A New Twist in the BMW/Oracle vs Alinghi Showdown

[TaoJones]

Yet another twist in the perpetual sniping between BMW/Oracle and Alinghi is revealed in the following report from the current New York Times. The BMW/Oracle team has made an inquiry of Alinghi as to the country of origin of its sails, inferring that they were made by North Sails at its Minden, Nevada plant, a violation of the America's Cup Deed of Gift.

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New Spat Arises Between America's Cup Rivals

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 22, 2009

Filed at 8:39 p.m. ET

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- After fighting in court for more than two years over rules, dates and ports, the bitter America's Cup rivals heading for a February showdown in giant multihulls are now tussling over sails.

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Here's a link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009...ricas-Cup.html

TaoJones

[Ex-Calif]

Races used to be won aftr the flag went down. Then the 5 minutes before the race became the place to win.

Now it's won years before the race in the courts.

Americas cup is soooooooo stupid.

[Chief Engineer]

I agree......

Perhaps we should start another one.

Once I win the lotto....I will buy the biggest, ugliest, silver, pitcher/bowl and have some engraving done on it

The rules will be very simple.

Length/weight/cost/limits
monohulls only
no one offs
must be available for production

[farotherside]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

monohulls only

lost my interest already.

[Eleven]

Lost my interest already!

Too many rules.
Just another competition for fat boats.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Races used to be won aftr the flag went down. Then the 5 minutes before the race became the place to win.

Now it's won years before the race in the courts.

Americas cup is soooooooo stupid.

Actually, AC has been like this for decades, well centuries, actually. That doesn't make it any better, however.

[S/V Antares]

Please, we should refer to it correctly as: The Royal Yacht Squadron Cup. It was only called the "Americas cup" because we won it more often. It should now be re named "The corperate super rich with too many lawyers cup " or "Surprisingly Hedious Internatioal Trophy" (S.H.I.T). Oh well, it will be fun to see these two go up against each other. The technology should come from the respective countries but (Sails in particular) has not in many years

[cchesley]

Originally Posted by S/V Antares

Please, we should refer to it correctly as: The Royal Yacht Squadron Cup. It was only called the "Americas cup" because we won it more often. It should now be re named "The corperate super rich with too many lawyers cup " or "Surprisingly Hedious Internatioal Trophy" (S.H.I.T). Oh well, it will be fun to see these two go up against each other. The technology should come from the respective countries but (Sails in particular) has not in many years

Uh, actually... it was called the America's Cup because the first boat to bring it here was, wait for it, the schooner yacht 'America'. The recurring competition for the cup as we know it was begun by the NYYC and its Deed of Gift which now controls (sort of, these days) the competition parameters.

[David M]

Dan....the cry baby is classic.

The problem is, the rest of the world thinks the America's Cup is the ultimate sailing event with the ultimate sailing boats and the ultimate crews. Well, it may be close, but its not.

If someone did create an ultimate sailing event and market it as that, it would put all the lawyers and other cry babies who are associated with the Americas Cup to shame.

Its time for a Maori to steal it again and this time drop it in the Mariana Trench. It needs to go away so at least these people stop embarrassing themselves.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by David M

Dan....the cry baby is classic.

The problem is, the rest of the world thinks the America's Cup is the ultimate sailing event with the ultimate sailing boats and the ultimate crews. Well, it may be close, but its not.

The Globe race!

We have one-design. We have handy cap races of many types. We have the Moth. Why not have a crazy anything-goes lawyer class? I think it's fun to watch it develop. Who cares!

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by thinwater

The Globe race!

We have one-design. We have handy cap races of many types. We have the Moth. Why not have a crazy anything-goes lawyer class? I think it's fun to watch it develop. Who cares!

You are right, of course. There are all kinds of racing for all kinds of people. I think the design of the rules predicate what you are actually testing.

In one type of event you specify a set of construction rules and then at first it becomes a matter of money, technology and rule interpretation. Then you add sailors and have a race. At the end you don't know if it is the sailors, the technology or the rules interpretation that won the race.

Add to that the course location and race routing and the compelxities of winning are enormous.

One could simply lay the course and open the race to any boat, any technology and any amount of money. This might give a true representation of who is fastest around that course but probably not.

Another event type would be to specify a one design boat and compete that. One design works pretty well but there are also issues to solve usually.

Providing spec boats on a spec course in my mind is one of the fairest tests of the sailors. That's why match racing is so exciting. The Terengannu races were awesome.

They have the added benefit of being run in front of a gallery where spectators can watch.

America's Cup is part of the sailing landscape. If "one" of their goals is to promote the sport of sailing and fulfill some sort of ambassadorial duties, I think it misses the mark.

I certainly can't relate to the event and I am a sailor (of sorts) soi how does the public view it? Rich guys and their lawyers probably.

[sneuman]

1 week and counting. I did a piece on the AC for NPR that will air sometime this week and a more detailed Web piece will be posted as well. I talked to Russell Coutts (BMW/Oracle skipper); Alinghi's design coordinator; author Gary Jobson, etc. I will post it here as soon as it goes "live".

[Bash]

We used to complain that yacht racing was a sport for millionaires. Then the billionaires got involved and really mucked things up. At this point mere millionaires haven't got a chance at being competitive. You gotta like that, don't ya?

[sneuman]

the boats this time around are 5x as expensive as the old AC class, which was already so costly as to eliminate a lot of competitors from the field.