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Old 05-25-2017, 04:06 PM   #1
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America's Cup 2017

The races are approaching, but apparently it's too windy for the teams to compete as scheduled , so tomorrow's start has been postponed until Saturday, May 27.

https://www.americascup.com/en/news/...-27th-May.html
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Old 05-25-2017, 06:52 PM   #2
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Sadly, America's Cup is no longer about sailing, individual ability / seamanship or even sailboats. It is about multi - multi million dollar machines that don't resemble sailboats anymore, backed up by huge corporations, run by shore teams and crewed by the very rich ego driven insiders. Sorry ...... I personally elect not to follow, exception being the Vende Globe ( until that too, goes the way of America's cup ) FB
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Old 05-25-2017, 07:26 PM   #3
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Part of me wishes they had kept to the graceful sloops of old, but one day i was sailing San Francisco Bay and one of the Oracle catamarans flew by me at about a zillion miles and hour...just takes your breath away.
Look forward to the next Cup match.
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Old 05-25-2017, 08:00 PM   #4
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We had the privilege to watch the 45's in SFO in 2012 concurrent with the Fleet Week Blue Angels Flight Demo. Front row for the Blue Angels and all the 45s sailed by us in non-race cruising. What a fantastic 4 day event!

Once while on Alcatraz with fellow TFer Giggitoni, I watched a 72 on foils move much faster than the wind! The chase boats couldn't keep up in the chop. It was most impressive to witness firsthand.
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Old 05-25-2017, 08:17 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Ex Sailor View Post
Sadly, America's Cup is no longer about sailing, individual ability / seamanship or even sailboats. It is about multi - multi million dollar machines that don't resemble sailboats anymore, backed up by huge corporations, run by shore teams and crewed by the very rich ego driven insiders. Sorry ...... I personally elect not to follow, exception being the Vende Globe ( until that too, goes the way of America's cup ) FB


I understand and share much of your sentiment. However, the Schooner "America", which I believe the cup was named after, was the pinnacle of yacht design back in the mid 1800s. Basically, it was the current high-tech sailboat of the day. The same could be said for the J-Class in the 20's. The 12 meters were state of the art when they became the class the cup used later (I don't recall when).

My point is that while these foil multihulls bear no relation to the sailboats that I sailed and raced, they are some of the fastest sailboats around using our current technology. Time change. Was the change from canvas to Dacron a step to far? What about the current high-tech sail materials. Modern gps, wind speed indicators, weather forecasting and computer plotting are a normal art of modern "traditional" yacht racing. What happened to the helmsman touch, ability to read the water, feel the wind shift on your cheek and eyeball that weather mark to see when you can make it?
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Old 05-26-2017, 04:53 AM   #6
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I too fondly remember the mid 20th century classic 12 meter sloops.... but I'm going to the Cup anyways!

Not in my trawler, taking American Airlines.

See ya'll there ( last two weekends)
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Old 05-26-2017, 05:23 AM   #7
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The sloops are graceful and romantic. The cats are screaming fast and the race is much more exciting for me as a spectator. It's a race - gimme speed!


https://youtu.be/ZwNWviK5z0Q
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Old 05-26-2017, 05:25 AM   #8
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I worked for one of the AC syndicates in Fremantle in 86-87. Now THAT was a sailboat race. The last of the great AC events. Unbelievable sailing, great memories.

Even Key West is gone now. No Key West Race Week in 2018 >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

And I'm in a trawler, sailboat-less. I guess I'm part of the problem.

Times are definitely changing.
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Old 05-26-2017, 05:26 AM   #9
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"Sadly, America's Cup is no longer about sailing, individual ability / seamanship or even sailboats. It is about multi - multi million dollar machines that don't resemble sailboats anymore,"

Me too, I prefer the J boats to these tiny cats.
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Old 05-26-2017, 05:28 AM   #10
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The AC has become, without doubt, the F1 of yacht racing. These boats seem to defy the laws of physics they go so fast. They take amazing skills to race effectively and safely, and there is still a lot of pure seat of the pants - feel of the wind on your face, human skill involved as well. That alone makes them great to watch, and that's also coming from an ex-sailor. If they went back to boats like the 12 metres now, no-one would bother watching them.
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Old 05-26-2017, 05:44 AM   #11
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Originally Posted by Bruce B Wifey D View Post
I worked for one of the AC syndicates in Fremantle in 86-87. Now THAT was a sailboat race. The last of the great AC events. Unbelievable sailing, great memories.

Even Key West is gone now. No Key West Race Week in 2018 >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News

And I'm in a trawler, sailboat-less. I guess I'm part of the problem.

