America's Cup 2017

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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
 
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.
 
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.
 
Ex Sailor said:
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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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 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)
 
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
 
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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"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.
 
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.
 
Bruce B Wifey D said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Last edited:
dhays said:
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?
Click to expand...


I respect and appreciate what you are saying but for me, certain things are meant to be un touched and timeless ...... FB
 
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.
 
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.
 
Stickman said:
I too fondly remember the mid 20th century classic 12 meter sloops.... but I'm going to the Cup anyways!
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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."
 
AlaskaProf said:
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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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..
 
Heron said:
Yup.....If you get a chance, watch the movie "Sail" with Jennifer Gray and Mathew Modine.
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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.
 
Are you sure the movie wasn't called "Wind"?
 
dimer2 said:
Are you sure the movie wasn't called "Wind"?
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Double Poop! My library has 40 movie titles including "Wind" (Inherit the..., Gone With..., ...in the Willows, etc.) but nothing called, "Wind". :rolleyes:
 
Benthic2 said:
AlaskaProf....you can watch it on Amazon for $2.99
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I may well have to do that, but im leaving for my summer afloat next Friday. I've been diligently ripping movies to a usb hard drive. Got a hundred or more now. (See the thread "Movie Night").
 
We patrolled one of the Americas Cups in San Diego. The actual racing was about as exciting as watching paint dry. I welcome the faster boats of today. As least something is happening, and fast.
 
Now the sailors are spending too MUCH money? Based on another thread going on here I was waiting to hear that the AC crews will show up at the Yacht Club bar and eat all the free popcorn, then skip out on their slip fees.
This contest has always been huge money by the uber-wealthy...for a trophy. Sort of like offshore Cigarette boat racing.
Regarding the catamaran class, the AC has also always been about developing and using new technology - carbon fiber, Kevlar, etc. - it's never been a One-Design contest. (Remember Australia's new winged keel? When the US Americas Cup committee sued them over it...and lost. Very sportsmanlike!).

Good thing other professional sports aren't about big money. Certainly not Triple Crown horse racing...or the Super Bowl. I guess the difference on TF is, "these are just more of those @*#! sailboats...gettin' in my way, don't know what they're doing....not
payin' for that mooring ball...it's an outrage! Now, let me get back to ripping me some free movies."
 
Gee, lots of excitement perhaps largely due to possible boat break-up or flipping over. Just getting over the finish line is a challenge for these boats built to sail "on the edge."
 
I was originally dismissive of the trend.....but watching these vessels is pretty impressive. They can go close to 50 miles per hour !! When they get up on the foils its quite a balancing act, and the switch to match racing will most likely cause a more aggressive racing strategy. I'm looking forward to it.
 
Heron said:
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..
Click to expand...

VERY hokey, but a great movie.
 
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