Is anyone else here following the AC37 in Barcelona? This week is the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, streaming live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@americascup Lots of yachts in the harbor there too. I'll try to get some screencaps later.
Can’t stream it live here in the US as it is only on that garbage can of a network called ESPN… unlike pretty much every other service, ESPN doesn’t allow you to login even if you have a subscription thru a cable or sat service. may have to get a VPN but that I don’t think there are any that work with appleTV. no wonder sailing is ignored in the US.
Amazing, So much stuff going on, I did not know this was in process. Anything positive for the American team? I had a past acquaintance that was working for the NZ team. How they doing?
It only started yesterday with preliminary races so it s too early to tell. watching day two on YouTube using NordVPN for tvOS the speeds are amazing…. 10kts wind and they’re running 35-45kts.
American Dream has 2 wins and a loss in the first two days of round-robin match racing. The loss came today due to a bad start maneuver, which in light air they had no chance to recover from. Team NZ is the only one of the 6 boats that's undefeated so far, but their final race today was a buy as their opponent withdrew with a technical fault on the boat before the star timer even began counting. There's 2 more days of racing in the prelim matches (not sure I want to wake up to watch at 8am on a weekend....) then the good stuff starts Aug. 29th with the Challenger Selection series.
Thx All Just anchored out for a few days. Were on CellPhone/HotSpot internet till we get back home. I'll find a way to hack something then for the good stuff.
Really something to imagine. These things are on the edge for sure. I find the Sail GP series to be more fabulous as they are going downwind at 50-55 kts in maybe 15kt true wind. Talk about coming in hot! As a sailor, I find it so futuristic yet here it is. How much of this large craft foiling will trickle down? We all know top level racing is all about development and supporting the manufacturers in auto and moto racing. These boats don't seem to be developed or manufactured by any of the sailboat folks per say. They seem to be so far removed from sailing that it's hard to imagine, other than energy storage, how it all trickles down to boats.
On one hand I can watch and enjoy this series. On the other hand I'd prefer to see a cup battle amongst large J Class yachts.
Nothing is more beautiful than the Js… technology is also changing the game for the race committee as the marks are no longer anchored but use self autonomous positioning.
Yeah I'm not keen on that constant repositioning of the race marks, sometimes on every other leg. The other thing that I hope is reviewed/change between now and the real racing is the penalty cost. A penalized boat is required to lose 75 meters to the competing boat. So, they bear away, drop 75 meters and then turn back to racing, but the maneuvering has cost them 130-150 meters total. In racing as tight as it is with these boats and the speeds they are capable of, the penalized boat might as well concede the race at that point, as they have next to no chance of catching up. The only hope is that the other team does something equally bad and gets a similar penalty.
Yes, I don't understand the enormous penalty of 75 meters coupled with a full loss of momentum. As easy as it is to move the markers, why don't they just extend the offender's finish line 75 meters for the infraction?
Because if you did that, or added a time penalty, it would allow the penalized boat to remain close and possibly force the other boat into an error in the old days, penalties were taken in the form a 360. The 75 meter loss comes close to doing a 360. it also all about the TV coverage which is what prompted on the water umpires who rule on protests right away vs after the race.