Tomo…
Not realy like club sailing… but you win the race to the first mark… and game over… There realy is no way to pass. and the kiwis are just too good… YOU could say the same thing about the aussies in 83 and the kiwis in 95. but even in those 2 reggatas… there was a race. you had to race the entire course… not just the start and then race to the first mark.
I think they have a great idea with the racing in close for people to see… this would be a realy good way to get the fans involved. but WHY schedule 2 races when you only race one…
Postpone. is now the official word for this americas cup… not foiling… but postpone
Have not been watching the ETNZ blitzkrieg … but are you sure they were foil tacking ?
L.R may be slower than ETNZ but their delta times have been coming down progressively and can imagine that they are faster around the course than O.R now, kinda strange that the 2nd fastest boat in the regatta will not be in the … !
I have a little more interest in the Italians because they were based near where I sail my little model in the Viaduct in Auckland and Francesco Bruni and his son of about 8 and younger daughter spent an hour sailing my yacht. Francesco has a one metre at home but the youngster had no model yacht and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
So what do you think of the LV Cup 2013? Do you think the Kiwis, with the most money, deserve to win the cup? Was the whole LV Cup fairly contested, with only one upwind leg (for the finals)?
I’m still of the opinion that the boats are TOO fast for the sport, and there was not enough of a display of sailing and teamwork to justify the easy win the Kiwis got. Had LR gotten the funds to build a comparable boat, and the same amount of time to practice, I think the outcome would have been more “interesting.”
The other problem is the course- or rather the placement of the course. It was put within sight of the shoreline, which is not bad, but did they have to include Alcatraz Island? Instead of sailing boats against each other, they were navigating around big rocks. The course IMO was still a bit short and had absolutely no ocean-type swells and winds. It was all to cater to foiuling AC72s and to sell tickets to people.
One other thing I wonder about is the fans. Every time ETNZ beat LR, the fans cheered the Kiwis, even when LR put in a poor performance. It’s quite possible that there are Kiwis in the San Francisco Bay area, but I’m an AMERICAN; I like burgers, beer, and corm-on-the-cob, and I always root for the ‘home team’ which in this case is Oracle.
GO ORACLE- Beat the Kiwis. Keep the America’s Cup “America’s!”
This L.V has been sleeper not because of the venue but the course…on a flood tide it’s a follow the leader course, the boat to the first mark wins (no passing lanes) mind you none of the defenders were fast enough to pass ETNZ :rolleyes: and how many of the L.V races were on a flood tides.?
Given that Artemis got it all messed up from the start of their campaign, they demonstrated that had the ability to get up to speed with their boat 2 but they just ran out of runway … if they had another few weeks they would have eaten L.R.
L.R had the boat, plenty of runway practice but never looked like they used it correctly and could not put the package together, team work on the water looked rough and C.Draper is not in the same league as other AC 72 skippers.
ETNZ the only team not funded by a billionaire got it right from the beginning with perfect design, shore and sailing teams and with its CEO settling into the position as grinder demonstrate how a group of dedicated specialists can work into a well polished AC team.
O.R is mixed bag, they are the AC-34 rule makers with lots of political issues, media coverage sucks as they have not realised today’s media is the Internet and not T.V. The AWCS (AC 45) circus looks like they shot themselves in the foot with, AC 72 design got off to a bad start, shore team showed its worth under the hammer and pulled rabbits out of hats and the sailing team has been dominated by Spithill who was the man of the moment from the last AC where O.R had far better boat against Alinghi back then … but I think today he is the 2nd best skipper on the only two boat team.
This time O.R don’t have best boat design but they are in the best position to dial in their race boat to reach optimum performance and team for this AC, only question that remains if they will select the best sailing team to sail it against well polished ETNZ team … ?!?
AC 34 Cup is Oracles to lose again !!
The practice racing between O.R boat 1 & 2 have shown there is plenty of options with passing lanes on ebb tide …only Ainslie was not aloud to pass Spithill !?
So IF the Cup goes to NZ, and they keep the same rule for the boats, and the concept of keeping the racing accessible to the fans, where would you like to see the course placed? It seems like the Hauraki Gulf would be one site where there is less “tide effect” yet big enough to get a proper-size course for competitive sailing.
I like the fact that it was brought “in shore” which makes for more than just a TV audience and it allows for public viewing.
I felt the ACWS was a success, bunch of boats, lots of countries, and good tight racing great media coverage, live streaming, ect…
The best part was the racing which is the epitome of one design racing. less about the boats and more about the skippers.
