ok... personally, I think multis are great for the America's Cup, but they need to be able to handle 20-25 knots of wind... I am also a fan of fleet racing for a spectator point of view; have all countries qualified race in 10-15 races...
What do ya'll think?
cheers...
Scott
I think I'm never getting those four hours back.
Races cancelled today no wind at the start. Next race Wednesday. Then Friday. I couldn't find a reschedule date for today.
I understand there are multiple internet broadcasts, but to really do the event justice, these spectacular machines need to be seen in High-Def.
Any local/Houston cable/sat stations covering the races?
Oh wait, college basketball is much more important. >:(
Versus? Universal Sports? ESPN2,3,4 BBC?, Australia ONE, EuroSport? The coverage doesn't even have to be english, maybe V-Me 8.2?
The AC event showcases our sport. How unfortunate the US mainstream media is not covering even a 30 minute summary of the action.
If someone has the technology, maybe Wednesday we can plug in a laptop, watch at The Club Classic after the speaker series...?
Not quite HD, but I plugged my laptop into the TV and it looked pretty good.
so apparently we are going to have a drag race. race cancelled for today also ???
It's on! To see these boats in action....wow!
http://www.americascup.com/en/regate/regarder-la-course/show.html (http://www.americascup.com/en/regate/regarder-la-course/show.html)
To give you a point of reference, the Kemah bridge would have to be three times taller to have BMW/Oracle USA17 pass under it.
Race 1 goes to BOR-USA17, by nearly 3 miles and 15:28 in time.
Next race on Sunday.
Started watching the recap... couple of questions: why has Alighini waited so long to clear penalty? why is the course 2 legs? Shouldn't a race have at least 3 legs, incorporate a couple of roundings?
Scott, for an answer re: course, go to:
http://www.americascup.com/en/contexte/33acup/33-americas-cup-6-712
I think they just have to do their penance before the end of the race.
In match racing, penalty turns are not required to be taken "as soon as possible" but anytime before crossing the finish line, unless directed to do so by an umpire. A 270 turn vs the 360 or 720 in flleet racing.
Race 2 on Sunday will be a triangle course of a beat leg and two reaching legs.
Race 3 (if needed) will be a W/L course similar to Race 1.
If they sail Sunday, let the party in SanFran begin.
Two reaching legs with that bigA Tri and they will annihilate the little cat...
For me this was truly a spectacular event. However, after watching the replay a couple of times, these boats do not seem to be all that far apart in speed. It does appear that the tri is better upwind, but after USA 17 pushed ahead to around 3500 meters, the gap closed in Alinghi's favor. I suspect the next race may be a lot closer, but I sure hope not.
Nice to have been around to see this bit of technology.
+1 Bee. I wonder what we'll see in another 10 - 20 years.... 100' foiling tri?
i watched the race from bmwo web site. good coverage. i thought bmwo was consistently 2-5 kts faster both up & downwind. backed off once it was apparent they had no competition. no sense in breaking the boat
Quote from: aj on February 12, 2010, 06:06:54 PM
i watched the race from bmwo web site. good coverage. i thought bmwo was consistently 2-5 kts faster both up & downwind. backed off once it was apparent they had no competition. no sense in breaking the boat
Yeah, I thought the same thing for a while and I hope that's what they were doing. I would guess that the instrumentation on board pretty much told them they could dive deep and keep Alinghi from gaining ground then come back up and blow them away anytime it was required.
Particularly interesting was the fact that they were flying two hulls pretty much even when Alinghi could not. That's certainly indicative of speed.
Nevertheless, there is always the chance that Ernesto has some kind of Ace up his sleeve.
Hope not.
Quote from: Jonsey on February 12, 2010, 04:57:36 PM
+1 Bee. I wonder what we'll see in another 10 - 20 years.... 100' foiling tri?
Hmm. Supposed we could actually build a digital bird's wing. We could fold it up against the hull, furl it when necessary and control every aspect of the shape. That would definitely be a hoot.
Absolutely spectacular. Never thought I would enjoy WATCHING two $100,000,000 machines duel to the finish, but I did. Too bad the server kept crashing. That was a bit frustrating.
It was quite amazing watching... when you look at and evaluate the technology used on these boats versus the S&S cat; an amazing difference... But I think Jeff is right, foilers are next... biggest problem with speed is hitting junk in the water... that would stink...
To keep this going:
What kind of venue and boats do ya'll want to see in then next AC?
I think X-40's with all countries racing at once, fleet racing... hold 15-17 races...
I really would like to see the race in anything that's fast. Multis are fine, Monos are fine so long as they minimally plane downwind. I think wings are the right way to go as well.
I have mixed feelings about keeping the boats identical. On the one hand you probably would see who the best sailors were, but on the other the AC always had something to do with designing something better than your competitor. I guess I would go with some kind of box-style rule that put limits on size and number of hulls but outside of that let the design guys have at it.
An open box-rule is the way to go.. keep pushing technology forward in the sport.
I also agee with you Tuma - big fleet racing on SF bay in some extreme boats by the best sailors in the world (with these budgets) would be a crazy spectator sport. Imagine the carnage.
Has anyone found a place to download the races? Would like to have this on my computer/TV hookup.
I don't see racing these big multi's on SF bay for the cup. They move to fast and could be across the bay in a matter of minutes. To prevent collisions, or fouls with shipping, teams would be calling for the bay to be closed to shipping during the trials and cup race. Closing a major shipping port is not likely to happen. (My 2 cents.)
Smaller x40 type multi's probably.
Faster/fastest technologically should draw more spectators and interest to the sport.
Quote from: Bee on February 16, 2010, 08:28:10 PM
Has anyone found a place to download the races? Would like to have this on my computer/TV hookup.
Both races can be seen on espn360. I heard that depending on who you internet provider is you may or may not be able to use 360, but its there if you can get it. You might also check the BMWO site as I am sure they will want to show it again. Here is the 360 link:
http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/channels?channel=3578779&
Also, from an earlier post, Alinghy waited to clear their start box penalty because in match racing if they drew a penalty on BMWO at some point later in the race (if you want to call what they did a race) then the penalty offsets and no one has to do turns. For instance if they were coming in to the finish close Alinghi would try to force a penalty on BMWO then it becomes a race to the finish with no turns necessary. Cool tactics, but it didn't really work here since the boats were so unevenly matched.
I like your attitude Bee... If ya'll can, watch some of the X-40 races... quite impressive and extremly tight quarters... I saw something about X-90's as a prospect... I think the limit needs to be reconsidered... I agree that one-design is a true test of the sailor, but open rules push technology and we all benefit from that... sailing has always been about the newest technology, even within the tightest class rules...