35th America's Cup

not so fast. 6 marks averaging over 6 knots so wind is building.

Yes, NBCSN (online) has extended their broadcast. The boats are foiling around in just under 7 knots of breeze at the moment, cutoff time is 4:35 (I'd assume that's the latest start time).

Edit: no start after 4:35 Bermuda time (3:35 eastern), under 25 minutes to go.

Mike

Adjusting and shortening the course. Looks like they are going to try to get in a start sequence before time deadline.

We are in start sequence

App showing start in 4 minutes.

Wow, NZL got a great start and held SWE to lead at Mark 1.

Big right shift halfway through, NZL extending.

Mike

Rematch, USA vs NZL.

Mike

So are we going to see bikes on Oracle? Or are they going to stick with the traditional grinding?

What other changes will we see from Oracle's last race?

RED BULL YOUTH AMERICA'S CUP QUALIFIER 1 VIDEO

and it is LIVE

Today's press conference

I don't think you'll see Oracle shift to any pedal stations (well, not any more than the stair stepper thing they installed at the back a few weeks ago). Their guys have trained for upper body and not leg muscle groups - the New Zealand grinders have been quietly riding and training on bicycles for years (I read an article about one who kept having to try and hide the fact from his own family that he was going for long bike rides while on family vacations). The amount of hydraulic pressure does seem to be coming into play on occasion - so it's still an interesting comparison.

I think any changes made will be really hard to see. I also have a feeling that Glen Ashby is working some real magic on that Kiwi boat while tucked away in that cockpit playing on his game controller. I didn't do an in-depth study, but the New Zealand wing sure didn't seem to have that same in/out pace like the other teams as the competition went on. Granted, I'm certainly not qualified to make a judgement here but I've surprised at how much teams generally seemed to move their wing in and out regularly.

cool article:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a26280/americas-cup-yachts-oracle-team-usa/

I'm just happy to get some coverage.... Usually the foil and onboard noises are so loud I can't really hear the commentators anyway...

Secret footage of Ashby's hydraulic display

If you squint really hard you can see Artemis bouncing up and down on the left and if you play it backwards you can hear Ashby say

Oracle is dead, won't miss them, won't miss them

.

I was very annoyed when I wrote that. I agree, the video has been spectacular!

In the last cycle, we had to listen to Jobson with this nonsense. I thought Kenny stayed out of that, but maybe that's just what I choose to remember?

In any event, you can tell that Kenny is frustrated with the lack of technical information being shared with him, leaving him little to draw upon when calling the live action. He just needs to stop saying things like

This crazy version of the America's Cup...

because it just makes him look WAY out of touch (and I know that he isn't).

I don't know why Kenny wasn't making the calls yesterday (although I thought I heard his voice during the post-race onboard interviews). But, having Campbell there was awesome. We finally got to hear from someone with actual knowledge and experience on these current boats. It would be great if they could get Nathan or Dean to sit in during the finals!

Mike

I thought Paul Cayard made some really great calls on the water regarding wind shifts and potential strategies. Keep that guy!

And yes, Ken probably didn't get any usable intel for calling the races. He didn't even have the camera control so when he diagramed something the view would change! Gotta be tough to make stuff up on the fly like that.

Of course, Ken should never try to out-guess Potty-mouth Percy or the biker gang because every time he did the boats would do the opposite and make him look like a chump <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />

The agonizing discussion of how VMG works was hard to listen to, but the graphics were very well done and should explain to the non-sailor how it works... The leader bar and separation distance were easy enough for my 11 year old to figure out. The football yardage lines kind of helped, as did the boat tracks.

The speed readings above each boat really helped bring out the speeds, since the camera angles and ease at which they sailed made it look like they were in for an afternoon cruise to the yacht club (until they got mugged with wave wash through the nets)

The heartrate things were distracting, except for the one guy whos HR kept showing 245 which probably should have killed him.

Despite the speed, technology and all-out craziness of the challenger series, it really did appear to boil down to good-old match racing skills:
-consistent boat handling
-picking shifts and pressure
-rules knowledge and use

There were some real nail-biter races, stupid mistakes, and questionable umpire calls. Just like every other sport. The TV production really has the potential to make this a spectator sport... albeit not an in-person, on-site spectator sport... So if sponsors can figure out a way to cash in on the eyeballs rather than butts in the stadium seats I think we'll see a better influx of money in the sport.

And once the AC is over, I really want to see some fleet racing with all the boats... Can you imagine 6 of these boats on the same course ripping at 40+? The tacticians would have a heart attack! The extreme 40 series was awesome just for that fact (the fleet sailing)... Put those bad boys on foils and watch the shenanigans

All awesome points, Jay.

As Jake has mentioned, they need a game-changer for the penalty system. What they have is probably fair, but horrific for spectators, including those of us who already know the sport. They need something much better than a blue light until a magic invisible distance is met.

Even something as simple as stop the boat for 10 seconds would be better than this. They could make the time adjustable to match the speeds and extent of the infraction, but we need something we can measure and watch to know when it's over.

Mike

Instead of stopping it might be that you would just need to come off the foils. That appears to be a fairly substantial slow down, maybe even too much of a penalty. Stopping would probably be race over at these speeds.

Again, I think it needs to be a sliding scale (if it's light wind, they won't be foiling anyway). They just need something that can quickly be communicated, measured and observed. The blue idiot light takes the concept a bit too far, and takes away from the viewing experience.

Mike

when's the next race?

Saturday, 1:00 eastern.

Mike

How many races for the finals? Best of how many?

What was it last time, best of 17 or such?

Are they going to race 17 races again?

13 races are scheduled (First to 7 points wins).

Link to schedule:

https://www.americascup.com/en/ac35-schedule.html

Mike

Thank Mike!

You're welcome. I'm not loving the schedule, they loaded the front end (first 8 races) onto two weekends, and will then run into weekdays. So unless Oracle wins 6 before losing 3, we're going to have to see it end while at work!?!?

I'm extremely grateful for NBC's online coverage and App. I had to watch Sunday's racing on my phone while at a birthday party for a 6-year old (friend of my 6-year old, and son of a girl I've known since high school, we later became great friends, and she was one of my first crews on the original BruCat, so she understood, LOL).

Mike

That's friggn' hilarious! I hope she had some good beer at that party!

Nope, it was at one of those indoor party places (inflatable bounce houses, etc.). The AC was the only thing that made it tolerable.

Her husband was pretty interested in the boats too. My 6-year old? Not so much (need to work on that kid...).

Mike

Strategy or Red Herring?

Videos of the superyachts.