Americas Cup

[Keith]

$26 million was a quarter of the budget?

That is insane. I had no idea....

I assume that Team Oracle spent double that.

If this stuff comes up again, I shall certainly be against the British Taxpayers putting their hands in their pockets for this sort of money. But never fear, we will never enter this arena at that price point.

Who benefits? Clearly NZ thought they could through tourism etc but I'd like to see the outcome of that in writing. I am doubtful if the books would balance, but to be honest, I'm kind of grateful they entered so that we saw this fantastic show.

USA? Well It made Jim Craik's chest fill with pride but it wouldn't have taken that kind of money to do that - he gets that excited everytime a letter is delivered to his mailbox on time.

I can't see what benefit this had to America but the kind of publicity that Ellison/Oracle gained is priceless.

Great spectacle but proved and achieved nothing worthwhile except for the actual participants who can hold their heads up very high.

RIP "Bart" Simpson.

 

Ellison purportedly spent something in the region of half a billion. Mind you Keith, that is only hearsay.... Some other sources reckon closer to 1 billion...

 

[Keith]

Jeeez...a billion? That sucks.

The afore mentioned English gentlemen who originally "lost" the cup were possibly 'rich' for their time, but not that rich and interestingly, they raced out of their own back pockets.

They could never have realised what a sleeping insecure fiscal giant they awoke and a (New) World that had to win, at any cost.

Subsequently, Match Racing became an American sailing sport. We had one World Renowned prestigious Match Racing Series here in my home town, the Royal Lymington Cup, which used a small one design yacht called a "First Class Eight" 8, I presume because the boat was but 25' long. The fact that it was a French Beneteau raised a few eyebrows too.

It was run by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club who's Commodore is The Princess Royal, and as such the annual series did attract sailing talent from all over the world and even our most talented helmsmen of the day, including Chris Law (RIP) & Lawrie Smith, Olympic helmsmen and medal winners being the only event of it's kind (match racing) in the UK.

In around 1998, my then fiance was the sailing secretary of the Royal Lymington and she told me the series was in trouble for money. Bearing in mind this series was the ONLY World Class event Britain hosted at that time, and they needed to raise £100,000 for the Series to continue. I set my mind to raising the cash because I was working with a Global Media brand at the time and I thought then (and still do) that the series had merit. I didn't think it would be too difficult a task.

Even before I got the ball rolling - the plug was pulled, for the sake of £100,000. Nobody, but nobody was interested even though this was a world class TV scheduled event. It has never reappeared.

So it was and so it is now, which is why you'll find our many medal winning Olympic Helmsmen and Women crewing for other nations.

A billion quid? We couldn't keep racing for want of £100,000!

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Righto. My goddaughter began sailing when she was a student at Old Dominion University, which graduated one of the few "American" Olympic gold medal winners, Anna Tunnicliffe, who is (of course) English. She is an extremely good racing sailor- at least that's what other people tell me. As a powerboater, I can't tell- I don't know enough to be able to. Astonishingly, she has a job teaching sailing- it took her years to get there and I hope she is able to continue to get paid a decent living to do something she loves so much and is so good at. And of course she races every chance she gets. But sailing as an occupation seems to be a difficult one to actually make a living in- I don't know whether it's better in other countries, but somehow they seem to be able to product more world-class sailors than we do here. Despite our larger population.

 

[Larry L.]

Great spectacle but proved and achieved nothing worthwhile except for the actual participants who can hold their heads up very high.

But, again, isn't that pretty much the case with any sport, Keith...all be it at likely a far lesser cost?

One thing does stand out regarding yachting 'fans' though; we didn't see reports of rioting, looting or vandalism anywhere because the Kiwis lost.

 

[Chris Simpson]

Righto. My goddaughter began sailing when she was a student at Old Dominion University, which graduated one of the few "American" Olympic gold medal winners, Anna Tunnicliffe, who is (of course) English. She is an extremely good racing sailor- at least that's what other people tell me. As a powerboater, I can't tell- I don't know enough to be able to. Astonishingly, she has a job teaching sailing- it took her years to get there and I hope she is able to continue to get paid a decent living to do something she loves so much and is so good at. And of course she races every chance she gets. But sailing as an occupation seems to be a difficult one to actually make a living in- I don't know whether it's better in other countries, but somehow they seem to be able to product more world-class sailors than we do here. Despite our larger population.

I would guess that the reason the US doesn't produce more world class sailors is that most of the population is many hundreds of miles from the sea or large lake. We have the advantage here, as do the Kiwis, that no part of the country is very far from the sea so anyone keen on taking up sailing hasn't got far to go.

I thought the competition was terrific and the television coverage excellent. I hope they do it this way again, ie big multihulls. There must be a way to get the costs down, after all they have done all the development now.

Hope it happens again next year.

 

[Chris Simpson]

Just as a PS - I think the use of hydrofoils adds an extra dimension to the skill required to control the boat, which added a lot to the excitement during the racing this year. Again, I hope they use a similar formula for the boats next time but agree that the costs this year were ridiculous and some rethinking is required as to how to make it cheaper so that more countries can compete.

 

[Keith]

I would guess that the reason the US doesn't produce more world class sailors is that most of the population is many hundreds of miles from the sea or large lake. We have the advantage here, as do the Kiwis, that no part of the country is very far from the sea so anyone keen on taking up sailing hasn't got far to go.

.

