Grant Dalton is the Man!

[Guest]

Win or loose this cup. Grant Dalton is the man.

 

His dedication to NZ yachting and his efforts to ETNZ are absolutely amazing.

 

Just look at what he has created on such a tight budget compared to the rest of the world. I am blown away with this beast of a 72

 

If he brings home the bacon he will be known as Sir Grant Dalton

 

Who agrees?

[Guest]

Yea well so far he's beating the big boys at Oracle at their own game!

 

Oracle

[Guest]

Dalt's has won nothing yet and his budget is more than you suspect.

 

$44 mil from Govt, and i here 0ver 200Mill from our Dubai brothers, plus millions more from others.

 

I hope you are right as the country needs a lift. i also think that by the time he gets this craft to the AC the opposition would have copied it if not bettered it.

 

time will tell

[Guest]

You have to wonder. ETNZ will be the only team to be able to put refinements into boat 2. Other teams need to start building their second boats without even sailing their first ones.

[Clipper 343]

Dalt's has won nothing yet and his budget is more than you suspect.

 

$44 mil from Govt, and i here 0ver 200Mill from our Dubai brothers, plus millions more from others.

 

I hope you are right as the country needs a lift. i also think that by the time he gets this craft to the AC the opposition would have copied it if not bettered it.

 

time will tell

Fark me, you're a negative fellow arn't you.

[Battleship 100]

A negative fellow with an axe to grind.

 

I think what GD does is get Sailing back in the minds of the general populace and get them behind ETNZ this has a flow on down to Sailing in general.

Doesn't hurt that they are a great bunch of guys also.

[Guest]

Realism guys.

 

Let's face some facts. You guys are spinning a line like he has won this already just because of some high speeds on some new fandangled foils.

 

My comments are to keep you guys honest. After all if they lose then you will look silly if they win I will be wrong and as I see its 50/50 right now.

 

I hope they win but history shows we come out with this trick stuff all the time ( prods, 100 Foot maxi,s, hulas, magic buckets, twin keels, gennikers, ...) and we have only one this thing once and defended it once... with Russell coutts. ...that's the facts lads.

 

Also Daltons record is not that good, regardless of all the dosh he gets, he has only won a RTW race and with a Maverick ketch.

 

Sorry for the realism but I am more positive in my posts than you guys calling these guys legends before they have even arrived in America.

 

There is a lot of water to flow under the Bridge before the trophy is in the cabinet.

 

IMHO.... but I hope I am wrong

[Guest]

You have to wonder. ETNZ will be the only team to be able to put refinements into boat 2. Other teams need to start building their second boats without even sailing their first ones.

That's true and hopefully a good winning edge. But never trust the yanks

[ScottiE 174]

Ah - you are forgetting Club Med also. Remember the French with all their experience chose a kiwi to overseeing rebuilding that boat and then skippering it.

As for TNZ he used his vast experience to keep that organisation afloat when it would have otherwise easily folded. Had it folded then would definitely not be watching a kiwi AC72 on the water.

While I lost quite a bit of respect for GD for some of his comments during the Volvo campaign I still think he deserves the term legend on the balance of his whole career to date.

As for this campaign - I agree - they haven't won it yet and are a long way from doing so. But you have to say that to be the only team to date not to have to put their boat back in the shed for a major failure is pretty legendary. TNZ are learning a huge amount about how to sail these boats while the other two are still trying to figure out what they've done wrong - legendary in my book!

[Clipper 343]

Realism guys.

 

Let's face some facts. You guys are spinning a line like he has won this already just because of some high speeds on some new fandangled foils.

 

My comments are to keep you guys honest. After all if they lose then you will look silly if they win I will be wrong and as I see its 50/50 right now.

 

I hope they win but history shows we come out with this trick stuff all the time ( prods, 100 Foot maxi,s, hulas, magic buckets, twin keels, gennikers, ...) and we have only one this thing once and defended it once... with Russell coutts. ...that's the facts lads.

 

Also Daltons record is not that good, regardless of all the dosh he gets, he has only won a RTW race and with a Maverick ketch.

 

Sorry for the realism but I am more positive in my posts than you guys calling these guys legends before they have even arrived in America.

 

There is a lot of water to flow under the Bridge before the trophy is in the cabinet.

 

IMHO.... but I hope I am wrong

 

Learn to read or just get the f*ck off this site you negative, argumentative, piece of sh*t. ( how's that for playing the man )

 

The first comment was just saying gd is a legend for getting etnz as far s they are, not that we will necessarily win because of what he has done. You have bagged etnz on another thread, and in the past under your previous identitys. You seem to love arguing for the sake of it, rather than adding anything constructive. Once again, I'll follow pwederell and put you on foe.

