America's Cup, 2013

Started by kit saginaw, August 26, 2013, 12:19:16 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

kit saginaw

Okay, now that the spray's all settled-down from the lead-ups, it'll be The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron vs. The Golden Gate Yacht Club in the 34th edition of The America's Cup super-sailboat series.  -In arguably the world's most court-contentious, technically-dynamic, nebulously-judged sport: competitive yacht-racing.

The Cup is named for the schooner; America... launched in 1851 by The New York Yacht Club for the expressed purpose of raking-in British cash from ostentatious bettors and boasters.  The first race was one lap around the Isle Of Wight, in whatever wind & sea conditions existed on the announced date if the race.  Queen Victoria was at the start/finish line, logically asking:  " Alright, who came-in second? "  The famous reply...  " Your Majesty, (in pro yacht-racing) there is no second. " 

The best-of-7 regatta begins this Saturday, on San Francisco Bay.   

kit saginaw

oop, I meant best-of-17 today...

But the US was penalized 2 races on Tuesday for 'illegal modifications' allegedly in-place months-ago.   4 crewmembers were suspended. 

That really cast a pall over things as New Zealand won the first 2 races, taking a 4-0 lead.  Both catamarans weren't as equal as everybody thought.   It was the first coastline race-course in multi decades, so the wind-patterns might've been wrongly estimated by the Americans.   The defender of The Cup doesn't get a chance to race-their-way into the finals.  They're automatically in.   NZ has been racing in San Francisco Bay for 8-weeks, so they're used to the bay's wind-and-tidal patterns... then applying improvisational tactics under-pressure.

Okay.  Enough excuse-making.  We gotta go Bolshoi Ballet on 'em tomorrow.

kit saginaw

Well, I was gonna do a raceday-by-raceday summation of the regatta, but Team USA was so out-classed in boat-modification my heart wasn't into it.   NZ blew-out to a 6 to minus-1 lead.  The US managed to erase a penalty-loss with wind-strategy, yet was still no match for New Zealand on the upwind length of the course.

The catamarans then split the next 4 races, as USA finally worked-out some kinks.  NZ had won 8 of the 9 races they needed to take the Cup.  That was Wednesday.  The US won yesterday, and a few minutes-ago, staving-off elimination to bring the standings to NZ-8, US-3 (5).   

America's gotta win 6-in-a-row.  It seems impossible.  They can do it.  But every jib, tack, and wind-strategy has to be absolutely perfect.


kit saginaw

Yesterday's action... stratospherically sensational.

Envision a sailboat averaging 30-mph sailing into/against a 20-mph wind.  That's the technology, and Team USA applied it a little more fluently than Team NZ, winning 2 more races. 

It's now NZ-8, US-5 (7), and it 'feels' much more like a world-class yachting regatta with the victory-gap in a narrower context.   Losing 9-to-5 is realistically laudable.  Losing 9-to-1 would've been unrealistically humiliating.

Today's races will be strategically telling, as New Zealand gets to enter the starting-box first... meaning they have to force the United States away from the start-line by the time the gun sounds. 


Solar

Thanks for the updates Kit, I may not respond often, but I'm reading.
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

kit saginaw

Thanks, solar... 

The wind took awhile to fill the Bay today, so there was only one race...  And the Americans judged it right... as New Zealand underestimated it and used an extra sail, which slowed them from the start.  The wind stayed about 13-knots (14.5 ish mph).  NZ couldn't overcome the trim.

It's now 8 wins to 6, but it's actually 8 to 8 with the US's 2-race penalty.

The Kiwi's look like they're behind, rather than ahead.  I almost feel sorry for 'em, but we still gotta win 3-straight.

Solar

They should have asked me, I knew the winds would be mild, and even more so as the week goes on.
I watch the coast weather daily, it effects where I live. :biggrin:
Is there a specific station broadcasting the race?
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

kit saginaw

Un.  Bee.  Leev.  Uh.  Bull.

2 spectacular wins today for Team USA.  The first featured an illegal right-of-way tack by NZ, trying to muscle the Americans to move outside the starting-marker... resulting in a 2-boat-length penalty which they never recovered from.  The second featured the first all-out foiling-maneuver by either boat, with Golden Gate Yacht Club muscling the Kiwi's, who had the lead, toward Alcatraz Isle and the boundary line.  -Then 'Oracle' tacked back to the center of the bay, grabbing right-of-way from NZ 'Emirates'.