75 miles from anywhere in the UK to the sea, but only 15% of our population will ever set foot in a boat. The Kiwis are very different. All children are encouraged to take up sailing at an early age...

I am going to write a book on the subject funny you should ask. It will be the world's shortest book and will be entitled "Immams I have Met Whilst Yachting"

It will make a great sock filler this Christmas.

America has some very large and beautiful lakes - ideal for sailing. Only problem is 100 mph Bass boats!

 

[Doc Kaler]

Keith,

I used to sail on one of those lakes, Eagle Mountain, outside of Fort Worth. We held the IOR Mini Ton Worlds there (I was on a "collapsible" Irwin Mini...), sailed on IOR champ "Magic Bus" there, got to match race (hardly can call it that) Gary Jobson with his six meter vs our Tartan Ten. Later, raced on the Columbia River outside of Portland Oregon on my Ranger 26-2 and then on my little Ranger 28 tall rig. First time on the Columbia I learned the value of an anchor during a race. The wind died as I was in the lead heading up current....first to DFL before the wind came back up! Lots of enjoyable racing in TX and the Pacific NW.:thumbsup:

 

[Keith]

Excellent Doc. I used to enjoy lake sailing here too, but most of them were in fact reservoirs. I was sailing on Queen Mary's in Staines in around 1976 or so, the year of the great drought, when I hit something quite hard with the centreboard. When I got back I asked the OOD what it might have been out in the middle and he replied "take your pick - the water is so low, it could have been a church or even a German bomber" ! (St Mary's Reservoir was, like many others, created by flooding previously populated areas and apparently quite a few German planes vanished into it's murky depths during WWII having been shot down by the Outer London Flak Batteries, or more correctly "Archie")

Anyway, great fun - I particularly liked the tideless aspect of it as it made a pleasant change from the usual coastal courses we normally sailed.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

We have some areas which are centers of interest in sailing- San Diego, Newport, my town of Annapolis- I don't mean to slight anyone as I am certain there are many more. What we don't have is a cultural tradition of sailing which is as strong as what they have Down Under or in England. Hopefully at some point we will. Probably about the same time as we win the World Cup, but maybe not in my lifetime.

 

[Keith]

Hi Jimbo, I like to think the "future" Australians learned their sailing skills during the 3 month voyage from England to Botany Bay.

(If any one asks, tell them I've gone on a long holiday)

 

[Doc Kaler]

Jim,

Regrettably, I would have to agree. Not sure why as well. We are stricken by the same affliction as producing a Formula One driver. Perhaps there is a disjunction of the wealthy owner and the talented local tactician/helmsman of Annapolis or the Pacific Northwest? As a representative of the pacific international yachting association, I marveled at the number of talented sailors along the Pacific coast. Perhaps none had the exposure to rise to the level of the AC?

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Perhaps in order to be that good at it (AC level) you have to have an opportunity where someone pays you to sail and get better at it. That's all I can think of. There are a lot of people here in Annapolis who live and breathe and eat and sleep sailing and that's all they want to do. One of the world's best sailing yacht designers has his offices here. But we don't produce sailors at that level, or not enough of them, or something. All I can think of is that the opportunity to just sail ALL the time, practice like crazy and get paid to do it (even low pay) doesn't exist here.

If you think about it, we don't produce F1 drivers either, except once in a great while, and the process for becoming an F1 driver isn't too different from becoming a world-class sailor: start early, give up everything else, and bust your ass.

Kind of like being a doctor, except we get to do it longer

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

The cat (pun intended) among the pigeons.

America's Cup: Bob Oatley and Hamilton Island Yacht Club have challenge accepted for next Cup - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

 

[Keith]

The cat (pun intended) among the pigeons.

America's Cup: Bob Oatley and Hamilton Island Yacht Club have challenge accepted for next Cup - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Way to go Australia :thumbsup: - how many Kiwis will be on your boat Pete?

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Only the really good ones Keith.

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Good news for future American AC efforts: I just bought a racing catamaran for my goddaughter the sailor. We found a terrific deal on an 18' AHPC C2 cat; sadly, the deal was because the boat was in an estate sale. The original owner was killed in a plane accident. A shame, and worse because evidently he was a great competitive sailor who wasn't shy about spreading the word on how much he enjoyed it- I think he did a lot for the sport in his area of the country.

So if she proves herself on this, maybe someday she will get an AC billet. I hope so. That would be the thrill of a lifetime.

Did I mention the boat was built in Australia?

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Hey Jim, I hope she does really well. If she gets good enough she can sail for the Aussies.

 

[Keith]

Good news for future American AC efforts: I just bought a racing catamaran for my goddaughter the sailor. We found a terrific deal on an 18' AHPC C2 cat; sadly, the deal was because the boat was in an estate sale. The original owner was killed in a plane accident. A shame, and worse because evidently he was a great competitive sailor who wasn't shy about spreading the word on how much he enjoyed it- I think he did a lot for the sport in his area of the country.

So if she proves herself on this, maybe someday she will get an AC billet. I hope so. That would be the thrill of a lifetime.

Did I mention the boat was built in Australia?

I'm not a cat man but I have sailed a Hobie 16 (or was it a 14 or an 18?) in Florida! Somewhere on the Gulf Shores - with a beautiful blond girl who's name escapes me but I do remember she was wearing an incredibly small blue bikini. I also have no recollection of how the boat sailed but I understand that like all cats they have a fair turn of speed in a stiff breeze, or so I am told.

I think it also had two sails.