America's Cup 2017

dhays said:

Actually Dorsey, no Bruce. She has more sailboat racing credentials than most folks I have met.

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Oh dear, thanks Dave. So wifey D, Bruce B's better half is Dorsey, and the yachting expert. Sorry, my bad, but I'm sure she understood where I was coming from.

PS. This is the yacht I won the race with at that same time there was all that core sample talk by big Dennis C., prompting my fellow sailors to demand core samples from her back at the clubhouse. Boy those beers tasted good..

She was named 'Black Widow' by the way. By the original owner who was the builder as well. He named all his boats with intimidating names. He won lots of races. Always said Black Widow was the best of the bunch. My wife never liked the name much. Wonder why..? . Some of his other Gazelles were called 'Intimidator', 'The Wasp', 'The Black Adder'...get the picture..?

I do not think anyone would put an AC on their mantle instead of a 12 Meter or a J boat.

Black Widow looks fast even sitting on the trailer!

Benthic2 said:

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.

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I couldn't agree more! These AC boats are very exciting to watch!

Watching the Louis Vitton pre-AC races being held in Bermuda. Gosh, Bermuda is gorgeous, and not many boats at anchor. 72 degrees, 0--.5 foot waves, 12 knot breeze.
So far, France over Sweden, USA over Britain

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..

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AlaskaProf said:

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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Sorry for the brain infarction...The movie is titled "Wind" and still available:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000085EFG/ref=oh_aui_bia_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

lowcountry said:

Yeah, it's "Wind".

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LOL..Correct....Sorry!

Ex Sailor said:

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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And I get that, too...

But sometimes it depends on where in history you inserted yourself, so to speak.

Untouched and timeless could also mean Roman sailing (rowing) ships or Viking longboats or some such. Or Phoenician whatevers... Or Polynesian canoes.

IOW, the "good ol' days" were maybe preceeded by some earlier good ol' days... changes from which might in turn have been lamented by those who came before...

-Chris

The Movie from 1992 is here:https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Matthew-Modine/dp/B000085EFG

FF said:

I do not think anyone would put an AC on their mantle instead of a 12 Meter or a J boat.

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No....but if I was going to spend the afternoon as a passenger on one...give me the Cat, every time !!! That would be a blast !!!

Peter B said:

Oh dear, thanks Dave. So wifey D, Bruce B's better half is Dorsey, and the yachting expert. Sorry, my bad, but I'm sure she understood where I was coming from.

PS. This is the yacht I won the race with at that same time there was all that core sample talk by big Dennis C., prompting my fellow sailors to demand core samples from her back at the clubhouse. Boy those beers tasted good..

She was named 'Black Widow' by the way. By the original owner who was the builder as well. He named all his boats with intimidating names. He won lots of races. Always said Black Widow was the best of the bunch. My wife never liked the name much. Wonder why..? . Some of his other Gazelles were called 'Intimidator', 'The Wasp', 'The Black Adder'...get the picture..?

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No "funnel web"?

Great book: The Billionaire and the Mechanic: How Larry Ellison and a Car Mechanic Teamed up to Win Sailing’s Greatest Race, the Americas Cup, Twice

Rematch! Starts tomorrow!

As a One-Design sailboat racer for many years, it's pretty hard to understand how the US AC Committee got away with the rules of this 2017 final series. Where else in sports does one of the teams start out in a finals series in a "one down" position (NZ)?

So just an FYI, before the series even starts, the current score is:
Oracle USA 0
New Zealand -1

First team to win 7 wins the Cup. (Meaning, NZ has to win 8)

Of course, this is in line with the way we played for the first 100 years of this race.

CDreamer said:

Of course, this is in line with the way we played for the first 100 years of this race.

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Some Brit press guy wagged about a lost protest by the British in a 1934 Cup race of Endeavour vs Rainbow (the British interpretation of the rule in question differed from the American one) that "Britannia rules the waves but America waives the rules".

In the last AC, Oracle/USA started the finals with quite the penalty for some misdeeds during the AC45 races. Still wasn't enough for the Kiwis to win...maybe this year? I'll sure be watching!

May the best team win!

Giggitoni said:

No "funnel web"?

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Ah, no, that was in NZ, not Aussie. NZ only has one potentially venomous creature, the Katipo (I never saw one) = roughly same as Redback here in Aus, and the Black Widow in NA, I think.

