Jump to content

Anyone watching The Americas Cup finals?


jsharr

Recommended Posts

It is amazing to me to watch 70 foot boats go that fast.  They are so fast they basically create their own wind and they are sailing "upwind" all the time!

 

It has been very cool to watch the Americans actually learn and progress during the finals.  They are a different boat and crew than when they started. 

 

I know it is  a long shot, but I would love to see them pull off a comeback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Americans started the best of 17 series down 2 points due to some illegal modifications to the boat earlier in the challenger races.

 

New Zealand came in very well tuned, having just learned a lot during the Louis Vuitton Cup to see who got to challenge for the cup.

 

The Americans, being the defenders, had only been sailing against themselves, so they were not as up to speed and got behind even more early.

 

Now the Americans have really improved their boat handling and acutally have the faster boat in many instances.

 

That said, they are down 8 races to 4 and since they came in with negative 2 points, the scoreboard shows 8 to 2, meaning we have to win 7 races in a row, as the first to 9 points wins.

 

You need to set your DVR to record a race, or find a race online to watch, as a 75' catamaran going down wind at 40 knots is amazing to say the least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been watching, although I missed the last couple of races.

 

Watching the cup back in '03 is what got me into cycling, strangely enough. I ran across some OLN cycling coverage while tuning into the races between the Kiwis and Alinghi...

 

I still prefer the monohull racing from the last decade. I like the pure speed of these catamarans, but I enjoyed the longer races

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on the Bay Sunday during the races. We got out there about a half an hour before the start of the first race and watched the Kiwis do a practice run. They blew by us at about 35 MPH. An Oracle chase boat came out and told us we were on the course, in not so nice terms. They were within 10 feet of our boat. I'll post pics tonight. The Captain of the boat we were on said he was in position, the Kiwis were off course. We were on a 58 foot private boat, not mine, way too expensive for my blood.

  • Heart 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep!  Man, if Oracle USA would have come into the finals with better skills and tactics, this thing might be over now.  That 2 point penalty is going to be the decider, but I am amazed at where Oracle USA is now versus race 1.  At one point, I really thought NZ was going to get a sweep.  Down 6 to 8 would be so much nicer than down 4 to 8 where they are now.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There ain't not quit in the foreigners sailing the Murican boat.

 

Your comment got me to thinking.  I knew the Oracle team was multinational, but ASSuMEd it predominately USA….I was wrong.  Take a look at the nationality breakdown of Oracle Team USA:

 

New Zealand 7.3

Australia 6.8

United States 2.5

Dutch 2

British 1

Canada 1

Italy 1

France 1

Antigua 1

Ireland 0.3

 

The decimals are due to several members having dual (and in one case triple) citizenship

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SEVEN WINS A ROW!!! I am not believing this!  Amazing.  If they pull this comeback off, it has to go down as one of the biggest in all sports history.  Even if you are not a sailer, you have to appreciate a team getting down 8-1 and needing 9 races to wins and doing it! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...