America's Cup

[Stephen Ditmore]

Perhaps they could race in replicas of the original.... the schooner yacht America!

[Richard Hillsid]

Originally Posted by Stephen Ditmore

Perhaps they could race in replicas of the original.... the schooner yacht America!

Now this is a good one, and should be a used for the actual or a new shadow class, it would be really interesting to see wood used to its most with today’s technologies, and the wood building talents would surely crawl out of somewhere if a descent pay was at stake, small shipyards would get a boost and schools could build too.

[Guillermo]

Originally Posted by Crag Cay

...So for me, people might get some interest if they play these cards - cheap nationalism and rough seas. So we need to find a fixed venue and date (Cornwall in November) and race large one designs (so every country can take part) with crews recruited exclusively from their home countries (including three female D-list celebrities with large chests) and all sailing in National costumes. There would have to be some form of ritual humiliating elimination of the last placed boat in each race with comments from a panel of experts lead by Ted Turner. However the whole results standing could be over turned by the viewers phone vote on a premium rate number, that would pay for the whole thing.,,,

Wonderful!

[Guillermo]

Interesting thoughts for the future of the Cup:
"...This business model is working for the first-ever generation of sports-hero professional sailors....
....Now imagine that you're a marketing manager for a Cup team, and you have this recurring nightmare that Emirates Team New Zealand wins in 2007, and the Cup goes down under for who knows how many years to a country of 4 million, a numbing full-day's flight from either Europe or the USA.....
....The Acts have proved that America's Cup racing is a viable roadshow. Should Alinghi successfully defend, we might expect to see Vuitton Cup racing launched on an international circuit, including American ports, for serious points, with lesser teams eliminated on the road. Eventually we would get to a showdown, somewhere, for the America's Cup. In that venue I'd expect to see the knockout rounds for the final four, or perhaps the final two. Then an America's Cup match."

More at: http://sailmag.com/newAC/

[Guillermo]

FIVE WAYS TO IMPROVE THE AMERICA'S CUP
(Stuart Streuli, Senior Editor at Sailing World Magazine, provides his
thoughts on what sailing can learn from Mark Cuban, Britney Spears, and
NASCAR.)

http://www.sailingworld.com/americas...cup-50772.html

[Guillermo]

What a pity.
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/bl...on-denied.html

[Crag Cay]

The true, traditional spirit of the America's Cup sufaces once again.

[RHough]

Originally Posted by Crag Cay

The true, traditional spirit of the America's Cup sufaces once again.

Yep, expecting everyone to play by the rules they agreed to ... what a concept.

If they had changed the rules to exclude a boat that would be a different issue. If you do not have the resources to play a game at a certain level, you shouldn't play. Pretty simple. It applies to all sports at all levels.

[Crag Cay]

Whilst there is some truth in what you say, the ISAF has been keen over recent years to make sure that the innocent party should not come out of the protest committee any worse off in the competition than the wrong doer. Or in other words, the guilty party should not gain any benefit in the competition as a result of their wrong doing. This is a more substantial role for the protest committee that in years gone by.

In this instance the the +39 boat was the 'injured' party in a basic port / starboard incident. The protest committee felt that in order to discharge their mandate for natural justice, the full compensation package for +39 should be redress for the remainder of Act 13, about 500000 US$ in compensation to +39, plus the acceptance of the offer to use the German's spare mast until such time as a replacement could be built.

Although they realised this last part would contravene part of the Challenger's deeds, a clause had been made in the provisions to allow for such an eventuality. It only required for all the Challenger syndicates to set aside self interest and allow natural justice to be done.

They had the opportunity to return to the era of Lipton and Sopworth when the Cup enjoyed massive popular support, but instead they chose to perpetuate the more unsavoury traditions of Lord Dunraven et al, which have gone such a long way in making the AC such an irrelevance to the public and many sailors alike.

