America's Cup.

[Astro14]

Motu - your linked videos aren’t available in the US.

Perhaps you could link something from a different source that would be viewable by us?

The preponderance of BITOG is in the US, and I think folks would like to see what you’re sharing.

 

[DuckRyder]

Obviously I can't see his videos either, but this covers some of what he's discussing along with @Carmugon.

 

[Motu]

Ha Ha - welcome to my world. A lot of videos posted on US websites are not available in my county, so it's something new to turn the tables from my end for a change.

 

[DuckRyder]

Not sure, how does one even tell where the video is allowed?

Doesn't look good for us, can it be repaired in time for the next round and if so will it still perform as designed?

 

[wrcsixeight]

In addition to the hull repair, the entire boat needs to be rewired too, all electronics replaced.

 

[Kawiguy454]

I can appreciate the old skewl racers but couldnt watch the slow races. these new foil boats are more exiting to watch even the wife stayed tuned in. I like that a wind powered boat can go so fast and the skill to balance and orchestrate one of those is incredible. It would get boring if people were replaced with electronics and automation. Last boat races i watched were Thunderboat hydros on detroit river a long time ago. Ill be watching these new ones regularly.

 

[DuckRyder]

So apparently this thing pulled a first generation E-Core and the hull material simply pushed through the inner structure due to the pressure on impact. Thats what i got out of the press conference...

Boat will be fixed and raced within 11 days is the plan... statement was made it might not be as pretty...

 

[y_p_w]

Completely agree. Take it back to its roots, monohull, straight keel, everyone has the same equipment.

But then again, nowadays they wouldn't get the tv viewers only going 6 knots....

Darn those Kiwis with their newfangled winged keels. But yeah - sometimes I guess going back to traditional 12 meter aluminum hulls with straight keels is not likely to happen. But then when they got that crazy challenge, they had the even crazier idea to use a catamaran.

I do remember the lead up to the 1987 America's Cup. We had an entrant from San Francisco (USA) that used a traditional keel with a torpedo bulb. It picked up a ton of speed with the wind, but gave up speed. Our regional Coke distributor had a special 900 number advertised on cans that would go towards fundraising for the effort.

I wasn't necessarily around for it, but I do remember when they had it in San Francisco Bay with that amazing comeback. I saw the Blue Angels from in front of where Oracle Team USA had their operations. It was even more bizarre seeing an Oracle sponsored stunt plane in the air show lead up. Larry Ellison got a bunch of grief because he skipped the Oracle Openworld keynote so he could watch the race that tied the series.

Playing Hooky: Billionaire Larry Ellison Skips Oracle Conference For America's Cup Sailing

Billionaire Larry Ellison skips out on his company's conference--to watch his boat race in the America's Cup.

www.forbes.com

It's really ironic too. I took a ride on the SF Bay Ferry where I met a couple of tourists from New Zealand. I wasn't trying to rub it in (I'm not that big into it) but just mentioned that this was the site of the America's Cup. He said that all of New Zealand was transfixed on the America's Cup. However, I understood. It was a bunch of mostly mercenary sailors with a boat made in New Zealand and a mostly Aussie and Kiwi crew that won.

 

[DuckRyder]

How far back we going?

 

[y_p_w]

OK - I'm correcting myself since it was the Aussies with the winged keel. I was the Kiwis with their fiberglass hulls. At the time I thought the nickname was the "Plastic Fantastic".

 

[Motu]

Yeah, the Plastic Fantastic - they thought we were crazy coming into ''Their'' regatta with a fibreglass boat. That was the start of New Ideas in America's Cup racing, and it's been all on since then.

Mercenary Sailors - I think as a Nation we are still coming to grips with professional sportsmen. A country of amateur sportspeople, we do it because we love it - seeing someone sail for an opposing team for the money is hard to swallow. Russel Coutes, Dean Barker...don't say those names out loud.

I have a cousin who has a been an international sailor - One Toners, Sydney Hobart, 3 Whitbreads, America's Cup - he'd close down his sail loft, spend months sailing for living expenses, then come back and tell people he's back in business. He understands the need to earn a living from it.

