More than a few people think billionaires have hijacked an historic sporting event and transformed it into an exclusive clash of egos and checkbooks.
It used to be a rivalry pitting the sailing communities of various nations against each other. This year, many nations could not even afford to compete because of the rules set by Larry Ellison. With the resulting troubles San Francisco is having, other cities may not be so anxious to host the event in the future. The NY Times had a good story on it a while back. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/americas-cup-sailing-race-faces-challenges-in-san-francisco.html?pagewanted=all Jack Brennan Former C&C 25 Shanachie, 1974 Bristol 30 Tierra Verde, Fl. From: Chuck S Sent: Friday, August 09, 2013 10:20 AM To: cnc-list CNC boat owners Subject: Stus-List Americas Cup anyone Americas Cup coverage of the challenger series, the Louis Viton Cup is on You Tube and is very well covered. Races are short and well photographed and commented by Tucker Thompson, Gary Jobson, etc. The boats are strange alien looking machines and what they call sailing looks more like flying. The boats skid sideways in a high speed gybe. The catamarans are about the same length as the old ACC monohull boats, but boat speeds in the 40 knot range are becoming common in 15 knots of wind. Hard for most people to comprehend, harder maybe for veteran sailors of common monhulls. Not sure where the cup is headed with New Zealanders crewing on almost all boats including the US defender, Oracle and the Italian boat helmed by an Englishman. I was rooting for Artemis because Terry Hutchinson from Annapolis was skipper. He is gone now, so I guess I'll root for Oracle in the September cup series. Chuck Resolute 1990 C&C 34R Atlantic City, NJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
_______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
