35th America's Cup

Where was it that you heard the RC reply? I don't recall it. I remember Slingsby on a hot mike wondering where the next mark was, like he was talking with JS.

I heard the RC reply with the information that should sail on and finish at the grandstands. I think USA really thought they were finishing before the last reach.

I was really surprised at the exchange too, for a minute I could really relate to the skipper having no idea what the course was. <img src="<>/blush.gif" alt="blush" title="blush" height="15" width="15" />

Oracle has rudder damage and is trying to repair in time for race. . .

A-cat, F18, and J22. I think I'm going to list the F18 for sale soon because it just doesn't hit the water very often. My a-cat is a 2007 XJ that's super clean and I've updated it with foam decks and modernized some rigging stuff. Otherwise, it's bone stock and fast. I love the boat and have had some good results with it.

With regards to the biased reporting, it's sailing. We are a small community and there is ALWAYS some raw emotion when it comes to the America's Cup. They really buttoned up the rules about teams not speaking bad about the cup this iteration and we haven't heard ANY of the usual finger pointing and crying like we usually do (and does Grant Dalton even existing anymore!?).

As far as broadcast reporting, there isn't that much for these guys to hone their skills on but there is definitely room for improvement. I scream at the TV every time they cut to commercial right after the first downwind gate rounding - that's the most critical decision making stage in my mind and I want to see how the teams are setting up against the boundaries for that upwind leg. I do think they are making a conscious decision to keep the coverage simplified so it doesn't overwhelm the common viewer. I agree with the approach and while I DEFINITELY would enjoy seeing more of the nuances that I know of racing, I do think it would be too much and would quickly lose the common viewer that they are trying to attract. I have been having a regular morning debrief with several guys here at work and they are chock full of questions about the racing and the cup history. Hell, we even got into prismatic coefficients this morning. 😉 My point is, they're staying entertained enough to keep coming back and they don't feel like the coverage is lacking - they often comment in the positive about the digital markers on the water and how much easier this is to understand. I think this really is the point.

Gladwell will occasionally get spurned on by something but he will recenter and lean back toward the middle of the road, usually. He came out in Oracle's defense when the allegations of kinetic energy use were lodged from that book a couple of years ago (can't remember the Author's name...I just re-read it again and I still don't understand how you can rotate a 100 foot tall on it's base and generate and increase of forward driving energy from the wind that is already coming across it at 40 knots... It sure as hell doesn't work on my catamaran at 2, 10, or 15 knots and I've never seen a bird fly by rotating his wings around a central axis....but I digress.)

Regarding attendance, we also need to remember that we're just in the early phases of the cup - there's a lot left to go and it is a weekday in Bermuda. If I were scheduling time to go to Bermuda to watch the cup, it wouldn't be right now, either - it would be during one of the later rounds. And, besides, people in Bermuda have to work sometime like the rest of us.

I'm glad that it is the spectacle that it is. I just hope people don't lose interest by the time we get to the finals - it's a LOT of racing densely placed over a pretty big span of time.

The venue is really stunning though, better than San Francisco since there is no current.
Is Bermuda a

normal

holiday destination for you US guys? I looked into flying from Europe but it was a it too pricey.
Valencia was the perfect AC location for us Euros though, return ticket was only around $200.

The F18 Worlds are held at Sarasota next year, might be a good reason to hold onto it for another year?
https://sarasotasailingsquadron.org/event/2018-f-18-world-championship/

It's the wing winch clutch lock.

Ken REALLY like his pen <img src="<>/laugh.gif" alt="laugh" title="laugh" height="15" width="15" />

Great racing by Artemis today, beating USA and JPN. Only NZL looked better, achieving the long anticipated 100% fly time. USA made a couple of mistakes and their luck with comebacks finally ran out. Emirates is now in the lead overall and the winner of the potential AC point will be decided in their match with USA. Emirates looks so smooth, though, that I think they are more likely to win.

Either way, FRA is out and NZL will be top seed in the playoffs. I wonder who they will choose to race first? BAR looks like the easiest boat for them to beat. Then again, which one (GBR or JPN) is more likely to beat SWE? Ben Ainslie has been more successful at that in the past but Dean Barker came close today.

we're going to need a rule in here about spoiler alerts for those of us that are at work and haven't had a chance to watch today's recording 😉

Agree! Hard to watch during the day so I was up late watching replays last night and haven't seen any today.

But don't want to spoil the conversation, better for us that can't watch right away to be careful what we read. 🙂

Today's presser

Yes, but you DON'T HAVE TO OPEN THIS THREAD!!!

I was lucky to catch on TV and stream. Stream feed is about 2 minutes delayed from TV (not that it matters, but you can watch the stream while the TV has commercials and vice versa)

I am starting to wonder if SWE is USA kryptonite. SWE is blazing fast in moderate conditions (12-16kts TWS), and JPN had trouble pacing. I think JPN is the sister-ship of USA, so when Barker chose not to split on SWE, I wondered if the USA shore teams were eating up that data on the two two boats and their setup/speed/angle and other variables.

