Americas Cup
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These boats seem a little bit too evenly matched and run at full all the time. Seems that the start and first cross dictate the winner unless someone fucks up.
A bit like F1 processions. Great engineering and amazing vehicles and handling but the racing itself is often tedious -
@crucial said in Americas Cup:
These boats seem a little bit too evenly matched and run at full all the time. Seems that the start and first cross dictate the winner unless someone fucks up.
A bit like F1 processions. Great engineering and amazing vehicles and handling but the racing itself is often tediousyeah, the warm up tournaments mean theyre making fewer and fewer mistakes and mistakes seem to be the only way to overtake
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@crucial said in Americas Cup:
These boats seem a little bit too evenly matched and run at full all the time. Seems that the start and first cross dictate the winner unless someone fucks up.
A bit like F1 processions. Great engineering and amazing vehicles and handling but the racing itself is often tediousAs someone else suggested, perhaps a larger course would have made a difference. I remember in the Fremantle AC the course was more triangular, so legs faced at different wind orientations. This up and down stuff on a narrow course doesn't leave much room for manouvre. It's not like these boats can't cover more ground anyway, they seem underutilised on the current course. I suppose for TV they want short races
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LR just disproving the idea of "win the start = win the race"
Sir ben doesn't seem to have made any mistakes...but has lost like 500m in a leg and a half
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@kiwiwomble said in Americas Cup:
LR just disproving the idea of "win the start = win the race"
Sir ben doesn't seem to have made any mistakes...but has lost like 500m in a leg and a half
He only won the start by a few metres and better boat speed then put LR in place to harass them.
Good to see the great British tradition in the AC looks set to continue. Bloody funny really. Put up a challenge trophy, lose it first up then never get it back. -
@crucial true but LR had won starts by not much more and managed to defend and stretch
im a bit disappointed as if ETNZ wasn;t to win i would have wanted Ienos to, i think they would have put on a great regatta off the isle of
Wight ...and my family all live in Cowes so i would have somewhere to stay...I am concerned if we defend we might risk having even fewer challengers next time, current class already too expensive/complicated for a lot...add to that having to try and take it off ENTZ after they've already defended it once?
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@kiwiwomble said in Americas Cup:
@crucial true but LR had won starts by not much more and managed to defend and stretch
im a bit disappointed as if ETNZ wasn;t to win i would have wanted Ienos to, i think they would have put on a great regatta off the isle of
Wight ...and my family all live in Cowes so i would have somewhere to stay...I am concerned if we defend we might risk having even fewer challengers next time, current class already too expensive/complicated for a lot...add to that having to try and take it off ENTZ after they've already defended it once?
If TNZ defend it wouldn’t surprise me if they take it to the UK for the next time anyway
Would need to for interest/sponsorship -
@crucial pretty sure theyve said they wont so could be a bad PR move if they do
my understanding is if they win they want to really leverage the world series idea to bring in more sponsors and interest
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@kiwiwomble said in Americas Cup:
@crucial pretty sure theyve said they wont so could be a bad PR move if they do
my understanding is if they win they want to really leverage the world series idea to bring in more sponsors and interest
Maybe an AC regatta series at the Isle of Wight? Get the Brits and maybe a few more European teams excited. Covid19 certainly hasn't helped
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It certainly has been a dull regatta to date but I'm hopeful it isn't a case of win the start win the race*. INEOS had speed but lacked maneuverability. LR simply had to get the Brits to tack and every time they did they lost a couple of seconds.
*Actually as long as it's TNZ winning the starts - this scenario works for me. -
@dogmeat as a tv spectator sport for non yachties it is really failing. The racing isn’t close or dynamic and once a gap appears it’s all over.
I lay a little blame on the course setters to be fair. They seem to be deliberately picking flat tracks with little wind variations. -
@canefan said in Americas Cup:
As someone else suggested, perhaps a larger course would have made a difference. I remember in the Fremantle AC the course was more triangular, so legs faced at different wind orientations. This up and down stuff on a narrow course doesn't leave much room for manouvre. It's not like these boats can't cover more ground anyway, they seem underutilised on the current course. I suppose for TV they want short races
Yeah wider courses might have allowed for splits and potential to pick shifts to get a trailing boat back into it (assuming the lead boat didn't cover - which they probably would).
The second bit about "olympic triangle" courses isn't very relevant for these boats I think. The triangle works for slower boats and incorporates all of the aspects of sailing. So an upwind, a downwind and a reach. These monsters are head to wind nearly all of the time when foiling due to speed - even downwind they are upwind. So I guess that is why they went with rectangular courses.
They definitely made the races that length for TV but a broader course wouldn't have changed that much.
I love the boats and the tech, etc but agree that most of the actual "racing" has been dull. Largely no contests. If the cup itself is like that (that seems likely from what we have seen so far) lets hope ETNZ is the quicker more maneuverable boat.
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Yep today is the day eh. Well it should be if there is enough wind. Only looks 8-12knots NW so assuming they will go out on course A rather then heading down the back paddock where it will be pretty sheltered. Course A could be 10-15knots this arvo if we are lucky.
In fact, it looks light winds right through the next week, particularly over the weekend. This apparently is where Luna Rosa will be at their strongest and with the match fitness from regular racing, this could be much much closer than many are expecting. It's really as simple as one mistake and you pretty much lose the race unless your boat is significantly faster (and I really hope we are)
I'm picking we win it 7-4 and would be too surprised if we are down 2 nil end of day today.
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@jk said in Americas Cup:
In fact, it looks light winds right through the next week, particularly over the weekend. This apparently is where Luna Rosa will be at their strongest and with the match fitness from regular racing, this could be much much closer than many are expecting. It's really as simple as one mistake and you pretty much lose the race unless your boat is significantly faster (and I really hope we are)
I'm picking we win it 7-4 and would be too surprised if we are down 2 nil end of day today.
Good call fella, I can't wait though. Looking forward to it
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@JK back paddock it is apparently.
"The racing will take place in Course Area E, to the east of the city where the breeze is expected to be 10-13knots at 16:00 from the N or NW. But then come some potentially big variations. An hour later the breeze could have increased to 16 knots before then dropping back slightly to 11-12knots.
“The weather models don’t align that well today which is not unusual for this wind direction, but it is an indication of the instability that could be in store,” said regatta director Iain Murray. “With the cloud development there could also possibly be some rain at times which may produce more wind on the front and less behind."Sounds like it will be fickle. Wouldn't surprise me to see a course realignment at some stage. Looking forward to it though.
