America's Cup

[Auzzee]

Race one.

Swiss yacht Alinghi defeated New Zealand by 35 seconds. Alinghi performed better downwind, NZ were able to peg the Swiss back tacking upwind. Good race, choppy conditions. Better luck in #2 Kiwis.

David

PS...But they did win in the Tri nations Rugby against the Springboks.

It's been a big night of sport....Time for bed.

[Trim50]

Just finished watching the action on DVR. Very obvious downwind advantage to Swiss...maybe the new hull design. One thing that I noticed was that the Swiss bow stayed out of the chop far better than the Kiwis throughout the race. If you recorded it, look see for yourself and tell me if you agree.

[Auzzee]

Yes. The commentators said Alinghi has a broader, more buoyant section forward of the mast. It was obvious the Swiss' bow was rising in the chop, whereas Emirates' was tossing H2O across the foredeck. The problem for the Kiwis may well be reinforced unless the chop reduces in subsequent duels.

It is hard to imagine what the Kiwis can do to overcome the problem. Their talent and attitude say 'win all the way'....but a better boat is a better boat and so it appears with Alinghi.

Still, considering the high profile and hype of every race I can remember back to the 60's, I can't believe the lack of coverage the race is getting in Oz.

David

[Trim50]

Originally Posted by Auzzee

Still, considering the high profile and hype of every race I can remember back to the 60's, I can't believe the lack of coverage the race is getting in Oz.

David

Same thing here in US! You must have full cable access to find Versus to record the action. I haven't seen a single news report on the race yet. However, I have complete up to the minute coverage on Paris Hilton...thank god!

[Auzzee]

Thank God for Rupert....We have full, live coverage on Fox3 of all the America's Cup races. But nothing on network TV. On the other 50+, I can choose between Bonanza, Magilla Gorilla and the Hilton shiela.

David

[Auzzee]

Yay the Kiwis!

Beat the Swiss by 28 seconds.

Great race!

There appeared to be a little less chop than yesterday and Emirates NZ actually increased their lead over Alinghi by 100 metres on the downwind leg.

Them's fast boats...

David.

[Trim50]

Ladies and Gents, we have a race!

What great racing and tactics by the Kiwis, they completely out class the Swiss when it comes to tactics. Barker really gave it to them on start and upwind.

I think the calmer seas and lighter wind also help, but the upwind tactics were perfection.

Great stuff!

[Auzzee]

Race three start has been delayed until waaayyyyy past my bedtime. Good luck Kiwis...Hope to see a good result in the morning.

おやすみなさい。

ダビド。

(David)

[Trim50]

I didn't read your latest post about the race because I was afraid you would give away the winner before I got to watch it.

So, I went home at lunch today to watch race #3 on DVR. I'm sitting there speeding past all the pre-race cr@ppo and finally get to the race. I'm about 20 minutes into the race and I start thinking to myself that this looks a lot like race #2...because it is damn it!

Argh, and double argh!

[Auzzee]

Despite dragging a bowman through the water when he nearly fell overboard, and clagging a spinnaker drop, the Kiwis managed to claw their way back to take race honours over the Swiss. It is rather looking as though the wheels are falling off Alinghi as the kiwis now lead 2:1 in the best of nine series. The Swiss are still sailing well, but the Kiwis are starting to smack their opponants around the ears as they sail less distance, with less gybing at a greater speed.

It is great racing!

David

[Trim50]

Ah man, I have no self control...I looked.

Can't wait to get home.

[albertinho]

olá!

this final is getting hot!!! i hope we can see and enjoy the 9 races, but sorry, i also hope alinghi beats kiwis at the end.

i understand it'll be better for america's cup, don't you think? too many european teams said their sponsors wouldn't go to new zealand. and swiss team will choose euro waters.

i also heard that kiwis would change some rules truely affecting this competition. i mean that one who limits nationality of crew to nationality of team. i think that would mean lots of unemployed kiwis!!!! i also think that a rule like this would only let a chance for team nz, usa and maybe some european teams such as italy, spain, france... but with no sponsor!

your thoughts?

capitäo albertinho

[Trim50]

Welcome aboard!

Great race without a doubt. As far as changing rules, I believe that AC racing has become a corporate playground and not what it started-out as which was club racing. So, I think nationality limits would help prevent the continued salary race for sailors.

