America's Cup Sailing

[Henry22]

The America's Cup Finals started yesterday in San Francisco. New Zealand took both races and Team USA was penalized for 2 races because they added weights to their boat.

Race 4 is on right now on NBC and later races are on NBC Sports. Its pretty entertaining. Big catamarans going 40+ mph. Not the regattas of old.

You can also watch it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/user/AmericasCup

Anyone else a sailor or sailing fan?

 

[Goofynewfie]

not a fan, but my father was a sailmaker before he retired and probably made a bunch of the sails on those boats, and I can't remember the name of the guy who owns the company he worked for but the guy I used to race in the Americas Cup few years back

 

[IslandLizard]

Yeah, I'm a big sailing fan. Used to do IOR racing in my younger years, before I became land logged. Although the cats are spectacular and fast, I prefer the 12m boats. But I'll take what I can get.

Thanks for the HU!

 

[Henry22]

Yeah, I'm a big sailing fan. Used to do IOR racing in my younger years, before I became land logged. Although the cats are spectacular and fast, I prefer the 12m boats. But I'll take what I can get.

Thanks for the HU!

I'm a monohull fan too, but no denying the cats are fun to watch. Larry Ellison was on to something when he changed the rules and boat design to make it more fun to watch.

 

[daksin]

One of my favorite spectacles of this year. Granddad taught me to sail and now I can geek out on the races every once in a while with my semi-pro racing buddy.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Not a fan in the past, but we were in the "Duck Boat" (local tourist van that travels around SF and can go in the Bay - BUS/BOAT?) We saw the NZ team practicing - man those boats fly across the water.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Hydrofoil catamarans with rigid airfoils for sails, fairly flying across the surface of the water...
Awesome tech on those boats!
Regards, GF.

Do they still run the "Global Challenge" type races? Takes some guts to run that race:

 

[Styles]

Yes, there's still round the world racing, check out Volvo Ocean Race. The CEO of team NZ was the skipper on the NZ entrant in the 90's when it was the Whitbread Round the World Race.

 

[Henry22]

Oracle team USA is getting worked. Bad boat design I think. Can't fault team (for most part), all experienced sailors and proven winners but the boat is so much slower up wind. Getting killed on third leg. Also our tacks are atrocious.

 

[ChefRex]

Is this related to the soccer thread?

 

[Henry22]

Is this related to the soccer thread?

No?

 

[JohnSand]

I don't know if you guys are still watching, but it's gone completely the other way. USA Oracle is now sailing faster, with better tactics, and has won five straight. Great stuff!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Only 1 more to go! USA! USA! USA!
Regards, GF.

 

[IslandLizard]

I don't know if you guys are still watching, but it's gone completely the other way. USA Oracle is now sailing faster, with better tactics, and has won five straight. Great stuff!

It's really strange how the tides turned there. Wonder what Team Oracle did to make their cat go faster. The Kiwis were definitely beating them on speed alone in the first 6 races.

Although the speeds and technology used are fascinating, I find it very disappointing that with only 5 legs in a very short race, there is not much chance to make up for any error or disadvantage encountered. Strategy and tactics have sadly fallen to low-ranked racing skills.

 

[JohnSand]

I think that tactics are less than they used to be, though still evident in the prestart and at the first mark. The problem has been that then the leader generally gets so far ahead that tactics won't help. Though there have been a couple of races with more than one lead change. I don't know why NZ doesn't try a tacking duel, since they seem to hold an edge in boat handling. Maybe they fear that USA won't bite, and the extra tacks would cost too much time.

 

[Henry22]

It's really strange how the tides turned there. Wonder what Team Oracle did to make their cat go faster. The Kiwis were definitely beating them on speed alone in the first 6 races. Although the speeds and technology used are fascinating, I find it very disappointing that with only 5 legs in a very short race, there is not much chance to make up for any error or disadvantage encountered. Strategy and tactics have sadly fallen to low-ranked racing skills.

Some of the races were blowouts but many were close, within 25 secs margin. I think that the excitement factor overcomes any loss of tactics. These are fun to watch.

 

[JohnSand]

WOW! Comeback complete! USA keeps The Cup!

 

[Roadie]

Amazing comeback!