Oracle...Team Emirates NZ

[shooternz]

O.K

Who is supporting who ....come Americas Cup Racing ..starts in 2 days.

Go Kiwis!

[the_wine_snob]

Fireboats ARE out, with several streams, spraying into the blue San Francisco sky. Celebrating a great race series and both boats with their crews. Nice touch.

Way to go both yachts - very exciting.

Hunt

[able123]

WOW.. that was exciting !  thank you Bill !!!!!!  yipee ! To won !

good racing !

I hope I can see what the boats and crews do in the years...and have fun like that again...thanks Bill for your excellent coverage !

[the_wine_snob]

The America's Cup Village looks like Canal St. on Mardi Gras day. Just a giant crowd. It looks like all of San Francisco took the day off, and turned out here.

Hope that Kevin got down there, and was able to enjoy.

TO is doing the Champagne (or sparkler), and Ellison is not yet onboard. Same here. Time for a celebration.

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

Ellison onboard, and everyone is spraying the Champagne - I am not doing that here though - gotta' sip the good stuff.

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

Uh-oh, looks like the US Coast Guard is pulling TO over for drinking while sailing...

Hunt

[able123]

the winner has a lot to say about the design of next challenge... so I think these boats are here to say a while...

they must have learned so much during this race.. I bet the next designs and tactics etc. will just keep pushing the envelope..how cool is THAT ?

[able123]

hehe.. the us guard cant drink on duty.. but I bet they are smiling a lot right now.. they love boats...

[the_wine_snob]

Looks like every vessel near San Francisco Bay is on the water. Must be several hundred out there. The area of the Bay, by the Village is pure white from the wakes. Hope that no one crashes.

Too bad that the great ETNZ team had to lose, but TO sailed some spectacular races.

Hunt

[the_wine_snob]

If you have not yet read the article, that Kevin linked to, I would take time to do so now. Looks like San Francisco, Ellison, and many others, made a bunch of big bets on this regatta. Hope that everything works out well.

Also, there was a little background on the design philosophy of TO's AC72. Seems to have paid off in the end, with some modifications, in both the yacht, and tactics.

Let's hope that much of the infrastructure CAN be used again, and that all the $'s spent pay dividends for the city.

At least I do not need to fly down for the next defense of the Cup, though I think that Craig would let me bunk in a corner of his editing suite - so long as I did not touch anything, or speak unkindly about his CC.

Maybe I will start looking at dates, and make a few reservations. The Hilton Financial District hotel has some nice suites up high, with large balconies, overlooking (from a distance) that area of the Bay (a bit down from where the course was, but close).

Whew - that was great fun.

Hunt

[able123]

losing stuff like this is kinda a weird thing...as I dont see it that way usually. depends on the sport of course.. but its kinda like reality too.

in gymnastics for example, there is a team, but it's made up of individuals . each individual competes on their own equipment ( rings, high bar, floor excercise, etc ).  Those individuals actually 'raise the bar' .. they do things that were never ever done before. They not only exceed at what WAS done before, but they actually do 'new' things that nobody ever saw done before..

Over the years many people doing that have introduced 'routines' that most people take for granted as an audience. But really, the routines have got more and more demanding to the individual athletes over the years due to raising of the bar by those before them....

Sometimes I think too much about 'winners and losers' and not enough about the general contributions of the team ...the sport, the challenge ..to not only win but to basically push the limits of what was thought possible.

These guys did that in the sailing world like nobody in history before... it is a remarkable event in the history of saliing.

[the_wine_snob]

These guys did that in the sailing world like nobody in history before... it is a remarkable event in the history of saliing.

I have a feeling that there will be a lot of ink now, and not just in sailing/yachting journals.

I hope that someone caught a good shot of TO "porpoising" at Gate 1. That was dramatic, and really caught my attention. I have now seen footage of that, from several of the video feeds on TO, and they were impressive - I think that a few sets of skivvies had to be cleaned after that. A shot of that moment would be a great image for the wrap-up article, though it shows TO in trouble (behind, and diving pretty deep), and would not tell the full story. Still, a somewhat lone shot of TO crossing the line hardly tells the full story either.

There is also talk that the defense of the Cup might move from San Francisco to Newport. While I could see the historical aspect of such a move, I really would like to see the defense stay in SF - the people have paid dearly for this event, and I would like to see them make even more back on the investment, next time.

Hunt

[shooternz]

Obviously we are very, very dissapointed down here in NZ... but ...the fastest boat ..always wins the cup!

Technology, $$$ and an excellent crew beat us fair and square. 

We did  have a bit of bad luck in the race that ran into the time limit because that would have been the cup for the kiwis...but instead it gave Oracle extra time to turn their boat into a rocketship.

Congrats to Oracle.

Kiwis move on quick and we instantly start celebrating the kiwis on the Oracle crew and the boat builders from NZ that built most of the boat and the wing.

It is unikely these boats will be seen again in AC racing.   It severely limited the participants this time due to cost and some one will be rethinking i alreadyt.  I am sure it will still be an exciting class of development boat though.

[the_wine_snob]

Craig,

That race, exceeding the 40 min. point WAS a black mark on the series. While it was part of the "rules," I think that the timelimit was too low, and not just to give the Cup to ETNZ. Wish that had not been the case, though it would have changed the results and also cut out one heck of an exciting series. Still, I hate when things like that affect an event, like the America's Cup.

