Wow....I'm hanging in San Francisco and have been watching the Americas Cup yacht race. Kiwi's against the American entry Oracle. In the course of the event there has been near collisions, capsizes and men falling over board. Absolutely crazy race. Get a chance to watch it if you can. Coverage starts again at around noon today. The American entry has beaten back against near impossible odds in this best of 17 competition. New Zealand only needs one more win to capture the cup but their opponent are Superheros and they are not giving up.
My wife talked me into going to see Sunday's races. We had good seats near the St. Francis Yacht Club courtesy of one of her friends, and the weather was gorgeous. It was interesting to see the big boats live, but I think you get a better sense of the race from the TV coverage, so being there in person is less important than with many sports.
The concept of a "U.S" entry is kind of misleading. Although the boat is owned (or at least mostly funded by) Larry Ellison of Oracle, I'm told that there's only one U.S. citizen on its 11-man crew -- the rest are Kiwis, Aussies or Brits.
> The concept of a "U.S" entry is kind of misleading. Although the boat is owned (or at least mostly funded by) Larry Ellison of Oracle, I'm told that there's only one U.S. citizen on its 11-man crew -- the rest are Kiwis, Aussies or Brits.
Yep...that's true, only one American ... Didn't stop the chants of "USA USA" though from the crowds at my position near the finish line. I have the app on my phone and was able to watch the live feed when I couldn't see the boats when they were out towards the Golden Gate. Love the graphics and camera angles on TV.
> I have the app on my phone and was able to watch the live feed when I couldn't see the boats when they were out towards the Golden Gate. Love the graphics and camera angles on TV.
The free WiFi network where we were was very good, but we also had a fairly sizeable (maybe 8'x6'?) screen at the end of our bleachers that carried the live feed, so it was easy to keep up with the details. I actually watched that more than I did the real boats.
P.S. This thread must have been posted in another category originally. When I saw that a reply had been posted, I clicked on the link and then *poof* -- the whole thread was gone! Then I remembered that I keep Sports turned off.
I spent far too much time Jim trying to get the shots out of my camera into this iPad and onto beerleg. I'm surprised the whole forum didn't evaporate.
Thanks for the pics.
Not the type of punt I'm used to by far !
Cheers,
Derek
Yup it has been a very interesting CUP this time. Kiwi's almost had the American boat beat.
I just can't get used to the flying catamarans doing +30 knots. Bet the American team wished it went with the better sail like the Kiwi's.
I was skeptical that this would be interesting.
I'm off now to watch with a racing buddy of mine.
Might be cancelled for too much wind though.
Larry,
I hope you took off for JVD and the Soggy Dollar 🙂
"The Duel for the Cup" got me all excited. Duel for the only cup that matters starts soon. GO RED WINGS!
Its not so much sailing as low altitude flying.
Given we Kiwis designed and built both boats we dont care too much who wins (yeah right)
I'd just like to try water-skiing behind one of them 🙂
I don't consider these to be boats. They are wind powered machines but not boats.
I'm still rooting for the Kiwis thinking if they win they would change back to something more reasonable, but now I think these machines are just too exciting to go back from. The racing yesterday was fantastic. NZ says if they win, they would resurrect the crew nationality requirements which would be great. They would need to find a balance so that all the Kiwi sailing pros would still have jobs, but only NZ would have an all Kiwi crew and so maintain their advantage.
Apparently, Ellison's boys made a change, probably to the foils, that suddenly made them a lot faster. NZ has also had a bit of bad luck, such as running out of time a few races ago when they were way ahead. They have to have superior tactics now, but that's tough when they don't accelerate quite as fast or foil to windward as well. And Spitthill, Ellison's Australian skipper with his immigrant brain trust do know a thing or 2.
If the Kiwis win today, it will only be because of the 2 points Oracle was docked for cheating. That's a shame, since cheating has always been a big part of the AC. Especially for the USA. This is the first time anyone has suffered for cheating. It's just not right. I expect though, that will be moot. I have heard that the betting line in Aukland was heavily on Oracle, even before yesterday's race.