[Guest]

Realism guys.

 

Let's face some facts. You guys are spinning a line like he has won this already just because of some high speeds on some new fandangled foils.

 

My comments are to keep you guys honest. After all if they lose then you will look silly if they win I will be wrong and as I see its 50/50 right now.

 

I hope they win but history shows we come out with this trick stuff all the time ( prods, 100 Foot maxi,s, hulas, magic buckets, twin keels, gennikers, ...) and we have only one this thing once and defended it once... with Russell coutts. ...that's the facts lads.

 

Also Daltons record is not that good, regardless of all the dosh he gets, he has only won a RTW race and with a Maverick ketch.

 

Sorry for the realism but I am more positive in my posts than you guyscalling these guys legends before they have even arrived in America.

 

There is a lot of water to flow under the Bridge before the trophy is in the cabinet.

 

IMHO.... but I hope I am wrong

 

Learn to read or just get the f*ck off this site you negative, argumentative, piece of sh*t. ( how's that for playing the man )

 

The first comment was just saying gd is a legend for getting etnz as far s they are, not that we will necessarily win because of what he has done. You have bagged etnz on another thread, and in the past under your previous identitys. You seem to love arguing for the sake of it, rather than adding anything constructive. Once again, I'll follow pwederell and put you on foe.

 

Hmmm?... nice guy.

 

Previous identities?

 

I guess you deserve to be with Mr Pwderrell.

 

Can you explain what a "piece of sh*t" is?.. I don,t understand the low brow term

 

And while your there look up the meaning of Inference or inferred

[Guest]

Ah - you are forgetting Club Med also. Remember the French with all their experience chose a kiwi to overseeing rebuilding that boat and then skippering it.

As for TNZ he used his vast experience to keep that organisation afloat when it would have otherwise easily folded. Had it folded then would definitely not be watching a kiwi AC72 on the water.

While I lost quite a bit of respect for GD for some of his comments during the Volvo campaign I still think he deserves the term legend on the balance of his whole career to date.

As for this campaign - I agree - they haven't won it yet and are a long way from doing so. But you have to say that to be the only team to date not to have to put their boat back in the shed for a major failure is pretty legendary. TNZ are learning a huge amount about how to sail these boats while the other two are still trying to figure out what they've done wrong - legendary in my book!

True Scottie but legendary status might go to the designers, and the composite engineers as well as the builders at this stage. They have produced a "potential weapon" its up to the sailors to use it wisely.

[Guest]

Ah - you are forgetting Club Med also. Remember the French with all their experience chose a kiwi to overseeing rebuilding that boat and then skippering it.

As for TNZ he used his vast experience to keep that organisation afloat when it would have otherwise easily folded. Had it folded then would definitely not be watching a kiwi AC72 on the water.

While I lost quite a bit of respect for GD for some of his comments during the Volvo campaign I still think he deserves the term legend on the balance of his whole career to date.

As for this campaign - I agree - they haven't won it yet and are a long way from doing so. But you have to say that to be the only team to date not to have to put their boat back in the shed for a major failure is pretty legendary. TNZ are learning a huge amount about how to sail these boats while the other two are still trying to figure out what they've done wrong - legendary in my book!

True Scottie but legendary status might go to the designers, and the composite engineers as well as the builders at this stage. They have produced a "potential weapon" its up to the sailors to use it wisely.

 

Troll!!!

[Bender 0]

Come on, he's not yet a 'legend' but he has made a decent start.

[ScottiE 174]

Why do you say that he isn't?

[Grinna 2]

I don't have a problem with NZ sailing having a hero. I think its a great thing and there's been a huge hole since the death of Peter Blake.

 

Dalts is as good a candidate as any currently about in the NZ sailing fraternity. He's come up from grass roots NZ sailing thru dinghies right up to running Whitbread campaigns and he now heads up ETNZ, an organisation that is simultaneously building, developing and launching AC72s, campaigning AC45s, testing and developing SL33s, they've just finished a Volvo campaign, designing and building chase boats, etc, etc. The daya to day logistics of the ETNZ operation must be mind boggling and while I have no doubt that Dalts is not the only guy doing anything, he is the one that has pulled together the team and keeps them together.

 

They haven't won the America's Cup yet. Nobody is saying that they have. Yes the AC72 is bloody awesome, but we have no idea how fast it really is in relation to other AC72s ... nobody does. It might be a dog ..... but, on the other hand, it might be an absolute flyer.

