OT: America's Cup

[normaliswear]

Its not everyone's thing... but if ya get a chance to watch the last race of the America's Cup tomorrow (weather permitting) take the time. Its USA 8 New Zealand 8 win 9 wins needed so its winner take all now. Boat racing is usually pretty dull when one boat is faster its just watching one boat slowly sail away from the other, but these two are very close so its been near or actual collisions, big decisions which win or lose races, and pretty cool moment of these things sailing at eachother sometimes doing 55 MPH (they go almost three times the speed of the wind, which I still don't quite get the physics of lol) apiece trying to figure out if they can get by or not. USA is trying to finish the best comeback since Bills vs Oilers... have won 7 straight to tie when any one of the 7 could have gone either way.

 

[Toga]

Its not everyone's thing... but if ya get a chance to watch the last race of the America's Cup tomorrow (weather permitting) take the time. Its USA 8 New Zealand 8 win 9 wins needed so its winner take all now. Boat racing is usually pretty dull when one boat is faster its just watching one boat slowly sail away from the other, but these two are very close so its been near or actual collisions, big decisions which win or lose races, and pretty cool moment of these things sailing at eachother sometimes doing 55 MPH (they go almost three times the speed of the wind, which I still don't quite get the physics of lol) apiece trying to figure out if they can get by or not. USA is trying to finish the best comeback since Bills vs Oilers... have won 7 straight to tie when any one of the 7 could have gone either way.

Wasn't there some sort of controversy with the U.S. boat?

 

[normaliswear]

In the preliminaries they were penalized two races so they started with a negative 2. They've now won 10 races, but have 8 points.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Wasn't there some sort of controversy with the U.S. boat?

You mean the engine?

 

[Flacusian]

Back in the early 80's they held the America's Cup Races off of Newport and in Long Island Sound. Dennis Connor was the Skipper of the America's Cup yacht "Liberty". In 1982 Connor Skippered the Liberty to defeat the Aussies and win the Cup but there was a lot of controversy surrounding the keel of both boats. That fall the Liberty was stored in drydock in Westport Ct. and I lived nearby in Branford Ct. I was doing a job close to where the Liberty was being stored and one afternoon after work out of curiosity I drove to the Marina where the Liberty was blocked up and to my amazement I was able to climb aboard and check her out. Wow!~

I had been a sailor since I was about 10 years old and first learned to sail a 19 ft. wooden hull Lightning. We were members of a pool and tennis club which was on the Sound and when the summer thunderstorms would pop up and people were securing chairs and umbrellas around the pool I would be sprinting down to hop in my lightening in an effort to catch the winds associated with the squall. The object was to "bury the rail" or be catching so much wind that you'd literally be on the precipice of capsizing and the edge rail of the boat would be momentarily dipping under the surface of the water. The lightening was the perfect vessel for learning how to sail and I even had a spinnaker like jib sail that was a lot of fun to use. I continued to crew on larger boats well into adulthood until I moved to Florida in '93. Sadly I haven't had much chance to sail in the past 20 years but when I retire it's high on my list. I checked into this years race and came upon this video which pretty much captures the astonishing speed and engineering which is associated with the modern racing yachts.

Check out the link:
http://www.wimp.com/overwater/

 

[cto]

Back in the early 80's they held the America's Cup Races off of Newport and in Long Island Sound. Dennis Connor was the Skipper of the America's Cup yacht "Liberty". In 1982 Connor Skippered the Liberty to defeat the Aussies and win the Cup but there was a lot of controversy surrounding the keel of both boats. That fall the Liberty was stored in drydock in Westport Ct. and I lived nearby in Branford Ct. I was doing a job close to where the Liberty was being stored and one afternoon after work out of curiosity I drove to the Marina where the Liberty was blocked up and to my amazement I was able to climb aboard and check her out. Wow!~

I had been a sailor since I was about 10 years old and first learned to sail a 19 ft. wooden hull Lightning. We were members of a pool and tennis club which was on the Sound and when the summer thunderstorms would pop up and people were securing chairs and umbrellas around the pool I would be sprinting down to hop in my lightening in an effort to catch the winds associated with the squall. The object was to "bury the rail" or be catching so much wind that you'd literally be on the precipice of capsizing and the edge rail of the boat would be momentarily dipping under the surface of the water. The lightening was the perfect vessel for learning how to sail and I even had a spinnaker like jib sail that was a lot of fun to use. I continued to crew on larger boats well into adulthood until I moved to Florida in '93. Sadly I haven't had much chance to sail in the past 20 years but when I retire it's high on my list. I checked into this years race and came upon this video which pretty much captures the astonishing speed and engineering which is associated with the modern racing yachts.

Check out the link:
http://www.wimp.com/overwater/

Wow .. Great post. I live in Southport, CT .. and many of my friends here are serious sailors. I, too, learned to sail on a wooden hull Lightning, and later crewed on a Cal-40. I have always enjoyed watching the America's Cup. When it was held in Newport, my company was some kind of sponsor so we were there for all the parties. It is such a 1920's thing... but I love some of these atavistic/anachronistic (whatever the right word) experiences.

 

[cto]

Final and deciding race on NOW. NBC Sports (220 on Directv). Very exciting race.

 

[Antiprodigy]

cto, for those of us stuck at work, who is leading?

 

[Todd Gack]

cto, for those of us stuck at work, who is leading?

USA just won.

 

[cto]

Unreal.. USA just won. After having been down 8 races to 1!!

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

 

[PeteCalvin]

Unleash SAM's ARMY!!! Oh wait, wrong sport.

Woo Hoo! I remember watching the America's Cup races as a kid and loving Dennis Conner's chutzpah.

 

[AlaskaSU]

if anyone wants to sail, drop on by, summers only.

 

[HoustonCuse]

When I was a kid, I fell in Onondaga Lake once.


And I enjoyed bowling a great deal.

 

[normaliswear]

Amazing comeback. Great work by the USA team to figure out how to reverse the early advantages New Zealand had. One of my favorite sporting events.

 

[DeGrozz]

USA!!!

I saw some of the prelim (or was it qualifying -- I don't follow the sport) rounds while visiting San Francisco this summer. Got a pretty cool shot of the Kiwis in front of Alcratraz too!

 

[Antiprodigy]

I watched the first 6 races. It was sad and very demoralizing to see Oracle faster (slightly) down wind, but absolutely manhandled on the upwind leg. I was not able to catch any of the recent one's. This is just an incredible turn around. I watched the replay of the last race, and it is night and day the difference on the upwind leg! They were on the hydrofoil the entire tack, every time. Just amazing.

 

[PeteCalvin]

I watched the first 6 races. It was sad and very demoralizing to see Oracle faster (slightly) down wind, but absolutely manhandled on the upwind leg. I was not able to catch any of the recent one's. This is just an incredible turn around. I watched the replay of the last race, and it is night and day the difference on the upwind leg! They were on the hydrofoil the entire tack, every time. Just amazing.

I bet they test the boat for steroids or blood boosters. No way that boat could have won 11 races in a row without an injection. I smell BALCO.

 

[suinaustin]

Didn't I read that there was only 1 true American on the crew? The boat is US owned? Really confusing to say the USA won. Should be the USA boat won.