Times are definitely changing.
Well do I remember that regatta Bruce. As a proud Ex-Kiwi, I felt it the pinnacle of success when I won my first race in my then new to me Gazelle 26, and all my fellow yachties I beat, wanted core samples tested, (joking of course). That was the regatta where the Kiwis broke out of the the 12 metre being made in aluminium mould, using fibreglass (giving rise to the saying 'the plastic fantastics'), and resulting in 'big bad' Dennis Connor accusing them of cheating and demanding core samples to prove they met the scantling rules and weren't too light in the ends.

They passed fine, and but for a freakish period of unseasonably sustained high winds that just happened during the challenger final, they would have made history by winning the AC at their first attempt. Dennis's boat, Stars and Stripes, which ultimately won, was normally a bit of a dog in light to moderate winds otherwise That KZ7 was a real flyer and wasted Stars and Stripes in the earlier elimination series, and certainly was much faster then the Aussie boat that defended, (badly, sadly), as it turned out. So the cup went back to San Diego. Took the Kiwis two more attempts to win it off them, and take it back to Auckland.
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Old 05-26-2017, 06:34 AM   #12
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I understand and share much of your sentiment. However, the Schooner "America", which I believe the cup was named after, was the pinnacle of yacht design back in the mid 1800s. Basically, it was the current high-tech sailboat of the day. The same could be said for the J-Class in the 20's. The 12 meters were state of the art when they became the class the cup used later (I don't recall when).

My point is that while these foil multihulls bear no relation to the sailboats that I sailed and raced, they are some of the fastest sailboats around using our current technology. Time change. Was the change from canvas to Dacron a step to far? What about the current high-tech sail materials. Modern gps, wind speed indicators, weather forecasting and computer plotting are a normal art of modern "traditional" yacht racing. What happened to the helmsman touch, ability to read the water, feel the wind shift on your cheek and eyeball that weather mark to see when you can make it?

I respect and appreciate what you are saying but for me, certain things are meant to be un touched and timeless ...... FB
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Old 05-26-2017, 07:03 AM   #13
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Two things that come to mind:

First, the drama of the SF Bay comeback and why it occurred was riveting. These boats could be seen by spectators from afar. The wharf sail by at 30+ knots was breath taking for thousands. Truly a new era in so many visual ways.

Secondly, the NZ loss was interesting from the standpoint of what was really lost will never be known. Specifically the winner sets the rules and site. So what would the Kiwis have set as boat design? A return to 12 meter boredom after SF or a revised cat design?

This we know for sure, it will be a made for TV event. Set your recorders and lean back.
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Old 05-26-2017, 07:23 AM   #14
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The AC always has been about who's got the most money.

Look at the huge boats of the past like the 143' Reliance. Money.
Now it's high tech. Money.

Just money.
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Old 05-26-2017, 09:58 AM   #15
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I too fondly remember the mid 20th century classic 12 meter sloops.... but I'm going to the Cup anyways!
The big plastic screamers may be interesting, but America's Cup will always mean 12-Meter yachts to me. We have a neighbor, here in the dry lands of Oregon, whose father named her "Westerly."
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Old 05-26-2017, 10:55 AM   #16
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The big plastic screamers may be interesting, but America's Cup will always mean 12-Meter yachts to me. We have a neighbor, here in the dry lands of Oregon, whose father named her "Westerly."
Yup.....If you get a chance, watch the movie "Sail" with Jennifer Gray and Mathew Modine. All about a shoe string syndicate and the boat being built in the desert to retake the Kiwi loss. Great movie and sailing scenes..A little hokey but fun for enthusiasts..
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Old 05-26-2017, 01:57 PM   #17
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Yup.....If you get a chance, watch the movie "Sail" with Jennifer Gray and Mathew Modine.
Poop. My library doesn't have it, and video stores are extinct. BTW, the woman mentioned in the message above is Weatherly, named for the 1962 (successful) defender of the Cup.
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Old 05-26-2017, 02:07 PM   #18
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Are you sure the movie wasn't called "Wind"?
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Old 05-26-2017, 02:33 PM   #19
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Are you sure the movie wasn't called "Wind"?
Double Poop! My library has 40 movie titles including "Wind" (Inherit the..., Gone With..., ...in the Willows, etc.) but nothing called, "Wind".
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Old 05-26-2017, 03:35 PM   #20
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Poop. My library doesn't have it, and video stores are extinct. BTW, the woman mentioned in the message above is Weatherly, named for the 1962 (successful) defender of the Cup.
Weatherly still sails all summer in Newport, RI. along with Gleam, Northern Light, Courageous, and others. A great charter experience if you are in the area

Sea Scope Yacht Charters in Newport, RI - America's Cup class yacht charters and vintage antique wooden yachts.
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