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Old 06-26-2017, 02:01 PM
 
Location: PGI
727 posts, read 389,236 times
Reputation: 522

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Congrats to the Kiwis! The young Peter Burling outwitted the master helmsman, Jimmy Spithill, at almost every maneuver. Last two Cups, Spithill was a force to be reckoned with. But in the last Cup, he struggled in the first half of racing, only to come back from a 8-1 deficit to win 8 straight and retain the Cup. Unbelievable!

But this year, with Burling at the helm, and all the changes they made to cat-foil racing, only major mistakes would keep them from winning. And Emirates raced a near perfect series.

Another congratulations to all the boys Down Under! If it weren't for all those amazing sailors, who populated virtually every Cup team, I doubt we would have seen such top notch sailing. You guys sure know how to grow 'em.

Back to a little history...

When I first started following the America's Cup in the early 70s, the 12 meter boats were racing. At that time America was enjoying the longest winning streak in any sport in any time in recorded history.

That string was broken in 1983 when the Aussies, who had been defeated too many times, came in prepared and won the Cup. It made headlines all over the US and Down Under. I still have two Chicago papers from the day after America lost the Cup.

The New York Yacht Club had held the Cup for 132 years, a record that may never be broken. And things began to change. The first being a rise in interest of the America's Cup. It used to be only sailors and yacht clubs took an interest in it here in the States. But it still wasn't what it is today.

One of the factors that I believed to be the cause the Cup never became popular outside sailing was it was often a very slow race. Winds like you saw today would have meant the 12 meter boats, for instance, would be sailing at maybe 3-6 knots.

Visually, the 12s were beautiful, especially when they flew their spinnakers, but the races often lasted hours. And they were so far offshore, it was hard to see what was happening from shore.

Here's from that Cup series when the US lost the Cup for the first time. At the beginning you'll see the tarp the Aussies wrapped around their "secret" weapon, the wing keel. Lots of controversy about that back then!

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-L3L_3dyOE
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Old 06-27-2017, 11:24 AM
 
Location: Monnem Germany/ from San Diego
2,296 posts, read 3,115,919 times
Reputation: 4796
Well done TNZ!!! Love the boats but not really a huge fan of the format and the boats arn"t really great platforms for match racing. Still cool though.

The attempt to make sailing TV friendly has taken away from the racing, not just in the AC but also for us sailing in the Olympic classes.
Will be interesting to see what the next Cup will bring. Glad Oracle is not running it anymore.
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Old 07-17-2017, 07:12 AM
 
437 posts, read 334,990 times
Reputation: 483
The Americas cup is still going? Who knew. This thread is the first I've read or heard about it for many years.
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Old 07-17-2017, 08:44 AM
 
Location: Island of Misfit Toys
5,066 posts, read 2,851,188 times
Reputation: 4533
I love sailing and racing but those boats, just can't get into them. But good on the Kiwi's! Always great sailors.
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