With any course, once you get ahead, its is much easier to stay ahead. tack and cover… the problem with the LV racing IMO is the speed differential of the AC72 from stop to full speed… and the Reaching Start… All a skipper has to do before the start and get under the windward boat, push them head to wind and make them slow down(almost stop), and the leeward boat can bear away quickly accelerate, get on foil and before you know it they are quite a few boat lengths ahead while the windward boat is sitting there bobbing like a cork.
It’s a RACE for goodness sakes … you know, he who is fastest wins!! If you want to control the “speed” of the participants, then perhaps NASCAR or F1 is your style … where a group of people decide on the best method to “slow down” a race car, not let technology determine how fast they really can go. Body shape, restriction plates, wings, and let’s go way back when the turbine engine was eliminated. Racing - if you look up the word means to travel as fast as possible. Next, will we tell Olympic runners, swimmers, cyclists, Etc. to “slow down” ?
Come on - that comment of boats being too fast for the sport was completely out in left field (in my opinion)
Maybe a boat the size of an AC 45? Should bring the stress’s and cost down plus the AC teams already have experience with them. But they have to allow foils, full time foiling is only a small step away.
I’ve been saying that for a while. really don’t even need to foil. the ac45’s were plenty fast, you had 9 boats on the water if I recall… that is one thing the Cup is about, International participation… but not this time…with the 72’s
Once it gets to NZ they’ll make it right and bring competition back to the cup…Ihope…
the kicker is/was the NZ figured out to foil with the current rules… They figured it out very early, more likely in the design stage and designed the boat accordingly, and as a result everyone else is chasing and retrofitting and modifying to catch up. when the rules were written, the writes did not think that foiling would be possible.
I’m not against that design aspect, a part of the Cup from day one was design. how many times has a better design won the cup? I also think the rules should be written that it needs to be a “country team”. IE if the boat is from the US it needs to be a US team and not some “hired guns”
Kind of like Olympic Basketball and Hockey and … ??? :censored:
DoH :smile_lol :biglaugh: as I recall, they tried that for a while, and couldn’t come up with an agreed upon time that a person had to be residing in the country, thus the invasion of Kiwi’s and Aussies in other countries. Tried it by limiting construction, components, and designs and that too fell kind of “flat” (and some of these were back in the good old days [??] of the 12 meters)
I was thinking about this for a while now, LR coming in late and buying the cat from NZ, not protesting NZ during the first round race, the apparently “lack of aggressiveness” - albeit with a much slower boat (?) - during the LV finals … and LR now being the trial horse for NZ in the preparation for the AC finals …
Well today I sort of got some confirmations, according to some rumors and an interview with an Italian sport paper Bertelli (LR syndicate head) has confirmed that LR will in fact participate in the next AC and has already started to assemble a design team, along with NZ syndicate to design the next boats for the cup, obviously in case of a NZ victory. Needles to say the LR will be the challenger of records. Basically LR was participating in this cup to “help/assist” NZ team, to set themselves up for a better position for the next AC event …
Unless the boats will be similar, LR will be in the same situation for the next Cup, unless they get some kind of unexpected help or experience from these next few days, on how to improve a boat or improve the crewmanship.
Has there been any leaks about what kind of boat the Kiwis will prefer for the next time. Back to the IACC style maybe?
As I had said before, the Kiwis will give the Cup the respect it deserves, and probably a little less of the commercialism than we see here in the U.S. I would like to see a LOT less of the latter here, period, which is why I haven’t purchased any “merch” or souvenirs this time- I have a Citizen NaviSail watch from the 2000 AC, which I bought through eBay (leftovers?)
Has anyone met or talked to Dean Barker? I’m wondering what kind of person he is.
From the interviews and TV coverage, he seems like a serious and disciplined competitor, but still a gentleman. He’s not anything like the Nas-T-car/Sprint Cup drivers, or people you see on American wrestling or “reality shows.” He knows when to grit his teeth and when to look you in the eye with a smile shake your hand after a win (or loss!) If there’s a loss, he’ll sit down with team mates, discuss facts, form a plan, then down a pint & a night’s sleep before getting dressed for work.
Or is that all what you see from the interviews and TV coverage? He could throw a fit off-camera when things go badly, and get physical with cheap, solid objects It’s easy to be the good guy when you’re winning.
Let’s look for the good demeanor when he is sent home sans a big silver Cup next month. :smile3:
… Yes, not a multihull, they want to keep the worldwide pre-AC multi race format/series like the AC45 cats, but with only one hull. From what Bertelli said it seems that they are already started to design the new boat, so no repeat of this year attempt by LR.
:censored: