OH Poop!!!! American Cup Cat Flips (video)

[NCountry]

Silly AC boys.... gonna miss those awesome and beautiful mono's. Since retro is so in with everything else to bad they couldn't go back to the original AC boats. Now that would've been KEWL!

[rowingdude]

Originally Posted by boasun

The America Clup should go back to the J boats...

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm all for new technology and what not, but there is just something about those J boats that really "did it" for me.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by boasun

Now you know why I want a Mono hull boat

YouTube - ‪America's Cup - Boats breaks and sinks‬‏

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm all for new technology and what not, but there is just something about those J boats that really "did it" for me.

You saw the J boats racing in the AC?

[rowingdude]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

You saw the J boats racing in the AC?

My bad, I thought he was referring to the "old" AC boats. I'm still learning the lingo.

[David M]

It's called a pitchpole and it's actually pretty common for lightweight racing cats being pushed hard in some good winds.

It happens so quick you cannot really respond. The only thing you can do is to ease the main as quickly as you can and hope the pitchpole does not turn into a capsize. I have done it many times racing Hobies.

Those boats don't seem to have much buoyancy forward, which reduces the chance of a pitchpole. Once the deck forward goes under far enough, its all over. You cant recover.

[44'cruisingcat]

J boats were raced in the AC, but a fair few years ago.

[David M]

The smart thing to do for the sport is to have boats which the public will enjoy watching. This means something closer to NASCAR than to croquet. Cats clearly provide excitement for the non-sailor. I think it also takes some of the perceived pretentiousness out of the sport making it a little more Larry the Cable Guy.

[sandy daugherty]

Lets see the hands of anyone who thinks this has anything to do with cruising cats.

[roverhi]

The fetch is so short in SF Bay that even 50mph winds don't build much wave height. I was out in 40k winds and seas were only a couple of feet. These boats are so overpowered that even a small power boat wake can cause the bow to pearl as they fly off the wave. As they say in Naval Aviation, 'There is a reason you get extra pay for flying.'

Oh, are you saying that these catamaran boats aren't exciting for sailors as well!!!
These boats are exciting to sail but they are really just toys. Believe the last America Cup wouldn't allow the boats to sail in larger than 4' waves. Think boats should be able to sail in anything up to storm conditions.

The America Cup boats in the '50s-'80s were designed to the 12 meter rule and were around 50'-60' in length. There are a bunch of them sailing in the Newport Rhode Island area. They are essentially way large Solings. The J boats were raced in the '20s-'30s and were well over a 100' in length. These boats were built to an old rule that resulted in the looong overhangs common to racing boats around the turn of the last century. Believe there are only two that survived WWII and have been refurb'd to the tune of the many many many millions of dollars and there may be a new one under construction. The last mono hull America Cup Boats were built to a new rule that encouraged modern designs and construction. Light hull weights were maximized to the point that believe more than one of them actually broke in two under moderate conditions. There are a couple of these boats doing day sails in San Diego. There were brief periods of rule beating when Dennis Connor raced a Cat against against a 100' plus mono and the last race when it was a Cat against a Tri.

[Blue Stocking]

Raced Tornados from '72 to '85. Been there a number of times. The bruises and lacerations from hitting the shrouds (especially if you are on the trapeze, which I was) really chew you up. Those cats eat little triangular pieces of you.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by avb3

Yeah, I know, controversy.

Cat flips etc.

Seems like par for the course. I've been watching Extreme 40 cat's flipping on Youtube for a while. You want to win, you push the envelope.

Although I do find the crashes to be spectacular, I don't find them to be surprising so I sound a little blase.

[zeehag]

i liked the old schoooners better.....original america for one..LOL

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by NCountry

Silly AC boys.... gonna miss those awesome and beautiful mono's. Since retro is so in with everything else to bad they couldn't go back to the original AC boats. Now that would've been KEWL!

The originally raced in schooners. Or didn't you want to go back quite that far?

[hoppy]

I say bring back the J class

I'm sure this video will give even you cat people goosebumps

YouTube - ‪J-Class Shamrock V movie‬‏

Stuff like this, makes you appreciate the mega rich gits which partly makes up for the other rich gits who ruined AC racing.