NZL seems to have the most consistent ride of the bunch, and it's a thrill to see Burling whip that 50' boat around a tack in less than a boatlength at 28 knots! Talk about some G-force <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

I also think I see some

pumping

by SWE and NZL which I would consider more

sawing the main

than pumping/kinetics.

Did anyone notice SWE wing control winch sounds like a playing card in a kid's bicycle spokes? And their foils make a hell of a racket? You would think that noise = drag but with their downwind speed it's probably a motivator for the crew to keep as fast as possible to get away from that screetch...

Sad to see Cammas so far back, but he's a distance guy anyway... and the team is underfunded. But that's about the only team with several nationals on it, right? I think I saw 2 or 3 Frenchmen on that team.

JPN has one native... Not sure if SWE has any.

I didn't read the DOG, but did I hear from the talking heads that NZL gets to pick who they sail against in the semi-finals? If so, I'd be looking really hard at the forecast... Not sure I'd want to tangle with SWE in heavy air, and I think JPN would be tough in the light since Barker is pretty good on tactics. GBR is the total wild-card since I never can tell what Ben's going to do. Maybe I'd pick them since Burling seems to have a way about getting into people's head and messing with them.

Must have something to do with his

old school

zinc oxide war paint <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

And when this is all over, I'd love to see the comparison on the actual energy output of the pedal vs. coffee grinder stations. I suspect NZL is doing a sh*t-ton more adjusting with Ashby(?) and his little Playstation handset... and the little twisting (rudder elevator?) on the helm...

Based on the results Saturday, Oracle could win the point, or tie, or lose the point. So it will be either NZ or Oracle who picks. We're not there yet. Saturday's first race is a big one.

14:08 Bermuda
USA vs NZL

14:37 Bermuda
JPN vs GBR

15:06 Bermuda
FRA vs SWE

15:35 Bermuda
GBR vs USA

Video snapshot of Oracle rudder swap

I was wrong, Oracle can still win the point but they will not compete in the playoffs. After Saturday we will not see Oracle until the Match.

Today, if Oracle beats NZ, and BAR beats Oracle, then Oracle and NZ are tied. Then, Oracle will win the tie breaker because of their placement (2nd, BAR was 1st)) in the ACWS, and take the coveted point into the match.

So we will find out in the presser who NZ picks to go up against.

Next races are the beginning of the semi finals with 4 races/day.

Presser

NZ has chosen BAR

Racing today

14:08 Bermuda
NZL vs GBR (R1)

14:37 Bermuda
SWE vs JPN (R1)

15:06 Bermuda
GBR vs NZL (R2)

15:35 Bermuda
JPN vs SWE (R2)

I didn't get to watch yesterday, but skimmed through the replay footage last night. It looked like they used a different course configuration, mid-course single mark leading to the final reaching finish leg?

Did they discuss why they used this (breeze/other), and if they'll use this for the remainder of the racing?

I can see pros and cons, but am just curious.

Mike

It's going to be interesting to see if the challengers make some improvements over Oracle now that the US team is not racing head to head anymore. I was not aware that the teams are using two different sized foils, one for light air, one for heavy, or that ETNZ had modified their boards with that kink in the middle.

Really? The boards are pretty much the only thing (design-wise) that Kenny and company have discussed. I've been pretty disappointed with the lack of technical discussion about the wings and other aspects, but they may not have that info due to the competition.

One thing that Kenny said surprised me: The headsails are one-design? Does he mean spinnakers and jibs? I swear one of the boats had a shorter/fatter jib.

Mike

I haven't been watching/listening to Kenny (Read?) much but back when the A cats started foiling, I posted thoughts that if this foiling thing catches on, it's going to render our 'Box Rules' based on hull length, weight, sail area pretty much useless.

Who wins the race is going to come down to who has the best foils and has the skill to keep their boat up on the foils the longest. The richest guys in foiling A cats could have multiple sets of foils, one for each increase in wind strength.

If foiling migrates to the other classes (F18/F16) the same issue will migrate too. Foiling renders our box rules pretty much obsolete, as long as you have the money for the best foils and you know how to use them.

When I look around the regattas however, I see the old school Hobie 16 is still one of the most popular in terms of numbers of boats out on the course at most mixed class regattas, so perhaps the F18/F16 classes won't go down the foiling route, which might scare off more people than it attracts, due to expensive foils..

Or maybe there should just be a single 'Foiling Class' for everything that foils, no matter what type of cat the foils are on, and let evolution do it's thing, to eventually produce the fastest foiling cat, be it an A, F16 or F18.

Yes, Kenny is Ken Read.

The box rules themselves aren't the problem. It's trying to say that foiling boats can race head-to-head against floaters. It's like adding a spinnaker to a Hobie 16 and letting them race against a stock boat. Just ridiculous, except in conditions when the foils (or spinnakers) can't be used, when they become extra weight and drag.

Mike

BTW, all races postponed today, and no one mentions that? Hopefully it's because you were all also on the water this weekend!

Mike

Couldn't watch today (Sunday) was racing cancelled?

The other day when they were racing at the lower limit of wind speed I got really annoyed the way the announcers kept talking about how slow the boats were moving and how boring the racing was.

The wind was about 6 knots and the boats were still foiling and racing at over 20 knots, to me that is more impressive than the 45 knots on windy days.