Eagerly awaiting the finals of the CUP, also. I am not holding my breath that Oracle won't keep it. That Jimmy Spithill is one slippery and cunning customer. He's an Aussie, and so was Outeridge, the Swedish boat's skipper. But although my deep heart will be with the Kiwis, it is a pity Aus does not actually put up a boat of our own, so they have to just drive other countries boats. However, that appears to be the way professional sport has gone. Look how many top UK Soccer teams are managed (coached) by Europeans.

CDreamer said:

As a One-Design sailboat racer for many years, it's pretty hard to understand how the US AC Committee got away with the rules of this 2017 final series. Where else in sports does one of the teams start out in a finals series in a "one down" position (NZ)?

So just an FYI, before the series even starts, the current score is:
Oracle USA 0
New Zealand -1

First team to win 7 wins the Cup. (Meaning, NZ has to win 8)

Of course, this is in line with the way we played for the first 100 years of this race.

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Even as a Kiwi supporter I have to say, that is not as bad as the last defence, when because of some design rule infringement, Oracle started the final series 7 races down out of a best of 9, or was it 13..? Anyway, NZ in the end had to only win one more to take the cup, yet Oracle Team US managed to come back and win. Ooooh...don't remind me..! In at least two races where Emirates Team NZ were well ahead, they were called off because in one, the winds went too high, and in another they were fifty yards from the finish line, well ahead but in light winds, and the time limit ran out.

It's the first team to win 9 races. Last time -in San Francisco - Oracle started the finals with a 2-race penalty, assessed because USA got busted for a rule infringement that occurred during the semis. This wasn't discovered early enough so the penalty had to be assessed in the finals.
But this year is different. NZ is starting down 1 not because they did anything wrong, but because Oracle got a 'point' for winning in the semis. The problem is that as the Cup defender, Oracle was already guaranteed to be in the finals anyway. If Team USA wins by one race, it will seem a little...hollow, to me.

Thanks, yes, my memory was a bit faulty there - here from Wikipedia...

"The 34th America's Cup was held between challenger Team New Zealand and defender Oracle Team USA on a five-leg course on San Francisco Bay. One point was awarded for winning a race, and a total of nine points were needed to win the cup. Due to the two race penalty assessed on Oracle Team USA, they needed 11 wins to defend the cup."

Personally, I have no issue with Oracle taking their hard won 1 point into the final. The are at a disadvantage in terms of the preparation for the defence, in any case by limited real opposition. I think that 1 point fairly won feels about right. Only fair for someone to have to beat them by a decent margin, ie more than one point to take the cup. A parallel would be tennis, where to win a set you have to have a two point margin..?
Can't wait though. Let the sail-offs begin..!

Another tennis example would be if, say, Federer and Murray got to the final match, and Roger was up in the first set 1-0, before the match started. (Since he won a few sets back in the semi-final.)

I am really looking forward to watching this series though. Let's hope the wind is good. And I'll be pulling for Oracle although it's difficult...Larry Ellison is a complete
*#*@+!.
Although people probably thought the same thing about the Vanderbilts.

Yup! Bring it on! I'm warming up my TV now and setting up for the race. It's a little early here for and IPAs, though. Looking forward to a great race, but kinda feel sorry for the NZ fans already. They're loyal to the end, always classy and deserve a win.

Kudos to Team NZ! Two good races.

FlyWright said:

Kudos to Team NZ! Two good races.

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Lifted out, presumably going to change the foils after a major A** whooping today

Larry brought his "trawler" to watch...

The observer yachts remind me that I was in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico to do some sail fishing a few years ago, which is a pretty good harbor for the "Mayan Coast". A very large yacht - meaning half the size of Ellison's - pulled in and the crew spent about an hour getting it all wiped down. I moseyed over...it was "Straight Jacket"...one of George Strait's toys. I said, "Is he coming to fish?" The crew said, "We never know...we just go where we are told." I never saw George there but a bunch of other people showed up the next day. When they were packing up I asked a crew member where they were headed. "St. Bart's." Incidentally, the big boat was TOWING a 36' center console named "Sport Jacket". He also has a beautiful Merritt down in Rockport TX called "Day Money"...a rodeo term.

Wow! They were smoked. Yeah, they better change something before tomorrow's races.

FlyWright said:

Yup! Bring it on! I'm warming up my TV now and setting up for the race. It's a little early here for and IPAs, though. Looking forward to a great race, but kinda feel sorry for the NZ fans already. They're loyal to the end, always classy and deserve a win.

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That may indeed prove prophetic, Al, but I don't think you need to feel sorry for them. It's a fair contest. Best boat and crew wins, whichever. I am certainly not holding my breath after last time...

hey, they're up 4-0 on races, and the sticker on the helmsman seat says it all...


NO WANKERS