I also think it is time for a boat rule change as I believe the engineers have just about squeezed the final fraction of a knot from the present AC rule. If they really wanted to make things interesting, they would make carbon fiber illegal. This would help the industry in many ways since carbon fiber doesn't make it's way into the general yachting community and contrary to most people’s belief, carbon fiber is only going to get more expensive…much, much more expensive.

Just my 2 cents.

[duckie]

Perhaps we could solve global warming by putting all the excess carbon into yachts as carbon fibre!

I agree with you about the cost. I glanced at the Team NZ web site. They proudly say that they will make over 200 sails for the America's cup, again with carbon fibre and mylar.

Is the Swiss team mainly people from an earlier NZ team?

[JeanneP]

Originally Posted by Trim50

carbon fiber is only going to get more expensive…much, much more expensive.

You don't think that the manufacturers could get some credits for sequestering carbon? Pretty permanent way to store it, you'd think that all those corporate brains could find some way to get a government benefit out of it.

[Auzzee]

It is difficult to determine the nationality of a team these days. If a team is identified by its national affilliation, it should comprise nationals. That certainly is the case with cricket, swimming, track, boxing, skiing, and even with the millions of dollars spent on professional soccer transfers, players can still only represent their own country in a competition between nations.

It appears national identity in sailing is now down to a matter of where your corporate headquarters are sited, and that doesn't take into account the nationality of your majority shareholders. My opinion, right or wrong, is that if a sports team identifies itself as the team from a particular country, it should have only nationals of that country playing on the team.

As for rule changes.....If the 'home' team could not change the rules to suit their own requirements, the America's Cup would have been lost to America after the initial encounter with Sir Thomas Lipton.

But, despite the arguments for or against rules changes and team nationality, the high end of sailing technology and being able to choose your crews irrespective of nationality, allows for spectacularly talented sailing between craft which are perhaps 98%similar. If entertainment is the expected result, the rulemakers have it right. If national pride is the motivation, then the rulemakers have made a hash of it.

Gambatte

David

[Trim50]

Originally Posted by JeanneP

You don't think that the manufacturers could get some credits for sequestering carbon? Pretty permanent way to store it, you'd think that all those corporate brains could find some way to get a government benefit out of it.

I could start an entirely new thread on the subject of carbon fiber, but to be brief...

Although there are alternative methods of producing carbon fiber, the high strength carbon fiber used by AC boats, aircraft, large scale wind energy and fuel cell automobiles, is manufactured from petroleum. It requires very large quantities of petroleum, as base constituent and to generate power for the process, to manufacture carbon fiber. As a result, the oil industry is a major investor in the growing carbon fiber industry. Many times more pounds of carbon dioxide are produced in the process of making carbon fiber than pounds of carbon fiber generated. I will find the exact figures if interested.

The present demand for carbon fiber greatly outstrips supply and is only getting worse as Boeing and Airbus transition from aluminum to carbon fiber for their airframes. Toray Carbon Fiber, a leading Japanese producer of carbon fiber, built an entire factory in the US just to supply Boeing’s needs for the next 5 years.

For those that think fuel cell vehicles are the answer to our future transportation needs, think again. In order to store gaseous hydrogen at 10,000 psi in large enough quantities to enable 400 miles driving range, it requires hundreds of pounds of carbon fiber to produce the onboard storage tanks…not to mention the tanks used at the filling station and the energy used to produce the hydrogen gas.

Oh yeah, those giant wind generators being built to reduce our dependency on oil, they require thousands of pounds of oil. Repaying their carbon footprint will take decades.

Nothing is as it seems…it would seem

Alinghi sailed a superb race 4.

[Auzzee]

Alinghi sailed superbly to level the series, two all.

Interesting protest by the Kiwis.

It's anybody's Cup!

David.

[Trim50]

Sorry, sorry...my bad.

Yeah, what was the protest about? I heard something at the very end of the race in which the race officials wanted to see the mains dropped without the help of the man on the mast. Alinghi had a real difficult time getting it done.

I haven't heard anything else about it.

[Trim50]

Protest Dismissed Jun 28, 16:10

By a majority vote, not unanimous. No facts or basis for the decision were given orally. Written decision to come yet this evening. Measurement Committee have the right to conduct whatever subsequent checks they feel may be appropriate. No surprises.