Watching the Cup

[Above-the-Fold 9]

For no apparent reason, apart from an excess of free time, I just binge-watched some old AC races, including the most recent series.

 

One thing that struck me is that on the old monohulls there was always something going on ... a bear-away set, a spinnaker peel, a torn foresail ... that was visible to the cameras, with the crew bustling about and setting things right.

 

In contrast, with the foiling cats, a lot of the sailing was invisible to the spectators, even with dozens of cameras on the boats. On the ETNZ boat, for instance, Peter Burling was pushing buttons and steering (while napping if you listened to the commentary), Glenn Ashby had some sort of electronic controller for the sail trim, but didn't do anything that looked like sailing. And apparently Blair Tuke also had some sort of control over the foils using an ipad thingy on his forearm.

 

But exactly what was going on was pretty opaque. The commentators had to guess who was doing what and how.

 

I assume that's pretty much what we're likely to see in 2021.

 

MS

 

 

[Tamure 411]

I think that you have to forget the old boats, no comparison to foiling. The speed makes things far more subtle and tiny changes equals massive differences. We all know how often a harbour race is won or lost by seconds in a keelboat after 90 minutes racing. Even the SSANZ results show boats finishing neck and neck after miles around the gulf so on a boat thats doing 50kts you have to be exponentially more precise. I love the old grudge matches, the cats meh.. but really looking forward to the Boadicea chariot races.

[Above-the-Fold 9]

I am looking forward to the Cup races, because it will probably be possible to both be in the spectator fleet and watch the televised race at the same time, owing to the magic of wifi streaming. That will be cool. 

[harrytom 291]

Is the Cup still planned to go ahead next year or pushed back??

[ex Elly 58]

Current status is Cagliari and Portsmouth are cancelled, the pre-regatta in Auckland in December will go ahead, and they may add another one in Auckland.

 

[1paulg 6]

The odds are that our borders will still be closed to most of the competitor nations by then i would have thought.....hope I am wrong

[Brien 8]

Scuttlebutt reports  postponement this morning. (It is April 01 in USA)

[Fogg 195]

You’ve got to be worried about the ongoing viability of ETNZ’s primary sponsorship & support given who they are...

[Sailing NZ 25]

On 3/04/2020 at 6:54 PM, Aleana said:

You’ve got to be worried about the ongoing viability of ETNZ’s primary sponsorship & support given who they are...

Not really. The oil keeps flowing, Emirates keep going.

Same with Etihad, Qatar.  

But the rest are reliant on Govts

[Tamure 411]

Speaking to one of my spies, the sentiment at the moment is that the cup will go on regardless, if competitors boats are not ready then we win by default and get to keep the gravy train going for another few years