Front Row Center Today

[Celestialsailor]

Just got in from my 3rd shake-down in SF.Bay. I saw Oracle on Tuesday pass within 100 yards of me so fast, I thought I would catch a cold. I was in such awe, I completely forgot I had a camera. Today as I pulled out of the anchorage, I saw Prada and took some pictures.

[Bash]

Crossing the Golden Gate this morning I saw 5 AC 72s out practicing. And a Chevron tanker.

Pretty.

Were I a betting man, five would get you ten that the tanker could take the Prada boat to weather.

[atoll]

i bet your crew are not on the same lunch money as those boys

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Bash

Crossing the Golden Gate this morning I saw 5 AC 72s out practicing. And a Chevron tanker.

Pretty.

Were I a betting man, five would get you ten that the tanker could take the Prada boat to weather.

Prada was having big problems with stability. They would get up on the foils, then start to skate around and the skipper would shut it down. Then the chase boats would get the input from them. Oracle looked seamless when they flew.

Originally Posted by atoll

i bet your crew are not on the same lunch money as those boys

Ya, but I have hot running water onboard and tunes!

[sailorboy1]

and the race was ON!

[colemj]

We are in Tiberon now with a balcony overlooking the bay (and a 30x spotting scope). Saw those boats sailing yesterday in a very good wind - impressive. Tomorrow, I am going out on an Extreme 40 with the AC45 Red Bull team to pick bugs out of my teeth and get a close up look at the AC72's in action.

Mark

[Cheechako]

I guess the first televising is on NBC Sept 7th....?

[colemj]

The AC45 youth team match racing is Sept. 1-6 and will be on TV and Youtube. I think this will be more interesting than the AC72 match.

Mark

[Celestialsailor]

I agree. I wish they had stuck with the 45s and 12 teams.

[IdoraKeeper]

Yes, very nice.......but do they have a Rocha?

[barnakiel]

It was so damn boring. Kiwis winning every single race by a huge margin. I hope Oracle will at least match. Hard to say if Artemis has anything to show off. If they manage to beat Prada by similarly huge margins this would make the later stages far more entertaining. Popcorn meanwhile.

I do like the boats. Wonder how many years it will take now to build our first foiling cruiser.

b.