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The 33rd America's Cup

quagmire

quagmire

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
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Let's see the America's Cup is coming up in February and where are the Americans? There are no challengers from the US. It seems like something we were once so dominant in has become a sport that has been treated worse then soccer in the US.

Which is sad because sailing is the best sport in the world. My favorite movie is Wind which is based on us losing and winning it back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3shpTH59Qk
 
I've never been a big fan of the America's Cup but I love sailing and would love to get into watching it this year. What website(s) do you suggest Quagmire that have a good amount of depth about the competitors and tactics etc?
 
Never been really interested in sailing, but did have a chance to sail a racing boat. Can't remember the name, but it was the boat that won back the America's Cup after we lost it. Sailed in St. Martin/Maarten while there for my sister's wedding.
 
creator2456 said:
Never been really interested in sailing, but did have a chance to sail a racing boat. Can't remember the name, but it was the boat that won back the America's Cup after we lost it. Sailed in St. Martin/Maarten while there for my sister's wedding.
Click to expand...

Stars&Stripes.
 
quagmire said:
Let's see the America's Cup is coming up in February and where are the Americans? There are no challengers from the US. It seems like something we were once so dominant in has become a sport that has been treated worse then soccer in the US.

Which is sad because sailing is the best sport in the world. My favorite movie is Wind which is based on us losing and winning it back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3shpTH59Qk
Click to expand...

what do you mean?
the february showdown in the Gulf, at Ras-Al-Khaimah, will be a head-to head between Alinghi (Swiss defender) and BMW oracle (American Challenger) on the massive multi-hulls forced by Oracle. Alinghi will race a 120ft catamaran against Oracle's 90 ft trimaran.
A true battle of giants.

alinghi-5-001.jpg

americascuporacle.jpg
 
Don't panic said:
what do you mean?
the february showdown in the Gulf, at Ras-Al-Khaimah, will be a head-to head between Alinghi (Swiss defender) and BMW oracle (American Challenger) on the massive multi-hulls forced by Oracle. Alinghi will race a 120ft catamaran against Oracle's 90 ft trimaran.
A true battle of giants.
Click to expand...

Go on the website for the 33rd America's Cup and go under challengers. Note there are no US challengers. Oracle was a US challenger back in 2007, but so far has not entered for the 33rd Cup.
 
quagmire said:
Go on the website for the 33rd America's Cup and go under challengers. Note there are no US challengers. Oracle was a US challenger back in 2007, but so far has not entered for the 33rd Cup.
Click to expand...

i don't know what is going on with that that page, but it is out of whack.
the last two years have been spent in courts of law with continuous lawsuits to define what/who/where/how the racing will be going on.
Oracle has submitted yet another legal challenge, because they don't like the place (i guess it's too close to Iran, around 80 miles), but this is not likely to have an effect (although there might be more challenges coming up)

the boats are the ones depicted above.
they must have cost jillions, so i doubt they would be training on them if they were not going to use them.

personally i always loved catamarans and trimarans and i believe these are gorgeous boats, but they are so different that i am afraid there will be a large gap in performance in favour of one of the two. I hope i am wrong but i would be surprised if the racing will be close.

given the high speed and low manouvrability, i doubt we'll be seeing scenes like this one
images

some links:
http://www.alinghi.com/en/
http://bmworacleracing.com/en/index.html?track.refer=/en/index.html&track.type=hn
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=4438296
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/sports/global/30sailing.html?hpw

i do think there is some sort of agreement to go back to more 'normal' and affordable boats after this one
 
more legal challenges, more changes, more drama.
i have to say that oracle is getting annoying with the continuous recourse to the courts.

the latest is that it will be back to Valencia in february, and that oracle plans on racing with a rigid giant wing instead of the sails.

I really hope they don't, but if they do I might root against them.
I like technology, and the wing is kind of awesome, but that's not fair sailing anymore.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-sai-americas-cup-wing,0,6978365.story
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=americas-cup-fixed-wing-sail
 
Don't panic said:
more legal challenges, more changes, more drama.
i have to say that oracle is getting annoying with the continuous recourse to the courts.

the latest is that it will be back to Valencia in february, and that oracle plans on racing with a rigid giant wing instead of the sails.

I really hope they don't, but if they do I might root against them.
I like technology, and the wing is kind of awesome, but that's not fair sailing anymore.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-sai-americas-cup-wing,0,6978365.story
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=americas-cup-fixed-wing-sail
Click to expand...

Sails are wings just vertical and made of canvas. :p
 
i know, and i would be fine with it if it was something that was clearly established in the rules and accepted by all competitors.
like this it seems like a very, very expensive cheap trick.
i bet this will mean another round of court appeals.
 
Go USA. One more win to go. :)

EDIT: Seeing the video, holy crap. The wing is impressive. A 9 minute gap when Alinghi crossed the finish line( 15 minutes once they did their penalty turn). :eek: Man those things are not maneuverable as the usual America's Cup class monohull designs.
 
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