Americas Cup

[Charlie Farley]

Give them all a rowing boat, like my family from Scotland used up near Greenland, to hunt whales...... then we will see who the good sailors and real men are. Can you imagine what it was like to hunt a whale from an open rowing boat.. real seamanship, and by the way, swimming in those icy waters wasn't an option.

 

[Rick S.]

I think this only illustrates the potential viewing areas, not how the races would be run. In NZ the courses were basically a triangle ending with a windward/leeward leg. Not sure but the last races I watched on TV, not the last ones but the ones before that, were only a windward/leeward course.

I hope I didn't lose everyone here...

 

[Jim Craik]

Rick,

It's all only talk and speculation at this time. Its hard to believe they could hold all the preliminary races along the City front. Too many races, too much traffic!

Who knows how it will end up, but now the talk is: Starts below the Bay Bridge, up to Blossom, out the Gate (Potato Patch?) back to Blossom and finish. Rinse and repeat.

Great spectical, yes. Practical, no!

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

it is always a cool show.
The next edition will be done with super katamarans, but dunno how they will manage the cost of such toys and the new type of wing BMW oracle started to use (and all other will too, in future).

For now I prefer enjoy my little boats (laser and A class kat) where muscles and skill are the most important thing to sail.

...just bought from a bimmer friend a laser for 200 euros..LOL..a lot of work with fiberglass to fix it, but winter is long.That is real sailing, imho.
I've already sanked a 470....LOL

 

[Jim Craik]

The Laser is a great little boat, very stury, stable, strong and fairly fast. The A Cat way fast!

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

think the Laser is also the single for Olympics. Wonder if they will use also A class as they changed in america's cup.

The cool thing in sailing is that they are still inventing really a lot of new things, as in cars of the 60's

 

[Rick S.]

would like to see them go out the gate on an outgoing tide with 20+ knots of wind.

would tear them up!

 

[Jim Craik]

Chilly con carnage!

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I think it will be huge fun and I am envious of you guys out there. One of my godchildren sails and races, and one of the designers of boats like these lives in Annapolis (Bruce Farr- met him at a New Years Day party a week or two ago). I'm going to have to see if I can get time off to watch any of this... it should be a lot of fun.

 

[Jim Craik]

Jim,

Bruce Farr is a big time "rock star" designer!

He has designed many very successful boats, 5 Volvo (Whitbread) winners, a couple of AC boats as well.

 

[Jim Craik]

I just came across this photo, this is what Americas Cup Boats once were and should be again!

Big boats, big crews, big bucks and big egos!

 

[JimmyMac]

Jim,
Check out the site below site for info on the J class.
There is one near my home in the south of England on the Solent.
It's the Velsheda and was marvellous site sailing off of Cowes.

J Class Yachts : The Official Website of the J Class Association

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

YouTube - Land Down Under - *Men at Work*


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHNGgRl5aD4

 

[Jim Craik]

James,

Thanks, that's a great site!

J BOATS, Sopwith, Lipton......the only way to fly!

 

[Jim Craik]

Pete,

That was quite a day! I remember it well, the end of an era

I'm glad it was you blokes.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

That is the Endeavor, I believe, which I got to see up close when she was in Baltimore years ago. They had some match racing on the Chesapeake, against Shamrock (which Shamrock, I can't recall). The Endeavor's spinnaker covers 1/3 acre. The boom is two feet wide- two people can walk past each other on it and not touch. We were out watching them race on a 53 Hatteras MY which belonged to a friend of mine. The Hatteras is a good-size boat, but it felt like a bathtub toy next to the Endeavor. J-class yachts are amazingly beautiful and fast boats. I am glad I got to see one up close, let alone two. If I had the choice of seeing a J-class race, or the AC- I'd see the J-boats race. Words really fail to describe what it is like to see them; if you love boats, you can't keep the lump out of your throat.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Pete,

That was quite a day! I remember it well, the end of an era

I'm glad it was you blokes.

It was indeed the end of an era, Personally I blame those bloody KIWIS.:evil:

 

[Jim Craik]

Personally I blame Canada!

Pete, truthfully she was just a very fast 12! But we still gave you a good fight.

I remember, I took the day off work, and sat alone in front of the TV and cried. Truly the end of a very romantic era.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hahaha I sat up all night and got smashed, nodded off about 2.A.M. to be woken by my wife screaming that the Aussie boat was in front.
Nobody was in good shape at work the next day so I declared a holiday and we all went to lunch and got smashed all over again. A historic day!
Australia celebrated for about a week, the song Downunder became a hit all over again.:thumbsup:

http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/wings-to-victory/clip3/