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Bloody hell! Four minutes!
yeah but one gust away from being 4 minutes the other way!
Jesus they were two great races. I'm loving this.
Wow. Another nailbiter.
Having watched I cant say i really get into this type of racing. Seems too high tech, too elitist and removed from regular racing which has always been semi pro or very experienced crews to out and out pro using boats that are completely removed from regular yachts types.
Used to be round the cans sailing sausages before heading in for a round of cans and some sausages.
Seems too high tech, too elitist and removed from regular racing
I think it's like F1. If you want on track excitement, speedway, NASCAR, etc. give much better racing. This and F1 is about the absolutely fastest machines driven by the very best drivers or sailors. They very rarely make mistakes so races tend to be processional, and once a faster machine gets in front, they tend to just cruise off into the distance. At least with AC sailing, there's more potential for freakish weather to mess things up a bit. If you're not a tech nerd, neither series is really very interesting.
Race 9 was a cracker. Looking forward to tomorrow.
This is the first short coarse sailing I've ever watched, so can't compare it to much. It was probably only UK interest that drew me in. In similar fashion the AC has become super popular in Italy. Do they know that this is isn't the most exciting format? No. Do they care? No.
The AC is certainly high tech and elitist, just like F1, and road cycling too.
Great racing today
The gap from this to most other sailing is greater than the gap between my car and an F1 car
Some of it annoys me. Some of it I love
Double skin main sails seems interesting
shore charged battery to operate the foils is a joke. We are really tired moving the sails lets not mention the battery for everything else
Great racing though
Pretty much in the bag for ETNZ now. I'm kinda torn - I'd like Italy to have got it for a change BUT their thoughts about taking it back to displacement boats is frightening and massive retrograde step, so from that point of view I'm happy it will stay in NZ.
I also want to boats to continue to exist beyond (potentially) tomorrow. If Italy win then the boats will be scrap. But ETNZ may keep the format basically the same but with a few smallish modifications. That being the case then the existing boats may continue to be used for development or sold to other countries to increase the list of participants.
I'd love to know what Mercedes have made of the whole thing as I'm sure there's a load of work to do on the foils (both above and below the waterline) - and they're not used to not winning! Maybe they'd be up for getting more involved next time around.
shore charged battery to operate the foils is a joke.
Difficult to run without battery power and ALL of the high performance keelboats use electric winches, etc. so it's nothing new.
Ive enjoyed the racing, BUT, any competition that's rigged in favour of the holder as much as the AC seems pointless. The current set up actively discourages participation.
Ive enjoyed the racing, BUT, any competition that’s rigged in favour of the holder as much as the AC seems pointless.
it's not, it's rigged in favour of the holder AND the Challenger of Record..they get to agree the format, the boats, the rules etc etc
For the first time today I truly got an impression of the speed of these boats. They came into the end of leg 4 from opposite sides doing 43 knots and the speed at which they closed on the buoys was awesome. It's at 1:01:20 on the YouTube feed above.
Clinical.
yep...once they got rid of the rustiness there was no stopping them.
Rumour has it that Team GB (under the flag of whatever yacht club they use) have already submitted the letter to be Challenger of Record, and NZ want them to be because the Italians were too litigious
Done and dusted.... ETNZ just looked couple of knots quicker and speed makes you an amazing tactician!!
Good event, shame the "world series" didn't take place in 2020.... Could have been a laugh!
I think we'll be seeing these boats back on the water thankfully. They're amazing.
Good series, Italy needed a few lucky breaks as their boat speed was always a little off, but sadly probably got more of the unlucky shifts/light patches. I'd like to have seen a couple of heavy weather races too. Would be entertaining (although perhaps a little dangerous?) to see a 5 or 6 boat fleet race series with these machines.
although perhaps a little dangerous?
I think "lethal" is the word you're looking for. Great to watch - absolutely terrifying to sail in!!
jeez...can you imagine, 90kts closing speeds...shouting "starboard!!!" 🙂
Would be entertaining (although perhaps a little dangerous?) to see a 5 or 6 boat fleet race series with these machines.
I imagine it would be a high-speed nautical version of this.
I’d like to have seen a couple of heavy weather races too.
Very much this. Been a good series.
Telegraph and Times (both behind a paywall) are saying that Ineos Team UK has been accepted as the challenger of record for the next one, and the racing will be in the Solent! Another website is just saying that the challenge has been accepted (it happens the second the final race is won, when an envelope is handed over apparently)
The Times article has reader comments suggesting that TNZ aren't serious about the Solent, it's just leverage to get more sponsorship for holding it in NZ.
Full speculation mode here, but where better. It makes sense to have an event asap using existing boats and teams to keep the assets working. It makes sense for INEOS to put money into an event (as well as a team) to gain as much return as poss on 'investment' to date. The infrastructure is in place (rumours abound regard Portsmouth base and some real estate in Cowes at the moment too). A UK event in say Summer '22 and then back to 'normal' racing in 24/5 would keep the boats and teams working. The more racing there is the closer the racing should get, and it would make sense to get some action in the northern hemisphere to build the profile of the event in the run up to an Auckland event in the 'normal' cycle. Would it be seen as a 'proper' cup without a series to decide the challenger? Well it's how it used to be run... Pick holes in that!
Well IIRC they had an "out of sequence" event before, when they had the giant catamaran vs the even more giant monohull.
I suspect they care less about keeping the teams working than they do about attracting money...and the more teams are in, the more money flows in. If they get the world series up and a running, that'll keep the teams working.
I suspect they care less about keeping the teams working than they do about attracting money
Again, I'm indulging in speculation... This might be the case with Team NZ, but I'd love to think Ben Ainslie has wooed INEOS into the dream of breaking the longest losing streak in history and winning the cup. It'll be time on the water and some input into/consistency with the rule that will be the goal there. Burling and Tuke have the olympics now, I'm not sure if any of the INEOS team have commitments here. Giles Scott maybe?
and the racing will be in the Solent!
Pretty rediculous (and horrific) idea in my view. But they wouldn't do that anyway... They want to attract tourism and business to NZ.
There 'may' be an intermediary event held somewhere other than NZ though.
Anyway, all good news is Ineos is willing to be involved.
Could be very interesting.
rumours abound regard Portsmouth
Portsmouth is actually kinda suitable in that it has protected waters and enough space - raced the Ultra 30s (max speed 20ish knots but with the same requirements) there and it was a pretty good venue.
Thread resurrection - perhaps needs a title change from the mods?
Anyhow, testing of AC40's ended with a bit of an issue today. I don't think a crash like this is unusual - so many questions around the boat not withstanding the forces...
As ever, all the news, rules and series information at https://www.americascup.com/
Oh yeah that's properly broken.
Anyone been watching the Sail GP series? Some spectacular racing!