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SAIL FOR HOPE OCTOBER 2

Rambler crossing Siren

still holding off the competition

Beavertail

Beavertail, out of time

   My computer went in for repair on Friday. I could not believe how lost I felt without it. Even registering for the "Sail for Hope", sailed on saturday was done via the internet. There is an expectation that everyone is connected.
    The Tropical storm passed and a front filled and brought a strong northerly. Saturday morning the Wind was still fresh from the northwest, however dropping throughout the day.
   I sailed with Peter Cassidy on his New York 32 "Siren". A wonderful boat, built in 1936, and likes a breeze. We did well getting to the north end of Conanicut Island (Jamestown). This northerly was very shifty and dying. The Tide chart indicated that the tide would be flooding until 3:30 pm. That was not what we saw.   The time limit ran out for most of the competitors, but it was a wonderful day on the water.

LATEST AMERICA'S CUP NEWS

Has the idea of catamarans put TeamOrigin off the idea of the next America's Cup?  I wonder what Adam May might have to say about this new development.

Breaking news that TeamOrigin decide against America's Cup competition

Friday October 1st 2010, Author: andyn, Location: United Kingdom

Statement received from Team Origin:

TeamOrigin, the yacht racing team established by Sir Keith Mills, and skippered by triple Olympic Gold Medallist, Ben Ainslie, announced today that it will not be challenging for the next America’s Cup scheduled for 2013.

The team, which was set up in 2007, has been waiting for three years to enter the America’s Cup, which was delayed when the US team, BMW ORACLE Racing, took the Swiss team, Alinghi, through the US courts. The US team won the court battle and won the 33rd America’s Cup Match to become the America’s Cup Defender in February this year. The new US Defender has recently announced the format for the next America’s Cup, including the rules and type of boat to be raced. TeamOrigin has also been briefed by the Defender and has made numerous comments on both the regatta rules and class rule.

Having now had a chance to analyse the race format, the proposed fixed wing catamaran boat, the timetable, rules and costs, Sir Keith has concluded that the 34th America’s Cup is neither viable commercially, nor an attractive sporting contest for TeamOrigin. Therefore he has decided that the team will not submit a challenge when the challenge period opens on 1 November.

Sir Keith Mills, TeamOrigin Team Principal, “After three years of waiting in the wings to enter a British team in the America’s Cup I am bitterly disappointed that we will not be competing. However, the format and timetable decided by the Defender, BMW/Oracle, is simply not viable for TEAMORIGIN. We have assembled an outstanding team, led by Grant Simmer and Ben Ainslie, and I am personally very sorry that they won’t now get the chance to race for a British team in the next America’s Cup”.

Over the next couple of months TeamOrigin will be considering whether it will compete in other yachting events over the next few years.

I am not the only one

  The next America's Cup will be sailed in 72 foot catamarans, that is a fact. Is it a good or bad decision? Time will tell. One thing that is certain, the America's Cup has always been controversial. 
  Here is an excerpt from an article by David  Hollom for Seahorse magazine.




I am sure I cannot be the only one who was overjoyed at the prospect of a
fresh start under new management for the America's Cup, but who views the
subsequently unfolding scene with more than a measure of disquiet. 

The main thrust of the defender proposals seem to be to make sailing a more
visually appealing sport for a television audience. Laudable in itself but
just by making more and faster action is not necessarily the way to achieve
that end. Some of the fastest sports are boring to watch and perhaps the
slowest sport in the world is the most absorbing. 

I am a self confessed motor racing nut but have to admit that mostly the
best part of a Grand Prix weekend is the build up and the expectations -
which only very rarely transpire. True, Grand Prix racing attracts a huge
worldwide audience but that is more a result of the hype and not very often
the action, which once the start is over is usually few and far between. By
contrast, golf must be one of the slowest games in the world and yet it also
attracts huge audiences worldwide. 

Can you imagine trying to sell golf to a TV executive from a different
planet who knew nothing about the game? 'Well it's like this. Two people hit
their ball down a field and if they are lucky, two or three minutes later
they have found it and hit it again but if you are unlucky it might take
several minutes more to find the balls. But don't worry, during this time
you can fill the screen with two players either walking down the field,
perhaps chatting or you can watch the hunt for the ball. 

'Ah, you may even cut to another pair of players looking for their balls or
even hitting them.' It doesn't sound too promising does it and yet golf is
one of the most absorbing games to watch and I have to say one of my
favourites to both watch and play.  

Now, our fictitious TV executive might well have said, 'That sounds rather
boring. To make it more exciting why don't we make the ball bigger, paint is
black and white and to speed things up, after we have hit it we will run
with it and instead of trying to put the ball down a tiny hole in a lawn,
which normally takes a long time, we will try and stuff it between two posts
which will be quick. 

'Oh, and of course having more people will make it much more exciting so
instead of two we will have twenty two and sod the cost of the wages we will
save something by getting rid of their sticks and they can kick the ball
instead.' But it wouldn't be golf. It would be another game that you either
love or hate or view with a measure of ambivalence. -- Read on:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0927/

catamarans vs. monohulls for the America's Cup

close racing upwind

close racing downwind

"C" class match racing

"C" class fleet start

After watching yesterday's performance by the women match racing it is hard to imagine that if they had been sailing catamarans could have been as close. As intense certainly, but even after having watched the "C" class cats a few weeks earlier, which are small and quite maneuvreable, they accelerate quickly with the wing sails; I am not yet ready to accede to the notion that match racing in catamarans would be as nimble. I will also agree that it is essentially uncharted territory. We have had a very long time to develop strategies in monohulls.
   We will not turn back the clock. The next America's Cup will be in catamarans. This is a decision that may well effect the future of sailing as we know it today.