries would not be posted here and you would get all the US media that is lacking.