What a shame about the Americas Cup

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Competitive progress is all about pushing the limits of not only technology but also the technical rules of sporting events.

If the evolution of Americas Cup yachts becomes a fleet of Cats, then Tris, then Hydroplanes powered by huge kite sails 1000ft in the air, then great! I look forward to the show! (It will be better than watching grass grow)

Well put!

It's never really been an event steeped in tradition, it's been an event steeped in history. There are always crazy technical changes to the boats to get that little edge or go faster.

Another part of it is sponsorship. The sponsors need an exciting race.

[Lightfin]

Whatever the venue, and whatever the boat, I just wish they'd get on with it and have some entertaining races that we can watch on TV, and I wish they'd have them more often.

[hellosailor]

"Of course, I doubt the originators anticipated a Corporate Purpose Built race machine, as they were gentlemen yachtsmen, racing their personal boats."

Gord, I doubt that's any real difference. Do you think Ellison's "corporate" boat isn't his personal boat? If a Getty or Carnagie personally directs his corporate dollars, is there a man behind the curtain, so to speak? I doubt there is any corporate boat that is in the racing because the entire board of directors thinks it is a nice profitable thing to do--there's always SOMEone in power, who says "I wanna race a boat!" and makes it happen.

We don't see those boats on TV, much less in print, enough for anyone to claim they make effective advertising sense. Not in the US, anyway.

[jzk]

I think the AC court ruling is quite reasonable.

1. The swiss can't just create a "sham" challenge.

2. The deed says a challenge begins when a foreign yacht club issues a challenge, states the boat type that will compete, and names a date no sooner than 10 months from the challenge.

Seems pretty clear to me. If the challenger picks catamarans, then catamarans it is.

[hellosailor]

"states the boat type that will compete,"
Hydrofoils! I want hydrofoils!

No, wait, icebreakers! Nuclear Icebreakers!

It could get worse than catamarans.[g]

[David M]

"Oh look Buffy...they want to race those dreadful, cat-a-ma-rans!" I can see the snobs fainting right now. Because they will never be able to own an ex America's cup racer....not without their blue blazers getting wet and their little skipper hats blowing off their heads.

Whatever makes the sport more entertaining for the general public, is good for the sport of sailing. A fast boat is certainly more entertaining than a slow boat. Its why Datona has NASCAR cars and not wood drawn ox carts. The current ACR's that raced the last America's Cup are certainly the ox carts of the maxi racers. Get rid of them once and for all.

Go Larry!...bring the Cup to the SF Bay. (where anyone sitting on a hill can watch the event) What could be better for the sport where millions of people could watch it live without having to be in a boat offshore a few miles?

[Unicorn Dreams]

Yacht America was 3 months old at the time of the race and specially designed for it. Sort of like an IOR boat. Fine entry and a fat ass...

[Unicorn Dreams]

hellosailor
YOU ARE SO CLOSE;
Nuclear powered, rocket assisted,
WIND SURFERS

[SkiprJohn]

I have never been interested in Americas Cup because Americas Cup is not about sport. Its about money. The Olympics is about sport. Each boat the competitors have are exactly the same. The competition proves sailing skill not legal skill, trickery or fund raising skill.
Proving sailing skill is not about picking a faster competitive platform, its about honing your ability to make any boat sail its best. It would just plain be silly to pit a catamaran against a monohull in the Olympics. All you would be doing is proving that catamarans are faster. We already know that. It would have nothing to do with sailing skill.
Sorry for the rant.
JohnL

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

I have never been interested in Americas Cup ...
... Proving sailing skill is not about picking a faster competitive platform, its about honing your ability to make any boat sail its best ...JohnL

So, by your lights, are team sports only about recruiting the best players, and F1 auto racing only about “platforms”, and etc ?
Is your narrow definition of "racing skill" the only worthwhile test?

BTW: I don't want to be put in the position of defending the America's Cup (for one thing, I don't have the money to mount a campaign).

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

I have never been interested in Americas Cup because Americas Cup is not about sport. Its about money. The Olympics is about sport. <snip>

Yes, the Olympics is about sport - and money, and politics, and prestige, and . . .

If you're able to enjoy the sporting aspect of the Olympics while overlooking all of the other things they're about, I would think you could enjoy the racing in the America's Cup once they finally meet on the line.

I'm with David M on this - A-cup racing in the Bay Area sounds like the best thing that could ever happen for sailboat racing.

TaoJones

[sluissa]

While I think there is something to be said for racing two different boats with two different crews. (Tortise and the Hare deal, I like rooting for the underdog.) I'm still not interested in watching boats race. I like watching boats because they're pretty and relaxing. The americas cup boats are most decidedly not pretty nor relaxing. On the other hand I don't watch any other sports either, except maybe the occasional soccer game if it happens to be on in the same room I'm in.


All in all, I don't really care what they do. People who race should race for themselves in the way they want to race. If someone happens to want to watch, good for them, but sports should not be about catering to the audience, it should just be about enjoying being part of the competition, no matter what it is.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

The Olympics is about sport.

I dunno about the rest of them, but the aim of the London Olympics seems to be to redistribute as much money as possible from Joe Public into the coffers of "the great and the good". But it was ever thus.........

Fortunately in Jersey we don't have to pay up

Americas cup? So very very 1980's

[GordMay]

So, when sluissa says he’s “never been interested in America’s Cup”, he may have added, nor any other viewer sport. There’s nothing remarkable, nor wrong, about a disinterest in sport voyeurism.
Anyone interested in a list of things, in which I'm not interested ?

[David M]

Watching sailing is not for everyone...thats life. But for those that do watch it, what makes sailing interesting is speed, technology and the talented athletes. Combine those three elements into the Americas Cup in a place where anyone without a boat can see it in person, then that will be a winning combination for the sport. Anything less will do the sport no good....you might as well sail it out in the middle of the Atlantic on beat up Lasers with blown out sails from someones Junior Sailing Program.....it would be cheaper and get just as large of an audience as it gets now.