America's Cup: Real Boats, More Sailors
America’s Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand and their club, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, alongside the Challenger of Record for the 37th
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real sailboats
- Thread starter jon hansen
- Start date
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To improve its public image, the America's Cup is adopting a mascot. A newly discovered species of crab, related to the hermit crab, has been selected as the perfect choice.
-Will (Dragonfly)
-Will (Dragonfly)
I actually would like that to happen. The novelty of the foiling boats quickly got old. There were very, very few exciting moments... the USA team flipping their boat in the Challenger round robin is one. But otherwise, all you saw was one or two guys running across the deck after a turn. NO CREW WORK at ALL. Just the top of some dudes pumping away on invisible coffee grinders. A boat comes off it's foil and loses a mile, then makes it up on the next leg because the other boat came off it's foil and ends up winning the race by a mile... WTF?
Speed is relative.... two equal boat in a tacking duel making 10kts upwind in 20kts of breeze with water sloshing over the deck and crew working hard looks really, really fast. Two foiling boats making 35 kts in the same breeze with no apparent activity other than the guy driving looking around a bit.... uh... what's the fun in that?
What some of these guy are missing is that it's not absolute speed that sailboat racing fans enjoy, what they like is competition, strategy, execution, etc. When you think of the excitement of auto racing.. what is it you remember? The speedometer readout. nah... you think of the crew work in the pits, the drama at critical turns, the strategy each driver uses to pass the car ahead, or to keep from being passed.
I would rather watch a fleet of Aussie 18ft skiffs race any day of the week that a freaky looking, no personality AC foiler just trying to keep its hull from touching water.
Speed is relative.... two equal boat in a tacking duel making 10kts upwind in 20kts of breeze with water sloshing over the deck and crew working hard looks really, really fast. Two foiling boats making 35 kts in the same breeze with no apparent activity other than the guy driving looking around a bit.... uh... what's the fun in that?
What some of these guy are missing is that it's not absolute speed that sailboat racing fans enjoy, what they like is competition, strategy, execution, etc. When you think of the excitement of auto racing.. what is it you remember? The speedometer readout. nah... you think of the crew work in the pits, the drama at critical turns, the strategy each driver uses to pass the car ahead, or to keep from being passed.
I would rather watch a fleet of Aussie 18ft skiffs race any day of the week that a freaky looking, no personality AC foiler just trying to keep its hull from touching water.
Yeah, except that there is no AC class boat; never has been. The race is, in part, about building a better boat than the other team's boat. The AC is sort of the MIT race of sailing.
Primary strategy: Build the fastest boat.
Secondary strategy: Be better sailors.
-Will (Dragonfly)
Primary strategy: Build the fastest boat.
Secondary strategy: Be better sailors.
-Will (Dragonfly)
Will,I would prefer
Primary strategy: Be better sailors.
Secondary strategy: Build the fastest boat.
Rick
Watching the movie "Wind" for the 15th time is more exciting than watching a real AC match race???
So one design then? I have to say I really have enjoyed the Volvo Race more once it became one design. For what it is worth, while that appeals to you and I more, it probably does not inspire the requisite billionaires to throw money at it. Further, the development and secrets which evolved beyond the class rule in the AC racing was a great portion of the entertainment for lots of us.
I sailed Ensigns competitively for almost 10 years. The skills I learned during those years enabled me to easily move up to a Pearson 30, Pearson 39, then a Hunter 44 and handle them in all weather.
Historically the AC competition has been more about design than sailing skill. There are a few instances of sailing skill trumped design but mostly it has been the other way around. Seen that way I can't complain about what it has become. I'm just not that interested in watching. Sailboat racing is not a spectator sport. It is a spectacle to watch at times but from shore it's mostly a yawn. I don't know why we need the validation of a crowd of spectators. Professional sailors probably need the revenue but that doesn't effect me.
The AC has always been a technology race in unapproachable boats. Do you think the average sailor thought the J-boats looked anything like they sailed? Each class is retired not when the public gets bored with it, but when it reaches the endpoint of the possible technological advancement. That just happens faster now. Because that's all that matters. The fastest boat wins. Every time.