Surfboard-size, carbon-fibre foils hydraulically lift the boats several metres off the surface of the water for extra speed.  -Essentially, turbo-boost afterburners.  This is the first Cup-championship in history to use foils.  No more scrambling with ropes and furling sails.  The crews now man hydraulic cranks, switching from starboard to port, etc. in evershifting choreography with the zephyrs.

The regatta is now even at 8-to-8...  It's all down to one final race; guaranteed to be a monumental mind-warper.

Solar, I've been getting the feed from NBCsports cable.  I know....  but they bought the rights a few years ago.

Solar

Quote from: kit saginaw on September 24, 2013, 03:10:40 PM
Un.  Bee.  Leev.  Uh.  Bull.

2 spectacular wins today for Team USA.  The first featured an illegal right-of-way tack by NZ, trying to muscle the Americans to move outside the starting-marker... resulting in a 2-boat-length penalty which they never recovered from.  The second featured the first all-out foiling-maneuver by either boat, with Golden Gate Yacht Club muscling the Kiwi's, who had the lead, toward Alcatraz Isle and the boundary line.  -Then 'Oracle' tacked back to the center of the bay, grabbing right-of-way from NZ 'Emirates'.

Surfboard-size, carbon-fibre foils hydraulically lift the boats several metres off the surface of the water for extra speed.  -Essentially, turbo-boost afterburners.  This is the first Cup-championship in history to use foils.  No more scrambling with ropes and furling sails.  The crews now man hydraulic cranks, switching from starboard to port, etc. in evershifting choreography with the zephyrs.

The regatta is now even at 8-to-8...  It's all down to one final race; guaranteed to be a monumental mind-warper.

Solar, I've been getting the feed from NBCsports cable.  I know....  but they bought the rights a few years ago.
:thumbsup:
Very cool, I'll look for it on satellite. When is the next race and what time?
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

walkstall

Quote from: kit saginaw on September 24, 2013, 03:10:40 PM
Un.  Bee.  Leev.  Uh.  Bull.

2 spectacular wins today for Team USA.  The first featured an illegal right-of-way tack by NZ, trying to muscle the Americans to move outside the starting-marker... resulting in a 2-boat-length penalty which they never recovered from.  The second featured the first all-out foiling-maneuver by either boat, with Golden Gate Yacht Club muscling the Kiwi's, who had the lead, toward Alcatraz Isle and the boundary line.  -Then 'Oracle' tacked back to the center of the bay, grabbing right-of-way from NZ 'Emirates'.

Surfboard-size, carbon-fibre foils hydraulically lift the boats several metres off the surface of the water for extra speed.  -Essentially, turbo-boost afterburners.  This is the first Cup-championship in history to use foils.  No more scrambling with ropes and furling sails.  The crews now man hydraulic cranks, switching from starboard to port, etc. in evershifting choreography with the zephyrs.

The regatta is now even at 8-to-8...  It's all down to one final race; guaranteed to be a monumental mind-warper.

Solar, I've been getting the feed from NBCsports cable.  I know....  but they bought the rights a few years ago.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison should be very happy.    :thumbup:
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

kit saginaw

Yep, 
Victory
:love:

One of the most dramatic comebacks in any sport, and in American sport-history.  The US's upwind-foiling strategies clinched it, using every part of the Bay to build a 350-metre lead. 

It was almost akin to 'sandbagging' New Zealand, letting them have an 8-to-1 lead, then winning 8 straight races.  That's what they do in horse-racing to hide a horse's speed for next week's program, while the horse continues to move up in class. 

But it's sailing.  Which makes this comeback hard to grasp.  Yet not hard to uncork alcohol over... ahhhhhhhh

Onward, to 2016...  Ellison's choice of harbours to defend...   

Solar

Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

kit saginaw

Quote from: Solar on September 25, 2013, 06:09:09 PM
:thumbsup:
Damn, I missed it!

At least it was a Cali thing.

I'm already suffering withdrawl...   

Solar

Quote from: kit saginaw on September 27, 2013, 03:22:10 PM
At least it was a Cali thing.

I'm already suffering withdrawl...
Kiwi's can be thankful it's over, the wind on the water today is 35+ mph, that would really have given us a serious edge, or lead over their boat from what little I've read about the American boat.
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

kit saginaw

You're right.  The Kiwi's almost tipped-over at around 19mph, with the boat-speed near 42mph.  The safety-limit was 24.5 knots sustained for 5 minutes.  Or about 28mph.