America's Cup 2013

Some pretty good action today and a surprise equipment failure at around 0:25. Very impressive sailing.

Replay: LOUIS VUITTON CUP - RR3 - RACE 3, 21 July 2013 - YouTube

FlyWright said:

Some pretty good action today and a surprise equipment failure at around 0:25. Very impressive sailing.

Replay: LOUIS VUITTON CUP - RR3 - RACE 3, 21 July 2013 - YouTube

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That was some good racing when I use to sail cats 30 years ago they were a son of a gun to tack or jibe without a head sail

Good on ya mates

Just got back from San Francisco last night. We went down with another couple for a very long weekend and I was quite excited about being in town for some of the action. The AC Park was a virtual ghost town while Pier 39 was buzzing with tourists, unless things show serious improvement this could be a bit of an embarrassment for San Fran and a real black eye for the cup. After seeing what I saw I can't imagine why any city would consider hosting the competition. To be fair, this was the Vuitton Cup that we were seeing, the event may pick up steam once the AC racing gets going but three teams???...c,mon.
As impressive as these multihulls are I'd rather see better competition in a larger field of competitors in the slower but more affordable monohulls.
Did get a cool jacket out of it though ;-)

SeaHorse II said:

I'm in complete agreement with Al's statement. When one looks at the NBA, one sees a lot of players from other countries and if you really examine MLB, it's hard to find a natural born American on any of the teams. So far, this hasn't happened in the NFL but that's because, other than Canada & a few teams in Europe, most of professional football is played in the U.S. (Yes, Peter....football! )

If the Ausies are better overall than the Americans (and I think they are!) welcome to the U.S, team!

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Nah, Walt, it's really fartball, not foot ball. For one, they spend all the game bent over in that..well...position, and for another, the only time they actually kick the b***dy ball is for a field goal.

As for teams being limited to nationals - I totally agree.
It was the NZ team that won the Cup when it was in San Diego, and defended it successfully once, which then sold out to the Alinghi team boss, and then went and won it off NZ for Switzerland. Now some of that same team, eg the skipper, Russell Coutts, (had a falling out with Alinghi), are sailing for Oracle, so I hope Dean Barker (Emirates NZ) thrashes them.

Boydster said:

Just got back from San Francisco last night. We went down with another couple for a very long weekend and I was quite excited about being in town for some of the action. The AC Park was a virtual ghost town while Pier 39 was buzzing with tourists, unless things show serious improvement this could be a bit of an embarrassment for San Fran and a real black eye for the cup. After seeing what I saw I can't imagine why any city would consider hosting the competition. To be fair, this was the Vuitton Cup that we were seeing, the event may pick up steam once the AC racing gets going but three teams???...c,mon.
As impressive as these multihulls are I'd rather see better competition in a larger field of competitors in the slower but more affordable monohulls.
Did get a cool jacket out of it though ;-)

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I must agree the cats are fun and amazing to watch but not sure how a 2 boat race can make it, most sports that make it are based on the fact that the "normal" person can relate to playing or experiencing it in other words a lot of sailors can relate to racing amongst 10 or 20 other boats. in a normal race if a boat lost its jib as Emirates did that would be the end of their chance for that heat.

In my racing days I don't think I ever had a race that had a field of just 2 boats. in NZ at high school we all raced sailboats that were seen in the Olympics anyway I could go on and it was also 38 years ago when I was sailing in school so maybe it's all changed now maybe they don't even have sailing programs but I sure hope they do

The results are in. Well done, Kiwis! See you at the races.

gwkiwi said:

I must agree the cats are fun and amazing to watch but not sure how a 2 boat race can make it, most sports that make it are based on the fact that the "normal" person can relate to playing or experiencing it in other words a lot of sailors can relate to racing amongst 10 or 20 other boats. in a normal race if a boat lost its jib as Emirates did that would be the end of their chance for that heat.

In my racing days I don't think I ever had a race that had a field of just 2 boats. in NZ at high school we all raced sailboats that were seen in the Olympics anyway I could go on and it was also 38 years ago when I was sailing in school so maybe it's all changed now maybe they don't even have sailing programs but I sure hope they do

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It's match racing mate...that's always been between two boats, irrespective of how many compete in the regatta, it's still one on one. Bit like matchplay at golf. The other form you refer to is what is called fleet racing, so much like stroke play in golf. Go the Kiwis, now for the real cup...

I think you guys should give them the old 'Harka' before each race, works on the Wallabies!

For the sake of our northern hemisphere members I will translate;

New Zealand( a small country to the south-east of Australia) enact a Maori war cry to challenge and intimidate the opposition, in this case the Australian rugby team the Wallabies, thus causing fear and loathing at the prospect of playing the All Blacks(the New Zealand national team) and trying(unsuccessfully) not to get belted, as happened yet again last Saturday night. bitter......who me?

