America’s Cup 2021

[henzilla]

A sailing thread!

H and I have both had sailboats and both have lots of tales as well of good outings and bad.

I recall one of our members/officers has crewed on one of these US entries in the past

Anyways, the challenger series started last week and already drama. New Zealand is host country and defending champs and waiting the winner of this series for February Cup Series.
MSNBC has coverage, but odd hours of course. I picked up on Day Three where things went bad for US entry. Team USA is winless in round robin series... though were looking good for win one until...

https://youtu.be/vBUTJG3Hf_s

The latest boat design that finally ends the catamaran era... maybe. Love cats, my dad built a C-class in the 70’s and learned to fly a hull in my teens but always think monohull when thinking Cup. A very pricey sport but the technology is impressive as always.

These AC75 boats rock! 50+ knots and fly.

https://youtu.be/_bNO0t2s02I

https://youtu.be/kHcRlIdq41Q

[akbeemer]

That looks less like boat racing than it does low level aircraft racing.

[Omega Man]

A friend of mine is world class sailor, great photographer and developer/producer (now retired) of some of the finest harnesses and web gear that was used from Hollywood to windsurfing to SWAT Teams . Americas Cup, Fastnet, Isle of White, Bermuda and Trans-Atlantic are just some I can remember him sailing on. I was out with him on Columbia- US 12 (12 meter) for sea trials one time.
If you like cool sailing pictures, you may like this site-

http://www.stephenlirakisphotography.net/yachting

OM

[bluehole]

OM, thanks for posting that link. Wonderful photographs.

[Omega Man]

OM, thanks for posting that link. Wonderful photographs.

Glad you enjoyed them. I have known Stephen for many years. I actually bought harness/mountaineering gear from him as I had seen him in the credits of one of my mountaineering books, I later met him through a mutual friend. That was the sailing page. His other pages are full of the places he visited before, during and after the races.
He can make a white room photograph look interesting.
OM

[henzilla]

Great pics O

Yeah, tactical “ chicken” doesn’t always work out. The earlier Cats seem to have had more incidents trying to occupy same space. Protests one thing, running into one another not so much.
Seeing the classic 12’s is nice too

[mlytle]

life long sailboat racer here. everything from dinghys to one design to offshore. the AC75's are just wild to watch. as much as i like the traditional 12m boats, those races were slow, long and offshore away from view. very exciting to actually race in, but like watching grass grow, or golf, to watch. the new AC series is high tech, fast, exciting and more appealing to spectators. very cool.

i guess i am old....many of the big names in racing today were folks i raced J/24's and partied with back in the day...

[henzilla]

H was part owner of a J-24... Yellin’ Helen

Was bummed she told me she had sold it prior to us meeting. I had crewed on one a few times and was exhausted at finish but always exciting.

The 12’s were old and slow by modern standards and tv coverage was weak , however did come with quite the characters as captains.

The AC-75’s has me on the edge of seat watching the speed and fast turns and definitely some crossing timing

[dduelin]

The same summer I rode two motorized wheels for the first time I spent $25 of my paper route money to buy a little rotten sailboat, thus beginning two life long pursuits. Honestly though I haven't followed AC racing since the IACC boats left the scene. My claim to fame is beating Steve Pettengill's Hunter 50 in the 2000 Daytona to Charleston GulfStreamer on corrected and actual time racing doublehanded on my Morgan 30.

Nice memories in the pictures in this thread and also in the comment on characters found in and around the Cup. Who can tag the person and the boat with the line "Even a turd is pointed at both ends"?

[skibum69]

I remember reading about the America’s Cup years ago and the discussion that it had moved to just a race of technology. Those new boats are just wild!

[98lee]

Another J-24 racer here. Raced boats for close to a decade. We raced in the J-24 World Championshipz when it was in San Francisco bay in 1984. Our crew was tagged to race on many boats in the bay from Santanna 35, x-102 3/4 ton, Frers 40 1 ton, to an aluminum Frers 58 in the Big Boat Series. Raced with and against Paul Cayard and John Kostecki. Raced against Kostecki and Buddy Melges in the J-24 Worlds. A great sport, but my body got kinda beat up and I wanted to get back to racing cars in the 90s.

I was disappointed to hear that the Kiwis were going back to monohulls, after seeing the foiling cats at the San Francisco Cup races. BOY, WAS I WRONG! These new boats are amazing. They're rocketships, and WAY more controllable than the cats (unless you don't get the lee runner released!).

Looking forward to watching all the coverage (NBCSN, YouTube, Americascup.com). Three more rounds (weekends) in the Prada Cup Challanger Series and then the Americas Cup in March.

Some of the foiling technology has already trickled down to affordable smallboat sailing.

[98lee]

Just saw that the Americans will not race in this coming weekends races due to too much damage suffered last Sunday. Britain will race Italy Sat. If they win, they are through to the Challanger Final later this or next month. They may or may not choose to race again on Sun. (not necessary if they win on Sat.).

The Americans will still have a chance to advance to the Challenger Final in the second chance round (in a few weeks) against the loser of these Great Britain/Italy races.

[mlytle]

Another J-24 racer here. Raced boats for close to a decade. We raced in the J-24 World Championshipz when it was in San Francisco bay in 1984. Our crew was tagged to race on many boats in the bay from Santanna 35, 3/4 ton, 1 ton, and 65' Big Boat Series boats. Raced with and against Paul Cayard and John Kostecki. Raced against Kostecki and Buddy Melges in the J-24 Worlds. A great sport, but my body got kinda beat up and I wanted to get back to racing cars in the 90s.

cool! i was in J/24's from 78 to 2002. primarily mine...on the other coast. all up and down the other coast. did the worlds in Newport and Monaco. was Rod Johnstone's representative on the J/24 International Technical Committee for over a dozen years. good times!

LOL...and i shifted primary hobby to racing cars also..

Maybe we should start a Beemer sailing team!!!

[98lee]

Maybe we should start a Beemer sailing team!!!

Marshall,

I sure wouldn't be able to handle the bow anymore with my knees and back. During a practice for the Big Boat Series on the 58 footer, the person on the topping lift lost the wrap on the winch just after a jibe as I was coming back.
The 28' spinnaker pole (150lbs) fell on the top of my head (that explains alot). My knees locked instead of buckling, so my back took most of the impact. Took quite awhile to get back to work let alone sailing.

[glenfiddich]

The skipper of a cruiser I served on was an avid sailor. Though not a racer, he had a lovely Hans Christian and dreams of sailing around the world. One year, as we had crossed the equator and entered the doldrums, we came across several boats in irons. They had left Cabo San Lucas and were enroute to the Marquesas. Our CO had us place fresh fruit, water and ice cream in plastic trash bags which were tied off and thrown over the side. As the becalmed sailors began retrieving them the VHF crackled to life with heartfelt messages of thanks from half a dozen yachts. It felt good!