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Watched in person from GGYC. Barker gave 'em a quick stuff at the mark and nearly sent OR down the mine on the bear-off burying the bows to the crossbar. The boats, sailors and venue are awesome. Good on whoever wins the final race!

BWD wrote:Watching the boats bear away in close quarters at mark 1 yesterday was not boring.

edt wrote:if new zealand wins today Grant Dalton indicated they are going back to monohulls like the 12m class and a nationality rule of some kind, maybe you need 50%

if larry wins, same bat-time same bat-channel

I want nz to win. But if the next America's cup is back to mono hulls I wont be watching. I love the fact that these things are crazy dangerous fast.

Perhaps a smaller version that goes just as fast but doesn't cost as much.

Exactly - love to see this, and no matter who wins - it has been an awesome battle

Peter

plummet wrote:

edt wrote:if new zealand wins today Grant Dalton indicated they are going back to monohulls like the 12m class and a nationality rule of some kind, maybe you need 50%

if larry wins, same bat-time same bat-channel

I want nz to win. But if the next America's cup is back to mono hulls I wont be watching. I love the fact that these things are crazy dangerous fast.

Perhaps a smaller version that goes just as fast but doesn't cost as much.

theres alot of people who feel that if oracle wins it will put the future of the cup at a real crossroads. it has been very difficult for teams to fund this hull class with the entry price tag at 100mil. there were only 3 challengers this year.

these boats are truly exciting to watch but the strategy is diminished due to the speed. if one team makes a mistake the other just rockets away. more like drag racing, but like i said, really fun to watch.

if NZ wins then we will likely see a return to a more classic hull and the sport will be back at the country where the stage is the biggest. i remember watching the races in the 80's and the suspense was amazing. the speeds were not what they are but you could see the boats just inching past each other. really suspenseful and more so in fact than these races this year, though clearly not having that jaw dropping effect.

i for one am leaning towards a NZ win. i would like to see what a return to classic racing hulls does for the America's Cup. I for one think it would be better for the future of the sport.

Way to go US and Oracle. Incredible odds against winning and they pull it off.

Congrats.

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

Hi Bob....do you know how may American's were crewing?

At last count, 1 (one). How many NZ'ers? 7, at last count.

Not bitter, but just sad that NZ couldn't pull this off against immense\effectively infinite wealth. Fair dues, Oracle ourtsailed us comprehensively, and were sporting throughout, they deserved to win. And in terms of mental strength and refusal to give up, my unwanted ginger haired friend from Australia did an amazing job.

Just a little sad.....

Yes a Smoking finale Victory to the Yanks, must have been the 'salt spray' in our eyes lol - well done !!

Lets face it. Technology won on the day. The first races oracle where refining there new technology and got smoked. They then mastered it and for a while it was an even boat race. The last 3 or 4 races Oracle have had the faster boat. Today proved that. They just sailed past them upwind. NZ made no mistakes Oracle made a couple but the boat with the better upwind won.

Anyone who has raced kites will know this. If you have an advantage upwind typically you will win. Unless you stuff up.

plummet wrote:Lets face it. Technology won on the day. The first races oracle where refining there new technology and got smoked. They then mastered it and for a while it was an even boat race. The last 3 or 4 races Oracle have had the faster boat. Today proved that. They just sailed past them upwind. NZ made no mistakes Oracle made a couple but the boat with the better upwind won.

Anyone who has raced kites will know this. If you have an advantage upwind typically you will win. Unless you stuff up.

plummet that is true if you have the same amount of upwind and downwind legs, it's just math, since you spend more time in the slower leg, that leg is more important to overall time.

But this race has 2 downwind legs, 2 reaches and 1 upwind leg. I saw quite a few races won by the boat with a better downwind speed and worse upwind speed. I think they choose the course carefully this way so it wouldn't be all about the upwind leg.

edt wrote: plummet that is true if you have the same amount of upwind and downwind legs, it's just math, since you spend more time in the slower leg, that leg is more important to overall time.

But this race has 2 downwind legs, 2 reaches and 1 upwind leg. I saw quite a few races won by the boat with a better downwind speed and worse upwind speed. I think they choose the course carefully this way so it wouldn't be all about the upwind leg.

To be fair I didn't watch all the races. I saw it like. this. When the yachts are even the boat who gets the start wins. Unless it makes a mistake. When it is uneven. The yachts with the best upwind wins.