However, Aussie memories of many American cup challengers, most unsuccessful, with one brilliant exception, means that we will throw our lot in with the Kiwi's, to at least bring the cup south of the equator.

I well remember one brilliant newspaper headline in an old America's cup challenge, our boat was Gretal 2, I think, she won the race and was disqualified, under protest, by the new York yacht club racing committee.

The headline read;

"Australia rules the waves, America waives the rules"

Let the fun begin.Talk about rich boys with their toys.

Are there any millionaires still playing? Or is it a billionaire only club now?

Uh oh!

Y! SPORTS

Adding weight to a catamaran seems like more of a performance killer than an advantage. But what do I know about blow boats?

I have learned that the ETNZ crew was caught liberally applying performance enhancing liquids on fellow team members. There ought to be a law against this. A bloody waste, I say!

This is getting interesting cant wait for Sunday.

America's Cup| Team NZ boss Dalton happy with Jury... | Stuff.co.nz

The first race is actually Saturday here in the U.S. Sunday down under.

Unfortunately, I don't think the penalty will matter much as far as the racing. One boat (and we don't know which one yet) will be much faster than the other, and either Oracle will win 11 straight races, or the Kiwi's will win 9 straight races. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't even one pass in the entire regatta. Hasn't been one yet.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid the first few minutes of the first race Saturday will tell us who the winner will be.

Do two points equate to two wins with each win being one point?

No, it is not 2 points for the Kiwi's. It is minus 2 points for Oracle. Kiwi's still need to win 9 races. Oracle needs to win 11.

Nsail said:

The first race is actually Saturday here in the U.S. Sunday down under.

Unfortunately, I don't think the penalty will matter much as far as the racing. One boat (and we don't know which one yet) will be much faster than the other, and either Oracle will win 11 straight races, or the Kiwi's will win 9 straight races. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't even one pass in the entire regatta. Hasn't been one yet.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid the first few minutes of the first race Saturday will tell us who the winner will be.

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I think this will be closer than you think with alot of good jockeying around the start and both boats are appearing pretty equal and both are able to foil upwind which is a good barometer reading.

I do think the judges will be busy with penalty claims from both sides.

I pray that you're right as I live for this stuff. But, as I stated before, the starts are only 2 minutes instead of the normal 5, which leaves time for only 1 maneuver instead of the normal interesting, and, sometimes exciting "jockeying". Plus, relative to previous Cup races, they're afraid to get near each other, because of the fragility of the boats. I know it happened once in the LV Cup, but that was more of a matter of someone screwing up (they got no advantage from it), but it's unlikely to happen again.

Appearing pretty equal? Absolutely no way to gauge relative speed between boats as they've never faced each other (unlike the LV Cup) in an actual race . And, even if they've been out on the water at the same time - who's holding back and who's (probably neither) going for it? Impossible to tell. One of the great things about the AC is that nobody knows until it starts. Lots of suspense until that 1st leg of the 1st race. Then, unfortunately, everything will be known with these boats.

As for foiling upwind - unless condition are perfect, they've both been inconsistent. Not likely a factor unless someone has made great strides in the last few days.

Penalty claims - I hope so as that will mean competitive racing.

Sorry to be so negative, but I've waited a long time for this to be in San Francisco, and other that the Deed Of Gift races in "88 & '10, this will be the worst racing since the J Class boats (which were beautiful but not competitive). I'm not happy.

I'm afraid the Kiwi team has a profound advantage in racing experience in their boat. However, they're saddled with an inordinately high number of Kiwis.

On the other hand, the Yanks have a greater balance of Aussie and Kiwi on their team. They also apparently have creativity, ingenuity and cheating on their side.

Ought to be a damn good race!!

Never mind guys, when NZ defends it in 4 years, they might have come up with a more affordable type of class, and we might see it getting back nearer the original concept. He, he, he.
Although to be fair, the original format was never a fleet race. In fact Larry Ellison's one off challenge last time, (and the big boat challenge by Michael Fay in 1988, which Dennis Connor defended with catamaran under questionable circumstances), was the original format was under the deed of gift. It was the New York Yacht Club which developed it into the round robin match race qualifying and defending series, with the winner of each fighting for the cup. What I feel sad about is my adopted country having so many sailors in it, but no Aussie boat. How does that happen...? The skipper of the defender, Spithill, is an Aussie, as are several crew...
Never mind, may the best boat and crew win - bring it ooon...

Hey Al, what time is it set to start over there on Saturday...I can't seem to find that fact anywhere.

FlyWright said:

Ought to be a damn good race!!

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...and televised by NBC on Saturday, 1:00 pm.

Good show, Kiwis! That's a fast boat y'all got there. Seems like you've got a whole knot on us much of the time.

