Comments on: Americas Cup – The Oldest Trophy In Sports Gets Stupid In A High Tech Way

By: Max Sarazin

Max Sarazin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:20:07 +0000

Well I guess it’s speed again, no more tactics.
Brute force wins out over sailing tactics.
I have better things to do than watch 72 foot catamarans chase one another around a course with no tactics whatsoever.
Why not choose cigarette boats, real speed, with a little steadying sail from a fishing boat to qualify as ’sail’.

By: Max Sarazin

Max Sarazin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:21:51 +0000

The 2010 AC was nothing but a Rat Race!

Rat Race def. - a strenuous, wearisome, and usually competitive activity or rush.

Where were the Pre-Start Maneuvers, Tacking Duels, Luffing Matches, Backwinding, Blanketing, etc.

Gawd I miss the real Cup boats. If Bus Mosbacher were alive today he’d roll over in his grave.

Again, mass produce carbon-fibre Weatherly & Easterner for countries to rig & finish, using either to race and the other as trial horse, great hulls.

In the meantime I think I’ll go out and watch the grass grow!
Max Sarazin

By: ken hardcastle

ken hardcastle — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:47:01 +0000

NEW Rules

No Cats
The crew must be 80% native born citizens of the country they represent.

By: ERIC

ERIC — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:39:09 +0000

Yes the hi-tech boats are interesting, but it’s no longer a ‘race’ in the popular sense.
And they can’t sail on rough seas?
Gimme a break …. like skiing only on groomed
hills.
Thank god for the Hobart etc. Real boats with
real people.

By: cactus

cactus — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:07:46 +0000

if ellison wins the next ac will be in san francisco bay. a million people will be able to see it from the hills and waterfront. some years ago he raced allinghi in the bay 3 of 5 i think and had big crowds. summer weather is very windy with sometimes afternoon fog.i dont think ellison has thought about being a media celeb with hundreds of media following him and poking into his private life. and local politics will also be involved. it should be a wonderfull circus and i think create much interest in sailing.

By: Max Sarazin

Max Sarazin — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:34:41 +0000

Looked over the site http://www.iceboat.org/ and really enjoyed it. Was familiar with DNs only.
Iceboating and 12 meter one design would make great international competition, but would the media cover it? I doubt it.

By: Mischief1

Mischief1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:39:33 +0000

If you just want to see high tech carbon fiber innovations and extraordinary speed, find out where the E-class skeeter iceboats are sailing on iceboat.org. 90+mph in a sailing vessel. Oh, by the way, you can get a glimpse of Buddy Melges in his new boat. He’s still a force. Something good to see in sailing, even if you might have to freeze yourself to do it.

Let’s get back to a one-design, or near one-design boat and the multi-national competition for the America’s Cup.

By: Max Sarazin

Max Sarazin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:53:31 +0000

Great comments, so now you got me started! Let’s get back to a good design and use it for match racing. Produce ‘Weatherly’ and ‘Easterner’ using modern materials and technology. Get rid of electronics, and use brain and muscle power.
With those 2 hulls, one would be the trial horse. Which one would be decided by each country using them.
Then we’d have god match racing with beautiful boats.
Max, Falcon Class nat’l champ.

By: Simon Barrett

Simon Barrett — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:07:12 +0000

The AC has always been about innovation, indeed many ideas have been born from the designs that are now part of the higher priced yachts on sale today. Some designs have even made it to the more accessible boats.

Under certain design constraints the wing keel is a fabulous tool.

I am not suggesting that the event be held on Holder 14’s merely that there be limits placed on the design.

I will be the guy up at 3am tomorrow to watch, I care a great deal about the AC. But this is not the AC that I or anyone else wanted. We have two overfunded ego’s who have taken the AC into the toilet.

Sure the boats look great, sure they have skilled teams. But this is an AC that has little support. The TV stations in the US are shunning it. Loius Vuiton have walked away, this has become a huge yawner of an event.

