More observations ....
I'm sure many don't appreciate negative comments, but, what's a discussion without a little dissent?
For most people, watching a sailboat race in the old days, was not only boring, but very confusing as well. Without the graphics, it was next to impossible to understand who was in front and exactly what were they doing? And then there were all the sail changes and people on deck spinning all these cranks, and for what reason? It was never explained. At least on the downwind runs, it made some sense that they had big sails like a balloon, they headed more or less straight for the downwind marks and it just made more sense that going downwind is faster.
I've been trying to think of the physics, but I can't seem to explain to myself exactly why getting up on the foils and going 40 knots is so much easier on the downwind reaches than it is on the upwind leg. We know that the apparent wind is always ahead of the mast because the true wind is about 20 knots less than the boat speed when flying downwind. So if the apparent wind is so much higher on the up-wind leg, then why aren't the boat speeds faster when going upwind? Yet getting up on foil going upwind is more difficult and the speed is decidedly lower. That has been puzzling me. Intuitively, it makes more sense that boats are faster on reaches than close-hauled, but with the new dynamics where the apparent wind is always forward, why is this so?
Also, I couldn't help wondering what is all the cranking about? I mean the sails barely even move, due to the nature of apparent wind. It was really fun watching these guys racing from one side of the boat to the other, and I'm not ever going to question their athleticism, but I can't quite understand why SO much cranking ALL the time, even when they seem to be going in a straight line. We all understand about course corrections and wind shifts, but what's the deal. Do they have to crank 5 revolutions to draw in a micro-mm of line? Announcers could do a better job at explaining why these guys have to do SO MUCH work because it isn't really obvious. Just saying that the loads are so high doesn't go far enough to describe what they are actually doing. The sails or wings are always close-hauled, there are no sail changes (except maybe between races for the tiny headsail), so what is all the cranking about? It also seems like all the cranking is always in the same direction, so doesn't there reach a point where they are over cranked? It just seems like they are incessantly spinning those things and it's not clear why.
When a linebacker puts in so much effort to chase a guy clear across the field before he gets across the line of scrimmage, the reason for his effort is obvious. These guys in the pit are obviously putting in the same physical effort, but it just isn't apparent why. It makes it so much more difficult for the fan to appreciate what is going on.
I've got more, but I have to leave for now. I'll get back later!