Author Topic: America's Cup  (Read 3630 times)

America's Cup
« on: 07 June, 2017, 12:37:46 pm »
Spectacular pitch pole by New Zealand.  All ok.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/sailing/40181305
Move Faster and Bake Things

Clare

  • Is in NZ
Re: America's Cup
« Reply #1 on: 12 June, 2017, 12:16:11 am »
Just noticed the Kiwi grinders are pedalling rather than using their arms. It look really odd.

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #2 on: 12 June, 2017, 07:29:32 am »
I think use of legs for grinding used not to be allowed.

That was a smart move by Ainslie to luff the Kiwi boat up above the starting mark, though I don't think he could have foreseen their pitch-poling like that.

A shame the GB rig broke when it did and that they couldn't do better. I was rather hoping that with the Kiwis having chosen the GB boat as their competitor on the basis that there were light winds due, that the increased winds would have reversed things, but, alas, it was not to be.

Time to regroup, assemble another £20million (or whatever it is) and prepare for the next one.
Rust never sleeps

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #3 on: 12 June, 2017, 09:57:52 pm »
Didn't this competition involve yachts at one time?

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #4 on: 13 June, 2017, 08:38:19 am »
I think £20m barely pays for the sails.

It wasn't any cheaper when it involved 12metre yachts, since there was just as much R&D in trying to produce a winning 12m yacht, plus the sailing was less tv-spectacular
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #5 on: 13 June, 2017, 12:16:10 pm »
Oh, I know why it's happened: winning completely overrides aesthetics.  But I'm not sure about TV.  Which would you rather watch; an "old-style" yacht beating through the waves, spume flying, crew's teeth clenched round briar pipes, with just the faintest of smiles under the handlebar moustaches, or what we have now - a series of high-viz gym sessions on the the world's biggest Airfix kit (on stilts)?  And such spectacle as there might be is spoilt by the CGI pennants attached to the kits in the long shots.  Psshaw!

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #6 on: 13 June, 2017, 01:42:53 pm »
When it was 12m yachts they very much relied on 'grinders'; one used to train in the same gym I went to in WA. He was HUGE, I've never seen anyone so immense.

The grinders used to meet in a bar in Freo and arm-wrestle. This got banned when one broke his arm during said arm-wrestling. How big do your muscles have to be to break your own arm?
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #7 on: 13 June, 2017, 10:29:33 pm »
I think £20m barely pays for the sails.

It wasn't any cheaper when it involved 12metre yachts, since there was just as much R&D in trying to produce a winning 12m yacht, plus the sailing was less tv-spectacular
Yup indeed. I think it's nearer £120m.
Rust never sleeps

Clare

  • Is in NZ
Re: America's Cup
« Reply #8 on: 22 June, 2017, 08:48:58 am »
Land Rover BAR Academy have won the Youth AC.

 :D

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #9 on: 27 June, 2017, 11:35:19 am »
Stonking performance by NZ

Will the next AC stick to the Big Foil cats for the rougher offshore waters of NZ?
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #10 on: 27 June, 2017, 05:49:36 pm »
Bring back the J class.

Now they were real yachts/moneypits.
“There is no point in using the word 'impossible' to describe something that has clearly happened.”
― Douglas Adams

Morat

  • I tried to HTFU but something went ping :(
Re: America's Cup
« Reply #11 on: 12 July, 2017, 12:06:16 am »
They were absolutely beautiful and are still being built by some 0.5% 'ers with an obsession. There's a J class sailing competition up and running and you can build new ones as long as they're based on the plans of an original J class whether it was built or just planned.
Some porn for you http://www.jclassyachts.com/ Shamrock V is still sailing!

However, I do love watching the foiling cats. I just can't get my head around the speeds they generate and the way the crew keep them under control (most of the time).
Everyone's favourite windbreak

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #12 on: 12 July, 2017, 06:23:57 pm »
Can remember Velsheda sitting in SOTON looking forlorn before restoration.  They'd got her sailing again but with fairly makeshift gear.

Years ago I took this pic of a Fife design:



Now looks like this:



I knew I should have bought her and done her up :(
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #13 on: 12 July, 2017, 09:31:12 pm »
Isn't Velsheda rigged Bermudan ?

One of my old sailing buddies got a corporate jolly on Velsheda back in the day. As he clearly knew what he was about he was asked back on as unpaid crew on a few occasions. Lucky feller.

(Velsheda = VELma, SHEila and DAphne, which were the names of the owner's three daughters.)
Rust never sleeps

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #14 on: 12 July, 2017, 09:31:45 pm »
Can remember Velsheda sitting in SOTON looking forlorn before restoration.  They'd got her sailing again but with fairly makeshift gear.

Years ago I took this pic of a Fife design:



Now looks like this:



I knew I should have bought her and done her up :(
I think you'd have needed a few bob.
Rust never sleeps

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #15 on: 13 July, 2017, 04:32:44 pm »
Isn't Velsheda rigged Bermudan ?

One of my old sailing buddies got a corporate jolly on Velsheda back in the day. As he clearly knew what he was about he was asked back on as unpaid crew on a few occasions. Lucky feller.

(Velsheda = VELma, SHEila and DAphne, which were the names of the owner's three daughters.)

Velsheda would be but my pics are of the Mariquita, a gaff rigged 19 metre that preceded the J class.  She was designed by the Scot, William Fyfe and Clyde built.  The picture shows her at Pin Mill where she was just a house boat among many others.  Beyond her are a couple of derelict wooden minesweepers. I was told that her lead keel was removed at Woodbridge to make bullets as part of the war effort.  I was delighted when I heard she'd been rescued but not surprised as Fyfe designs are very highly regarded.

Quote
I think you'd have needed a few bob.

It doesn't even bear thinking about! :o
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: America's Cup
« Reply #16 on: 13 July, 2017, 09:25:58 pm »
Isn't Velsheda rigged Bermudan ?

One of my old sailing buddies got a corporate jolly on Velsheda back in the day. As he clearly knew what he was about he was asked back on as unpaid crew on a few occasions. Lucky feller.

(Velsheda = VELma, SHEila and DAphne, which were the names of the owner's three daughters.)

Velsheda would be but my pics are of the Mariquita, a gaff rigged 19 metre that preceded the J class.  She was designed by the Scot, William Fyfe and Clyde built.  The picture shows her at Pin Mill where she was just a house boat among many others.  Beyond her are a couple of derelict wooden minesweepers. I was told that her lead keel was removed at Woodbridge to make bullets as part of the war effort.  I was delighted when I heard she'd been rescued but not surprised as Fyfe designs are very highly regarded.

Ah, got it. I didn't read your post accurately.

There was a similarly splendid hull in the lock at Heybridge Basin for years and years. Clearly something special and I understand someone has taken her away for restoring to her full glory. She too might have been a Fife.
Rust never sleeps