We are still a small player, but with the America's Cup we show the world we can hit well above our weight, innovate in technology, and come together for a sport some of us know nothing about. The videos are for us, a Govnmt policy to allow us to watch important sports free to air, not held to ransom by the likes of Sky. I thought being on Youtube it would be worldwide.

 

[y_p_w]

Yeah, the Plastic Fantastic - they thought we were crazy coming into ''Their'' regatta with a fibreglass boat. That was the start of New Ideas in America's Cup racing, and it's been all on since then.

I'm pretty sure that the "new ideas" started with the winged keel from Australia II in 1983. When they lifted it to work on the hull, the keel was always covered with a curtain. Nobody found out what this special keel was until they finally won and they let the world know.

Everyone was trying something different and radical. Most of the other boats in 1987 were more like Australia II. New Zealand bought us the fiberglass hull but USA from the Golden Gate Yacht Club had two rudders and a torpedo keel.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Austrailia II broke a 132-year old streak when it took the Cup from the NYYC in 1983.

Dennis Conner went down to Perth in 1987 and won it back, for the San Diego YC. During that event, he infamously quipped "Why would you build a plastic boat ... unless you wanted to cheat?" in reference to the Kiwis. Conner beat USA-61 in the semis, which was helmed by Tom Blackaller, a character himself. IIRC, the boat had much potential, but I don't think they had enough of a handle on how to maximize it.

The Kiwis then hit Conner with a surprise Deed of Gift challenge, and in 1988, he defended it with a small hard wing-sailed catamaran, against KZ-1, a monohull with the max 90ft waterline allowed, but only after a series of court battles, pre- and post-race. Larry Ellison later used this as inspiration later on.

The Kiwis finally took the Cup in 1995, with Black Magic, helmed by Russell Coutts, who along with his mates would later take the Cup to Switzerland in 2003, having been lured away by the francs offered by an Italo-Swiss pharma billionaire. That did not go over well with his countrymen. Conner's unsuccessful '95 defense was with Young America, which was believed to be faster defender, not his own boat. Austraila had a much easier time packing up to go home, after leaving a banana in San Diego. The NYYC also nearly did the same in Auckland in 1999, so it's not the first time for them, after AM's recent travails.

A rigged contest, lots of money, and a bunch of characters makes the AC as much of a soap opera as a sporting event.

 

[y_p_w]

Dennis Conner went down to Perth in 1987 and won it back, for the San Diego YC. During that event, he infamously quipped "Why would you build a plastic boat ... unless you wanted to cheat?" in reference to the Kiwis. Conner beat USA-61 in the semis, which was helmed by Tom Blackaller, a character himself. IIRC, the boat had much potential, but I don't think they had enough of a handle on how to maximize it.

Again - not a big sailing enthusiast myself, but I lived through that period and for some reason it became news in our local newspapers. There were stories about how competitive Tom Blackaller was with Dennis Conner. Whenever they met they find something do compete in, no matter how small. And didn't someone complain when they were asked for core samples of the fiberglass?



They kept on hiding the underside for a while but disclosed what it was with the two rudders and the torpedo keel. I heard it would absolutely fly going in a straight line with the wind, but didn't make fast turns. It's going to be available for charter.

Page not found

12myc.org

Didn't Dennis Conner do some credit card commercials. I was thinking American Express?

 

[Motu]

Auckland weather delayed the start today by over an hour, and the course shifted a bit. An ordinary yacht race would just race, but for the Prima Donna's of AC we need the drama. But we got a real race this time - nine lead changes and close at every turn. So Ben Ainslie took UK Ineos to 5 wins out of 5 races, impressive stuff, especially as they were considered a lost cause before Xmas. Always good to see the underdog come back and prove themselves. Ineos got up to 50.29 knots in the race.

A month to go before the real thing starts.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Conner was good at procuring sponsorship, so there likely was a credit card, but the only S&S backers I can remember are Cadillac, and Citizen, for the larger AC in San Diego.

One thing AM got right is the deep blue livery, though it is a bit plain without any accents. INEOS and ETNZ also showed some effort. What's disappointing is LR's boring black; they always used to have pretty grey boats. Their AC72 had a chrome finish.

 

[Motu]

Luna Rosa looks like a Kiwi boat...