 

A bit of healthy enthusiasm for NZ sailing isn't a bad thing and the head of a diverse and wide reaching organisation probably deserves a fair dose of respect and admiration. The typical Kiwi attitude of "tall poppy syndrome" displayed by some here just seems a bit churlish and quite frankly says more about the small mindedness of the commenter than it says anything about Grant Dalton ... or anyone else who is actually out there doing it, rather than sitting behind a screen sniping and picking holes.

[Kiteroa 8]

You can't bag Dalton at the moment. He has put together the only non-billionaire funded program in this edition of the cup. No other team boss in the world has been able to do that this time, and this happened in addition to what was a pretty successful V70 campaign with what was deemed an average boat.

 

Dalton is super organised and having a AC72 out there doing it while the others are all still struggling to complete a days sailing speak volumes. Sure, there's a chance the ETNZ boat may not be quick, no one knows , but it's a reliable test boat and feeding good data back to it's designers. Which is exactly what is was built to do. None of the other teams for love nor money have this at the moment. That's got to be a vote of confidence doesn't it?

[Guest]

You can't bag Dalton at the moment. He has put together the only non-billionaire funded program in this edition of the cup. No other team boss in the world has been able to do that this time, and this happened in addition to what was a pretty successful V70 campaign with what was deemed an average boat.

 

Dalton is super organised and having a AC72 out there doing it while the others are all still struggling to complete a days sailing speak volumes. Sure, there's a chance the ETNZ boat may not be quick, no one knows , but it's a reliable test boat and feeding good data back to it's designers. Which is exactly what is was built to do. None of the other teams for love nor money have this at the moment. That's got to be a vote of confidence doesn't it?

 

WT, the others have billion dollar backing but have not spent anywhere nears that. As I understand it there is not a lot of difference between the campaigns spend ytd.

 

Sure GD may have less backing and Funding but the others are not wastng money just because they have more of it.

 

Also if they are breaking stuff then they are learning what is required to be closest to "the envelope" than maybe ETNZ are. maybe ETNZ is to heavy? Who knows.

 

Sure is looking good thou and ETNZ have the edge at this stage with a craft that looks like it will finish a race/series compared to the others.

Courts ans Co's decision to go down this route sure has made the AC more appealing

[Kiteroa 8]

You can't bag Dalton at the moment. He has put together the only non-billionaire funded program in this edition of the cup. No other team boss in the world has been able to do that this time, and this happened in addition to what was a pretty successful V70 campaign with what was deemed an average boat.

 

Dalton is super organised and having a AC72 out there doing it while the others are all still struggling to complete a days sailing speak volumes. Sure, there's a chance the ETNZ boat may not be quick, no one knows , but it's a reliable test boat and feeding good data back to it's designers. Which is exactly what is was built to do. None of the other teams for love nor money have this at the moment. That's got to be a vote of confidence doesn't it?

 

WT, the others have billion dollar backing but have not spent anywhere nears that. As I understand it there is not a lot of difference between the campaigns spend ytd.

 

Sure GD may have less backing and Funding but the others are not wastng money just because they have more of it.

 

Also if they are breaking stuff then they are learning what is required to be closest to "the envelope" than maybe ETNZ are. maybe ETNZ is to heavy? Who knows.

 

Sure is looking good thou and ETNZ have the edge at this stage with a craft that looks like it will finish a race/series compared to the others.

Courts ans Co's decision to go down this route sure has made the AC more appealing

 

Of course the other teams haven't spent billions, but their cashflow is a sure thing. No courting sponsors, no begging the Govt. You need talent like Daltons to make those deals come together. He's one of a handful of people who can come up with the funding for AC sailing at the moment. If his job was so easy we'd have more than 4 entries. You can't under rate how much of an achievement putting an AC72 or two in the water is this time around. Prada is only there because of a Dalton/ETNZ deal also you have to remember.

 

As for breaking things, you can't go out and bust things this time around. You can only sail the test boats 30 days. Teams can't afford to waste a day and break things. There are limits on the number of foils etc you can build for this cup, you're not allowed many.... So the best thing to do is go out and sail a full day then get good load data on everything you can. Go back, understand the loads and build a part that will do the job, and not break. This time around, breaking things (unless they hit something) means the team didn't understand the loads or there is a quality issue. either way, it's one less part and one less day a team has to work with before the cup.

[Guest]

Hey W.T., I believe, from memory, there is a rule 47.5? That only allows these boats to foil upwind on the leeward foil only and they can be disqualified/protested if they are caught using the windward foil ( why would you anyway?)

 

Thus the way they are designed to clear the water on the windward side.

 

Do you know how that works?