http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=americas-cup-fixed-wing-sail
It's going to be interesting to watch.
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"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com
Yeah, did you read the wing has an engine with a hydra pump to trim
and torque the shape?. They should have to use grinders, power
nothing...either that or anything goes.
It was interesting that they provide more cash to the host city than
any other sport event except the olympics.
Joe
When it comes down to a battle of the budgets than I'm no longer interested
in it. . .
I stopped watching baseball because the Yankees just buy the best talent.
Wilbur Hubbard
>On Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:50:17 -0800 (PST), Joe
>If they want to save the Americas Cup from oblivion, they need to go
>back to racing 12 meters.
Probably won't happen, none of today's hot shot racers want to sail
them - too slow and unresponsive.
When has the AC not been a rich mans game?
Did you lose interest after the first race?
Joe
> When has the AC not been a rich mans game?
> Did you lose interest after the first race?
As long as it was a rich man's game it was OK with me. When it became a rich
"syndicate's" game I became offended by it. This is consistent with my oft
stated philosophy that sailing by committee is an abomination.
Wilbur Hubbard
>I don't think it will happen for the Americas Cup which has become
>largely irrelevant. Meanwhile there are a bunch of 12 meters in
>Newport that you can pay to crew on, and they are VERY popular.
Yes, did that once. We belong to a sailing group that chartered the
entire fleet ( 6 at the time) for a weekend, along with a couple of
power boats for race committee duty. We sailed short courses and
rotated boats after every race so I got to skipper all 6 of them over
the course of the weekend.
The biggest surprise to me was how unmaneuverable they are, at least a
2 or 3 boat length turning radius, and the boats are almost 70 feet
long. It makes for very tense mark roundings and starting lines when
you know that you're driving someone elses antique boat and it is
virtually unreplaceable. All of my old sail boats were fin keel/spade
rudder and would turn in just about their own length. The 12 meters
point very high however and carry their momentum a long way.