Above-the-Fold 9 Posted December 12, 2019 Report Share Posted December 12, 2019 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 harrytom 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tamure 411 Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Above-the-Fold 9 Posted December 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
harrytom 291 Posted March 31, 2020 Report Share Posted March 31, 2020 Is the Cup still planned to go ahead next year or pushed back?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ex Elly 58 Posted April 1, 2020 Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1paulg 6 Posted April 1, 2020 Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brien 8 Posted April 1, 2020 Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 Scuttlebutt reports postponement this morning. (It is April 01 in USA) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 195 Posted April 3, 2020 Report Share Posted April 3, 2020 You’ve got to be worried about the ongoing viability of ETNZ’s primary sponsorship & support given who they are... harrytom 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sailing NZ 25 Posted April 6, 2020 Report Share Posted April 6, 2020 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tamure 411 Posted April 13, 2020 Report Share Posted April 13, 2020 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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