Hold your head very high, and welcome your chaps with open arms and parades. They did well - very well indeed, and deserve the praises for their efforts. As the crew is quite young, I hope that many will be on the NZ boat, next time around. They sailed well, and deserve another go at it.

You make a good point about the limitations on competitors. Not sure what the answer is for that?

One commentator did decry the lack of competitors, leading up to the AC. Those races were always fun, and really built the momentum for the Cup, but was missing this year. Not sure what the answer to that is. Going back to the Cup defense in San Diego (do not recall the third one, as we were not there), having a truely international competition added to the race series. That was really kicks. The AC Village and SD Yacht Club was like an Olympic Village - France, Italy, UK, Russia, Australia, New Zealand - everybody was involved, at one time, or another. This year, the Louis Vuitton Cup was a big bust, and one barely knew that it was going on, even near the waterfront in SF. Like everything was incognito.

Will be interesting to see what happens next time.

Thanks for this thread, and my hat's off to your lads.

Hunt

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey,

I got there just in time but:

• They closed off the concourse: 40,000 was the limit.
• I moved to the next pier over.
• Couldn't see a thing.

However, it was pretty fun and exciting to be there. I saw the finish and the victory lap. Now I should watch the replay so I can see what I missed.

Kevin

[the_wine_snob]

Kevin,

So sorry to hear of your experience. As you note, the crowd WAS large. Glad that there was no collapse, or people getting pushed off into the Bay.

It was a very good race - totally clean, though there WAS some very closeup racing, right from the start.

Glad that I got to witness it on the TV, with no interruptions, other than Rod demanding updates...

I think that I got to watch the series, at just the right time.

Let us know what you hear about venues for the next AC - here's my vote for SF Bay again, right where it was - around Pier 27.

I've got a couple of friends in the restaurant and bar business, and want to talk to them about how they did with the tourists. I know that we had to pay a premium for a room last week, but wife had meetings, so it was just how it is. Hope that the city did well. Sure looked beautiful on most days, even when there was some fog - heck, they do not call it "Fog City" for the fun of it.

Thanks for the update,

Hunt

[Stan Jones]

Craig, thanks for starting this thread. Fun to track this from earlier in the races. Very exciting, and I was rooting for the Kiwis!

[the_wine_snob]

Stanley,

I was there too. Having spent a weekend with some lovely Kiwis, who flew half-way across the world, just for the races, they were infectious (and I mean that in a very, very good way). They extended their stay, through last weekend, hoping that everything would be neatly wrapped up.

It was hard to NOT pull for ETNZ - they were such gracious winners, and so very good in the process.

Then, TO began to fight and scrape back into it. Hard to pull against that too.

The excitement built, and then I began thinking about financial implications in my "second home," San Francisco, and could not help myself - Oh, then there was some tiny bit of "national pride," though the TO crew has more Kiwis, than US citizens...

Loads of exciting fun, and glad that I got home, when I did. This was one to not be missed!

Hunt

[Steven L. Gotz]

Craig, thanks for starting this thread.

These have been some of the best discussions I have ever participated in here in the lounge. I seriously doubt that I would have taken the time to learn about these races and go down to photograph and video them if Craig had not started this thread. I am probably going to be a lifelong racing fan from here on out because of this.

So thanks shooternz, you are a great representative for your country and the sport.

[the_wine_snob]

And, let us hope that the defense of the Cup WILL be back in San Francisco!

While Newport does have history, as does San Diego, I want the series back in San Francisco!

Hunt

[able123]

Lets start working on a server and delivery system for BILL HUNT'S AMERICA CUP next time around

Bill will do the play by play 'broadcast' live....( with maps and tactical schemes available on site )

Steve, you do the engineering stuff...install the server and T1 connection. Also shoot stuff near snuffy the seal's neighborhood.. ( rip ) for a photo essay on nice seals.

Shooternz.. you do the human interest stuff.. ( " Man and the Sea, a Balance " ---you know, how cool sea life is and how the oceans need to be protected etc .. Work in some kind of reference to boating ( commerce first, then sports and racing ).

I'll do a short story called " The Frog Who Became A Sailor ".  Maybe have a lot of little animals as his crew ?

Bill.. all you have to do is practice typing a LOT FASTER !

hehe..

[able123]

one more thought.. everyone saves up $200.00 by the time the race happens.. so we can rent a helicopter and suspend Jim Simon on a rope from the helicopter ..so he can shoot video for streaming later in the day...

should be able to shoot, get back to airport, get to edit suite, edit and export and deliver product ...pretty fast IMO.

[able123]

Joe, you do the special intro videos and deal with the site sponsors ads...we should be able to get sponsors like burger king, panasonic, adobe, etc.

who else... everyone should contribute !

[Biggles_Lamb]

Next time they should change the specification of the boats used to Finn.

Go Team GB and Sir Ben

[able123]

I think its the winner that decides the design.. right ??  Would be the same in that case..

GO SIR BEN !

[able123]

its like having my own private little secretary... my posts are edited or deleted or adjusted with lightning speed...like how cool is that ??