ETNZ 2, OTUSA -2

(ouch!)

Yeah Ha we watched it on NBC here on the boat in MS with some Kiwi lovers.

Was the closest match racing so far and that's what we all wanted to see. If NZ does win the word down under is that the cup will return to more affordable match racing and that will be cool for all.

Proud to be a Kiwi flying the Kiwi flag here some people thought I was an Aussie bit my younger pretty hard.

Younger equals tongue I sometimes hate auto correct

gwkiwi said:

Younger equals tongue I sometimes hate auto correct

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Good thing you explained that GW, had me going there for a minute. Visions of damage to an eye-watering part.

Yes, Team NZ have a good boat, if you can call those things boats. We are now getting it here in Aussie on Fox Sports One, but it is at 0600, ie for me = Sparrow's fart...so I recorded it. I think it is a pity they pinged the Oracle team -2, because it was not the sailing team's doing, and was not in the same vessel or regatta, the overweight object was in their AC 45 cat, and doubtful if it gave any advantage anyway. But it might all turn out academic if today's races are anything to go by.
Go the Kiwis..!
I was not impressed by (Aussie) James Spithill's attempt to milk a penalty at the second race start by suddenly luffing up and attempting to tap TNZ in a light collision...that was a rather cynical manipulation of the rules, but fortunately, the on-course umpires were not fooled.
Sure, the windward boat is supposed to give way, but both contestants are supposed to try to avoid actual collision, and as TNZ were clear ahead, there was no risk of collision until Spithill veered towards them, just missing their tail as it happened.
Still, it appears that to a significant extent almost the entire race outcome rests with the best start, so the pre-start is going to be quite intense, for sure...
Roll on races 3 & 4 tomorow...

gwkiwi said:

Younger equals tongue I sometimes hate auto correct

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I just thought it was cannibalism revived. We had a recent football game bite to a body part I won`t name, close to the "squirrel grip" region.

The first race was pretty exciting thru the first mark, and then is became gradually more evident that the Kiwi boat was the better one. Then iIt seemed all those announcers had to talk about was the two-point penalty.

Maybe a different day, different wind and current, will even things up, but right now it looks like another horizon job.

I am not a sailboat racing fan by any means. But, I caught about 5 minutes of the race yesterday. Personally, it's not for me. I feel their focus on technology has trumped the grace, elegance, and beauty of monohull, fabric-sail 'yachts'.

I watched the America's Cup races back in the '80s, when I was more into sailing. And, there was a clear connection to yacht racing history. Now, I fail to see anything other than a race to accumulate and spend the most amount of money.

Call me old-school. But, I'll take wood veneer over titanium any day.

Peter B said:

Good thing you explained that GW, had me going there for a minute. Visions of damage to an eye-watering part.

Yes, Team NZ have a good boat, if you can call those things boats. We are now getting it here in Aussie on Fox Sports One, but it is at 0600, ie for me = Sparrow's fart...so I recorded it. I think it is a pity they pinged the Oracle team -2, because it was not the sailing team's doing, and was not in the same vessel or regatta, the overweight object was in their AC 45 cat, and doubtful if it gave any advantage anyway. But it might all turn out academic if today's races are anything to go by.
Go the Kiwis..!
I was not impressed by (Aussie) James Spithill's attempt to milk a penalty at the second race start by suddenly luffing up and attempting to tap TNZ in a light collision...that was a rather cynical manipulation of the rules, but fortunately, the on-course umpires were not fooled.
Sure, the windward boat is supposed to give way, but both contestants are supposed to try to avoid actual collision, and as TNZ were clear ahead, there was no risk of collision until Spithill veered towards them, just missing their tail as it happened.
Still, it appears that to a significant extent almost the entire race outcome rests with the best start, so the pre-start is going to be quite intense, for sure...
Roll on races 3 & 4 tomorow...

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Since when is luffing a cynical manipulation of the rules? And, just in case you're not familiar with match racing, trying to "milk a penalty" is quite normal at the start if both boats are close. And, if you didn't notice, both boats did try to avoid a collision. Otherwise there could have easily been one.

I'm surprised at your comments as it seemed as though you were one of the persons that actually followed this event in the past. It seems as though you don't like close, exciting racing and would prefer a one boat race as happened a few times in the LV Cup.

Bottom line for me is that there was at least some competition at the beginning. For me it's all about close, exciting (and almost collisions) racing. Be it in San Francisco or on the Hauraki Gulf.

I like it for what it is; high tech boat against high tech boat. Comparing these to historical AC racers is like comparing NASCAR Daytona 500 racers to horse-drawn chariots. They're basically doing the same thing, but on an entirely different level.

I've never been so happy to be wrong!

The first halfs of the first three races were very good, close racing. And, the fourth race was exciting all the way!

Keep it up guys as it's finally getting fun!