America's Cup Regatta

[MarioG]

I must say that I'm kind of torn between traditional, nostalgic mono hull racing and these cool, fast and technological marvels. They are amazing and the speeds are mind blowing! But still, I remember "stars and Stripes" when I was a kid. Sigh..

Here is some video of these amazing flying boats.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...2AC2C20493E78ECE18F12AC2C&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR

 

[Pascal]

I ve had the same feelings of nostalgia but let s not forget the cup and the men who designed the boats have always been at edge of technology... Look at the J boats for instance, they were incredible back then. And still are today. You want spectacular? Look up footage from the recent J races with 5 of these 130'+

So far the AC 72 s are closing in on the 50kts mark which they may reach this summer

 

[Avenger]

Didn't Nat Hereshoff propose a catamaran design at some point? It wasn't well accepted by traditionalists. It's true the cup has always pushed the state of the art. But I understand what Mario is saying, they're more aircraft than sailboat now.

Watching that video makes me remember pitch-poling the Hobie Cat a couple of times. Looks like a life-threatening prospect on one of those.

 

[captainwjm]

Count me in as a traditionalist; I can't quite identify with the NASCAR uniforms on sailors. But as a former Hobie owner, it is exciting to have some inkling as to what it must be like. I'm just thankful that we haven't been graced by the presence of Dennis Conner, yet.

 

[Avenger]

I'm just thankful that we haven't been graced by the presence of Dennis Conner, yet.

I'm glad somebody said it. I thought I was the only one.

 

[jim rosenthal]

No, you're not. Even in a field of big egos he still stands out.....

Life-threatening is about right. One guy already got killed.

The amount of horsepower generated by these boats is amazing; how much does it take to get them up there flying like that? I know they are built lightly, cf etc, but they are still really large and they can only be so light. They are faster than all but a very few convertible power boats...

 

[Finalee]

The skill and teamwork required to keep the boat flying is a sport in itself. Amazing!

 

[bkafitz]

I actually crewed for Dennis Conner as a 12 year old kid in Mission Bay, CA. back in the 60's. On shore he was a real nice guy, but when racing if he said pull a line in 7 inches - he meant 7 inches, not 6. Incredible talent. We finished the race first (of course) and had the boat back at the dock by the time the second place boat crossed the finish line.

 

[Avenger]

He may be an incredible talent, and I realize when playing at that level the differences are small, but the guy broke the longest winning streak in sports history. I'm having trouble being impressed.

 

[carolinacoast]

I am pretty blown away by the physics of this one. I have years of keel boat racing and have some regatta experience in I20s as a high performance cat with a spinnaker. In those when you sail faster than the wind speed, you have to heat up to keep the kite full. At these speeds the apparent wind must be so far forward that a kite would be a parachute. So the wing with flaps must somehow generate enough lift to not luff the jib downhill? I know I'm mixing aircraft and sailing, but they have actually achieved it. Maybe the media explained it to the world, but since today was the first actual race, I tuned in on youtube.

Please enlighten me if you have this figured out. Impressive technological leap regardless.

 

[Pascal]

Didn't Nat Hereshoff propose a catamaran design at some point? It wasn't well accepted by traditionalists. It's true the cup has always pushed the state of the art. But I understand what Mario is saying, they're more aircraft than sailboat now.

Herreshoff built a couple of cats incl Amaryllis which embarrassed the stuck up NYYC establishment to the point they DSQ'd him and banned multihulls from their races...

 

[Avenger]

If one believes conspiracy theories; Conner lost the cup intentionally to get it away from the stuffy NYYC establishment. But stuck up or not they did manage to hang on to it for 132 years.

 

[krush]

It's kind of like F1 racing vs Nascar. F1 is all high-tech and computers and this and that....NASCAR they purposely keep lower (it's nto really low tech but lots more rules) to keep racing closer etc.

I kinda wonder why it took so long for these flying boats etc to take off (nice pun?). Hydrofoils have been around forever. The boats can be made much safer with some active computer control stuff---airplanes have been fly-by-wire for a long time.

 

[MikeP]

Ah, finally! Sailboat racing that is actually more interesting than watching the progress bar on a terrabyte computer drive backup.

Hey, I love the look of traditional sailboats - I think the J boats are gorgeous - but I tried watching the America's Cup several times since the '80s and always found myself wishing they could somehow amp up the viewing excitement level to maybe synchronized swimming level.

Now it really looks like RACING...though I admit all the logos make it look a bit TOO much like racing. Oh well...

 

[Pascal]

I finally got a chance to watch the first race, which took place Friday the kiwis and the Italians. I had seen lots of pictures, videos, etc but seing the two boats diving it out on the bay was simply jaw dropping.

First, for the first time they brought the action to a wind place where the public can actually see the race. It is an incredible venue with the finish lines very close to shore, and the boats closing in at 40kts!

Then the speed at which the racing takes place is simply mind boggling... It's fast, it s non stop excitement so if you are used to watch baseball, football or basketball with long breaks, make sure you heart can handle the pace...

The challenger series can be watched on demand on you tube on the America s Cup channel. The footage is spectacular.

 

[Artzco]

I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago and while cruising the bay with a friend, I managed to get the picture attached. It is amazing to see them so close and really understand the speed, especially that day when it was choppy. The chase boats were hauling butt to stay with it. Trials were taking place and several were out during practice.