The AC’s I was involved in created excitement. People cared. I was on the water and watched Chris Dixon lose that must win race for Nippon when his boom snapped. I watched the hostillity build between DC and Koch in the challenger series. I even got very close to to the fabled Guizini, Koch’s ‘weather’ boat with more gizmos than a russian trawler in the cold war!

Sure there was piles of dirty pool, but in many ways it was all good clean fun.

AC 33 is all about dirty pool, but instead of good old fashioned divers trying to snap pix of the keel, be have well heeled lawyers in the court room.

Sailing has always been a second class citizen when it comes to media coverage. The AC 33 is driving the sport even further down the food chain.

By: Phred E

Phred E — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:49:33 +0000

Wellll… we could organise the America’s Cup in Lasers, or Optimists. Solings perhaps. But that’s not really aspirational sailing, surely, Simon?

Yes, the two-party over-by-Wednesday contest we have now doesn’t quite seem America’s Cup of old but my impression is that it should be a design, construction & sailing competition between countries, with emphasis on ’sailing’ and ‘countries’. However much national team sporting has been eroded by monied camps in the modern age that was the written intention in the Deed of Gift. Remember that tribal element.

Today it’s a comparison of size and power with much deprecated sailing skill and subtlety. (Will we see the grand bluff Alinghi visited upon ETNZ in the port-starboard in the last challenge?)

I’d like to see a return to restricted yachts with all elements balanced and emphasis given to sailing skill. Not one-design but fairly tightly restricted designs where good control on the water is rewarded and where you pay for mistakes. I wish.

By: Fred

Fred — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:32:18 +0000

Well, I think the defender did not plan it this way eventually in the start and the 33rd AC should have been a “classical” match racing. Were they too arrogant? Maybe, but the final point is that they made a mistake creating a breach in which Oracle did not wait to be invited twice to jump in, and finally after too much court orders and lawyers talks we “end” (this might not be the end) up here, on the sea again with two gigantic boats for an event that will probably be unique in sailing history. I think the disappointment of the defender considering the recent history of the cup is clearly shown by the fact that Bertarelli only cares about fighting on the water (being himself on the boat) and does not cares about what the court will decide afterward…

By: axolotl

axolotl — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:18:02 +0000

“Match racing should be done using cheap, everyday boats, they should be identical in construction and rigging. The Americas Cup is about the better skipper, not the better computer design program.”

You miss the point of the America’s Cup, it’s *always* been a design competition, with the fastest boat usually winning. The Match Race format is employed to determine who’s designed and built the fastest boat.

By: Simon Barrett

Simon Barrett — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:34:37 +0000

dsrofe - If drag racing is your passion, then yes, it will be exciting. If match racing is your passion, there is a high potential to be disappointed.

The AC used to be the very apex of sailing, today it is sideshow.

By: dsrofe

dsrofe — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:58:53 +0000

I would agree that the race should be with inexpensive, class boats. And I would also agree the legal stunts has left a very black mark. But in terms of excitement, this will be the most exciting, fastest race the America’s Cup has ever experienced. The people who have never sailed a multihull and in fact look down upon them, have no clue. But I agree. Inexpensive, class boats. The next time, lets use Nacra F-20s.

By: banjomike

banjomike — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:50:20 +0000

It is not too surprising that Oracle would adopt the “lawers first sailing second” culture because Oracle comes from the most litigous industry on the planet but I am surprised that BMW would want to be linked to it.

And yes, I do blame Oracle for 95% of the crap.

By: thomascr

thomascr — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:23:11 +0000

I agree with you completely. Moreover, the 32nd AC brought more countries into the Louis Vitton cup than ever before, and with Spain’s immediate challenge for the 33rd even more countries/teams/syndicates stepped up to participate. I was excited about the impact that would have had on sailing, worldwide, until GGYC took it to court. What a sleazy thing to do!

Tom Crawford