Americas Cup

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Zollis,

That was great! Finally some good racing!

Where do you suppose the Oracle folks suddenly got that up wind speed?
 

Keith

Moderator
I am unsure if the RYS even own a television but I'm willing to bet, if they do, it won't be switched on.

Edit: It's just struck me that if Oracle lose this competition (they will have to win nearly all the remaining races + an extra one because of Ellison's 'cheating'- a pretty tall order), TNZ will take the Jug back to NZ and we will most probably never see these boats again, although there is some talk of reverting to back to the AC 45's.

They've certainly been exciting to watch but if the idea was to attract huge rafts of spectators - that's been a bit of a fail too.

Let's face it it, yachting is just not for the masses..
 
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Was working that out tonight, Series is supposed to be best of 17 or first to 9, with the -2 penalty on Oracle/USA & NZ currently on +6 for the 8 races to date, then if NZ win two more out of the remaining races Oracle cannot win on that basis, so its really a best of 15 now, of course there are probably several scenarios that could change that via penalties/protests that might come out of the woodwork yet! All we have seen are time/slowdown penalties so far
 
Jim,

I have no idea where that extra speed comes from, maybe Oracle was just sandbagging the first few races. Jimmy Spithall did say that he would like to be associated with a Cup win , that was achieved from a position were he was 6 points behind.

I wonder if the TNZ boat designers allowed for some strength built into the boat for a "splash bang" return into the water. If not there could be the possibility of some small hairline fractures in the structure now.







Z.C.
 

Keith

Moderator
To gain any advantage from sandbagging, one would have to have a clear superiority over the opposition - a position which could not have been known before the start of this series. Like modern F1 where some advantage could theoretically be gained between practice and qualification for example, the risks are actually far too high as the margins between are teams very small.

Oracle changed their tactician - perhaps he's just driving the boat faster using the shifts better - after all, that is at least 60% of the game next to pure boat speed. (I have to say that - he lives few doors down the road from me).

But this kind of yacht racing is totally unknown to me. I mean the boats could be that fast I'm amazed they even need superior wind shift exploitation to stay ahead - to me it looks as if pure boat handling skills & tech knowledge rule the roost here, and a 1" forward rake on the mast might be all the difference between 10 knots of upwind boats speed and being 20 knots behind the other fella.

That's the kind of thing you find out when you're trailing the guy in front by a minute with no hope of catching up but you can try a few different things. Oracle have been behind more often than not and perhaps they've just learned how to sail it now.
 

Brian Stewart
Supporter
Hmm, Oracle seem to have found some extra pace. Becomes a very interesting regatta from here on in....
 

Keith

Moderator
That's great if we've got a race at last! Can't have the Kiwis romping away with it (again)

Just hope no-one gets hurt...
 
To hell with nowadays America´s Cup, here´s my idea of sailing (last weekend on the Baltic Sea)...
 

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Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
Yes indeed, that is sailing.....................

What we have witnessed here is the modern equivelent of the ancient spectacle........

Chariots at the Hippodrome!

I'ts hard to imagine a more sectacular AC event, after all it is a just a "Sail Boat" race!

I went to a fairly large party on Sunday afternoon, something like 80% of the folks were well aware of the races, following them closely and it was the main topic of conversation!

I'm not a big fan of Larry, I was unhappy with the selection of the large cats, I could not see how they could do this right off the City Front......................

I was way wrong!

This has been a fabulous event, huge crowds, great excitement, I'm very impressed!
 
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Keith

Moderator
Darn can't get the live feed tonight for some reason and just heard that TNZ just 2 wins from victory. Watched 9&10 this morning and I got quite hooked on it. Loving the tech and the tactics.

Hope Oracle and keep in there for a while longer.

Anyone?

For such a 'prestigious' comp, unless you are in the US or NZ broadcast seems a nightmare fail.

By the way, heard Ainslie sternly remind skipper to 'sail the boat' during 9. For anyone not knowing Ainslie, he is a big lad and boy, has he got a temper! He nearly got disqualified from the 2012 Olympics because a Press boat seemed to impede him on the line and he did no more than sail his boat up to the launch leap, on board and tried to strangle the skipper!
 
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