OK, so this Cup campaign isn’t quite over yet. Check out this appearance by JS on the Jay Leno show:
Very funny 
So obviously staged, but amusing none the less…
So then fellow forumites, any thoughts as to what format AC35 will take?
The 264 mill $ question !!! (inflation factored in ;)) ??? understand there is nothing decided on next format or rules etc. we need to wait and see but sadly I think it’s a high probabilty will be multi’s again … dumbed down following all safety issues that raised there ugly heads in AC 35 sigh
Nationality rules could/should be a biggy !/!? but then again the Americans don’t have any good home bred sailors & this ruling would throw huge advantage to the Kiwi’s … so it more than likely will be quashed again.
Just my 0.05 cents worth (again inflation adjusted) 
Hi, I think they should go with AC45 Catamarans and they would attract many more Teams from around the world. The cost of
an AC72 has become almost prohibitive. I still miss the real AC Sailing boats with their spinnakers and sailing beauty. Regards
Norman
While I can understand the fondness for the previous types of AC boats, I can’t help but think that after the AC72s it would be a bit like watching boats in honey.
I agree that the AC72s are too expensive, but I’d love to see them raced after another year of development, when the crews weren’t learning how to sail them during the races and the boats had evolved to the point where they were closely matched and more robust.
I’d love to see 40-60’ monohull, fixed keel, non carbon spars non carbon hulls, soft sails. l
6-10 crew members
teams are able to only build 2 boats
with similar limits on how many rigs can be built,
the key being to keep cost down and have more than 2-3 teams fighting.
I like the idea of the ac45 cats as well, put them on foils with a one design on hull/rig, but underwater foils are developmental with adjustable tabs while sailing. but still have soft sails.
if you watched anyof the c-cats races juts one tip over and the wings break too easy…
Why to care about the costs since is not your money and so far I’m concerned is also not my money !!
Sponsors get money from publicity and publicity is producing money for investors as Prada and Oracle and they are happy as well the TV watchers !!! Pity that the race last only 20minutes !!!
There is instead so much money trown out of the windows with bankrupt as announced here and there and this is often your money … !!!
Sorry for the OT !
ClaudioD
The America’s Cup has never been, and should not be, a one design regatta. Come up with a box rule and turn the designers loose. It has be bigger, faster and more exciting than watching teams race round robins in Sonars! If that’s what you want to watch, did you go to Sheboygan to watch Dave Dellenbaugh win the Prince of Wales Cup a couple of weeks ago? Nah, me either.
You’re right Claudio and should add that it was T.V rights that ultimately lost the cup for ETNZ due to the race time limit imposed on AC to fit T.V scheduling … the hammer was most people watched it globally on YouTube & not local T.V !!!
Next they may well be putting racing on hold, while they run ads for T.V … it’s a facked up world !!!
I do expect that the “America Cup” will go back to the origin where the participants should design and make the boat in their country as well the Skipper and Team shall be born in the same country !
Is not really fun to see an Australian winning the AC for another country that is not Australia !
Via Facebook I suppose that everyone can ask the respect of this simple Rule for the next AC
ClaudioD
100% agree with you Claudio, AC34 was won by Oracle, but ‘Oracle Team USA’, come on, that really is stretching the bounds credulity. AC has always been obscenely expensive but allowing the teams to travel the world buying up talent is a step too far. 30 years ago it would have been unthinkable for an American boat to be skippered by anyone other than an American & the same applies to other nationalities. Will a new rule be implemented for AC35? If ETNZ had won then yes, I think it may be a possibility, but with Oracle retaining the ‘Auld Mug’ I don’t really see it happening. Let’s see, once Oracle had worked out how to make the AC72 consistently fast how many Americans were on board? One…!!
This really is one occasion when I’d like to be proven wrong & have to eat my words; time will tell…
Row
It seemed to me that this AC had a particularly high profile in the general public. My friends and colleagues were aware of the race whereas I wouldn’t have said that this was the case since the late 80s. Was this just an Australian phenomena, or did others notice as we’ll?
Depends if you thought you had a dog in the race.
The French invented modern foilers,
The Swedes got a lot of publicity for unfortunate reasons,
The Italians came third,
The English thought they won,
The Australians did too,
The NZ’ers did win for a long while and
the Americans, well…
One of them won.
Well, having raced Mono’s for 20 years even I was bored to tears with the 12 meters but this was different we had SPEED, close racing and a long series with good graphics to educate the public. People I have gotten to watch the youtube videos have all said “that was exciting” one may have hit the nail on the head when he said " glad to see the clipper ships finally join the space age".
Even though foiling C72s were what you’d call “exciting,” I would still love to see the IACC monohulls go at it in the bay, if it was possible. I’m still not convinced that the ‘short’ course the AC72s used was the right thing for a fair contest, even if it was the best-of-17 races. Maybe you could even include going under the Golden Gate bridge or out into the ocean as part of the course (the Bay bridge is definitely too low to the wing to fit.) As ‘Jobo’ said, one mistake and you’re done. You need either a longer course, or more turns/marks; you need room for tactics, tacking, and the like. The AC72 boats seem to be fine- you have human weight & balance, hands-on steering, human power for the sails and maneuvering, and the chance of gear failure. The only thing they didn’t have was weeds fouling the foils. :shock:
BTW-
I was looking at Oracle gear on eBay, and I saw an OTUSA cap going for $100! (the Buy it Now price.) I’m interested in an Oracle (17) jacket, but I don’t think $100 for a windbreaker is fair; I could make one myself for less.
I agree, a longer course would be better as long as the coverage doesn’t suffer, we will see what LE says in a few months.
A longer course could work for you or against you. If you are the slower boat, you will just get farther behind, and the faster boat farther ahead. I’m leaning towards a more complex course, with more turns, but whatever change you make to the course would require working with the local governments and Coast Guard, and would likely get some local people upset that they can’t just go wherever they want, of course. Haven’t they already been inconvenienced enough by these stupid sailboat guys already?? :pirate:
One significant thing I noticed when watching the replay of Race 19 was that Jobo said that The ETNZ was going 30% faster than they did during the LV Cup, but Oracle was going that much faster than the Kiwis. There’s some speed for you. Race 19 was right on the edge of the wind limit tho.
Another significant thing mentioned was that Race 19 was that fastest race of the entire event!
I hope JS is having fun on his whirlwind tour of the country, visiting all those TV shows, like Leno and Colbert.