Close call for the Kiwis… crane failure caused the boat to be dropped on its cradle. Damage not known yet, possible crack in the hull but the rig stayed up https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350396940/team-nz-boat-damaged-crane-accident-base
Not good. Missing a single day on the water could set them back... they had 2 races scheduled tomorrow. That's 2 points given away out of 10 races.
The defender is not racing for points in the round robins. They ll loose valuable training but that’s about it.
ETNZ statement this morning: "We have assessed the damage and have now started the repair, this will continue 24 hours a day. There is some structural damage aft in the boat, but the main force was taken on the forward cradle splash. Overnight this area has been removed (in other words we have cut the piece out of the hull bottom) and the repair has started which means building a new piece of boat. It is too early at this stage to say when we will be sailing again but I have seen these guys work miracles before."
That has to be a huge kick in the nutz. I will have to admire and root for them if they can get back in the water in time.
I missed all the action, I will have to catch up on the Tube. I still wear my Oracle stuff I purchased from the comeback in San Fran. That was my only attendance of the America's Cup. It was a truly wonderful event.
As one team heads home (won’t say which one for those who haven’t watch), I wonder what will happen to these boats after the cup. some will be used for development of the next generation but otherwise they are useless. Way too high tech to be used for anything at least the old 12 meters and the later AC class monos were usable past the cup.
As exciting as the racing has been so far, and has amazing as the new foiling monos can be, I miss the more traditional racing. I was watching the highlights of the final race of the 2007 match, Alinghi vs NZ, which also happened to be the last time conventional monohulls were used in the America’s Cup. It also happened to be the closest AC race finish ever. The close racing, the sound of the sheets on the winches, the number of crew involved was fantastic worth watching here is a link highlights
I've watched a bunch of this year's races, but they don't really grab me. I watched every race when it was in San Fransisco. The huge foiling catamarans were impressive and a bit scary. Something about the venue, the courses, the computer graphics, and the commentary made the whole thing more relatable to me. It also helped that I watched a ton of it live since I'm in the same time zone. The foiling scows are impressive, hitting 40 knots in 10 knots of breeze, but to me it's just too far from any sailing I'd ever do. You barely see the people so there's no sense of what they're doing. Half the crew are just guys on bikes pedaling to provide power. You hear a constant stream of the crews' discussions but it's all very fast and technical so it doesn't add much to your understanding of what's going on. There's a bit of pre-start maneuvering and sometimes when the boats cross there's a bit of a duck-or-cross decision, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of tactics to the racing. Most of the races I've watched, the winner seems to be whoever was able to stay in stronger wind for longer. But I am gonna go watch today's highlights now...
Go do a 360, and you're likely to fall off your foil. Again, just move the finish line for the offender. Keep the race interesting.
I've fallen way behind on following the AC... I was out in San Diego for a few days, and working like a mad fool for a week or more before that, so I missed just about all of the semi-finals and the finals as well. The racing has been pretty intense though, from the small bits I've caught on social media. It looks like the wind has been better lately though, seeing 50+ knots every day now.
6-4 Brittania! Possible last race of the finals tomorrow. been pretty exciting indeed and very close.
These syndicates are so competitive, Sir Ben is taking no quarter. I heard tell he was recently robbed of his Rolex an knife point, it that correct or just AI fake news?