*************

From Linda Frederick on Scuttlebug: In response to 'Permission Denied' in issue Scuttlebutt 2318, please extend my thanks to the Challenger Commission for staying true to the long, ugly history of no sportsmanship that is indeed the America's Cup. Just when we thought they might be acting human, encouraging broader participation, and the like--well, guess we should have known better.

I understand that there's big money at stake here, but would it hurt these miserable, petty bastards to do the gracious thing just once? The +39 Challenge seems unlikely to be all that formidable. And if they could be, all the more reason to help them stay in the game. Someone needs a good, swift kick in the transom, since we clearly can't count on anything like a sense of fairness or gallantry here. They just make us feel so proud to be sailors, don't they?

[RHough]

It is just a matter of degree is it not?

If the Port/Starboard had holed the hull and sank the boat, the fouled team would not be allowed to use a boat from another team.

In this particular situation, it was a part of the boat that could be replaced with one from another team. The rule should not be bent just because it was a mast and not a hull.

In the good old daze ... ... a boat that committed a foul was DSQ, if the fouls caused more than minor damage, the boat might be DSQ'd from the remainder of the regatta and be liable for damage.

I think it is of note that instead of an outcry about the lax rules regarding the penalty for committing a foul, the outcry is against the AC system, high budget events, and some perceived exclusionary tactics.

If the penalty for a foul was a DSQ not a 270 or 360 deg turn and a major foul that caused damage got you DSQ'd from the remainder of the event, I doubt that this incident would have happened. If foul = game over, you don't cut your crosses so close as to tangle rigs. The word for crews that fouled out of a multi-million dollar event would be "unemployable".

If there is a problem with the AC (and sailing in general) it is the reduction in penalties for fouls. It has encouraged more unsportsmanlike sailing than any AC rule. Put the blame where it belongs, at the feet of the German team that risked a 360 deg penalty turn, missed it, and ruined +39's campaign.

Why no comment about the offer of the spare mast? If you aren't going to DSQ the team, then at least pull their #1 mast out of the boat and give it to the other team. Offering a back-up spar is like offering a F-1 team your practice tyres for the race.

Bottom line still is that +39 should have had a competitive spare mast of their own. If they could not afford to have spares ... well ... they might not be up to playing in the big league.

[Guillermo]

"One or maybe more of the teams have created a legal version of a swinging keel, which could provide them with a speed edge."
More at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/stor...ectid=10434436
.....................

[Guillermo]

Nice free Seahorse's guide on the AC:
http://www.seahorse.co.uk/americas/us/

[lazeyjack]

Originally Posted by Guillermo

Nice free Seahorse's guide on the AC:
http://www.seahorse.co.uk/americas/us/

UM ER you said that NZ was a numbing days flight from Europe? um, actaully time in the air is min26 hrs BUT, with stops I,ve never done it in less than 36
I hope the Cup does not go 36 south cos last time, the city was stuffed for us boatbuilders, berthage went throught the roof Nz,ers became second class , and the yuppy set took over downtown, Auckland refused to host the Around Alone cos of it (for real sailors)

[Stephen Ditmore]

I'm tuning in at http://juzou.boxstuff.net/player/versus, and there's not much question in my mind that this is the best coverage available in the U.S.

My one suggestion is that, when racing is cancelled, coverage time be used to get to know the designers, engineers, & sailmakers involved in these efforts. One possible hitherto unknown hero has already emerged: designer Harry Dunning (Mascalzone Latino). He's a former employee of both Farr & Reichel/Pugh, and apparently he's American. Where's he living & working now?

Now that Bruce Nelson is designing for Luna Rosa, are Doug Peterson & Dave Egan sitting this one out? Laurie Davidson also?

One thing that strikes me a little wacky about the Judel-Vrolijk design team: Rolf Vrolijk is designer of Alinghi, the boat(s) to beat, while Fietje Judel is designer of perhaps the slowest & most problematic boat(s) out there: those of United Internet Team Germany. What do you make of it?

[Guillermo]

Spain classified for the semi-finals!
Pip, pip, hurray!