When You Plan a Trip For Four Years

by "functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
Published 06/13/2017 at 12:39

No Tags
STARS: 12

And convince your parents to watch your two kids (2 and 4) for a week; and convince your wife to travel for an obscure, expensive, exclusive sailing race typically followed by people who spend Thursday arguing about which of their vacation homes to visit this weekend; admittedly the desirability of Bermuda helped my sales pitch a tad. Overall, the trip couldn’t have gone better.

Side note: I am so fascinated by these boats, I plan to write up a more technical post on them in the near future. Coming soon to a Kinja near you...

Since watching the America’s Cup 72' foiling catamarans ripping around San Fransisco Bay in 2013 (on TV... well, youtube), I said “if the next series comes anywhere near us, we’re going.” This past week, we went to Bermuda to see the current iteration, ~50' catamarans with ~75' tall masts, riding on hydrofoils so perfectly now that the hulls hardly touch the water during a race - in fact, not at all in a few races. And three months ago I bought tickets to be on a spectator boat for ONE day only, not knowing what to really expect from the whole event. That morning the wind is pushing the upper limits of what these boats can safely sail in, but we head out anyway; it’s rough water even for the inner sound of Bermuda, and our 50' spectator boat is getting tossed and pushed around in the stiff breeze gusting to 30mph.

The four teams scheduled to race that day find that the conditions literally rip their boats apart; not structurally, but pieces are being torn off by the sheer force of hitting the water at 40 or 50 miles an hour in the sailing version of an F1 car, mostly carbon fiber and all powered by hydraulics. One team can’t keep up enough hydraulic pressure (all generated by hand cranking, or in one case, pedaling with their legs) to maneuver the boat in the way they need to because they need 100% from everything, all the time - no lulls at all - and the guys simply can’t keep up.

Team New Zealand gets boxed out at a start (I give credit to the British team that maneuvered them into a tight spot), and in an effort to accelerate quickly, get too high on their foils, pop their rudder out of the water and lose the stablizing effect of the wing on the bottom of that rudder, ultimately causing a forward dive and subsequent crash called a pitch-pole. Basically a very expensive (and dangerous) face plant for a multimillion dollar race boat. Their competitor in that race, driven by none other than the most decorated Olympic sailor of all-time Sir Ben Ainslie, said of the racing that day, it was “...the most exciting, exhilarating day of sailing I’ve ever been involved in...” and I couldn’t have been happier to see this in person from right beside the course.

In fact, there was a broadcast of the race on our boat, but with the delay there were a few of us who watched the capsize happen and yelled out a full ten seconds before it was announced out loud on the broadcast.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The (kinja allowing) included video was the America’s Cup daily highlights compliation from that exact day, and it is aptly titled “Epic Day On The Water.”

Now, for the die-hard sailing fans named Thurston Nantucket Veuve Clicquot Wellington IV, this new generation of America’s Cup boats simply lacks the traditional grace of a proper, single-hulled boat with, you know, actual sails instead of a wing , manned by a crew of salty, strapping young men all at the top of their game in the sailing world, racing each other out on the open water. The guys running the hydraulic pump systems on these boats don’t need any knowledge of sailing to be good at their jobs. Match racing in a small course (“stadium racing”) is for “dinghys,” not for a spectacle so grand as the storied America’s Cup - or so Thurston would say. But boats of this new class are amazing to watch - even if you’re not a sailor - and they’ve definitely taken sailing as a sport to a whole new *more marketable* level. If they want to appeal to the RedBull GoPro generation, this is the right direction.

Yeah, the Volvo Ocean Race is pretty extreme in a different way, but it’s an even worse spectator sport, by nature of where it takes place. Sure, they come into a city and do harbor races, but how often does it come to a city near you? At best, every few years. TV coverage? LOL. The America’s Cup is at least on NBCSN and/or the web, depending on your location and/or your technological trickery. However, today marks the start of the RedBull Youth America’s Cup in another variation of foiling catamaran, but with more manual controls - which looks like an amazing series to watch just on its own merits, while we wait for the finals of the regular Cup series. So, sorry Mr. Wellington IV, I’m a fan of the new format, and I hope it sticks around. And everyone I talked to this past week feels more or less the same way, including a woman we made friends with named “Kitty.” You can’t make this stuff up. She was really nice though.

Forgive my crappy phone pics, I didn’t feel like hauling a proper camera out there. There are about a billion great pictures on the interwebz if you’re so inclined.

As a (car-related) bonus, we saw lots of interesting (to me) cars, simply because non-US market. Diesel Land Cruiser pickups, tiny city cars, E36 wagons (I’ve never seen one before) and one E30 wagon, along with lots of other stuff. I only got pictures of a few, I’ll share them another time because Kinja doesn’t like me right now.

Replies (22)

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/13/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 1

Bummer about Artemus and Soft Bank. I was hoping someone would knock EMTNZ off their high horse, and I was especially hoping for Dean Barker to be the one to do it. As for Artemus? I just like their skipper, their boat and their team better. Plus it seemed like they had a real edge in light air and I was hoping for that be a real battle for OTUSA. Jealous you got to see those intense races in person, as a non-CBS sports subscriber here in the US, coverage has been hard to come by...they even went out of their way to kill of youtube channels providing better coverage mid playoffs. Lame.

"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
06/13/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 1

Sailing races: because today’s tycoons are too scared to bring back air racing.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 13:01, STARS: 1

Yeah I really like Nathan Outerridge more and more when I see him in interviews. But ETNZ certainly is good. And they never give an inch; yesterday in the race that got abandoned due to light wind, just at the end, one of the guys untied the jib and was holding it in his hand, working it like you would on a 420 just to keep it cupped, and filled with as much air as possible. By hand. In the final minute of that race they gained 100 meters while this guy was doing that.

I just hope that if NZ wins, they go along with the agreement that every other team came to regarding the format and timing of the next AC. Did you read about that?

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01)
06/13/2017 at 13:29, STARS: 1

Used to race J24s and J80s ... about as sophisticated as I got.

"Trevor Slattery, ACTOR" (anacostiabikecompany)
06/13/2017 at 13:36, STARS: 3

That they can get a 72 foot boat to weigh 13,000 lbs is just incredible.

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/13/2017 at 13:42, STARS: 0

no, do they want to abandon the foiling cat idea?

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 13:47, STARS: 1

Those are pretty phenomenal boats, from what I hear. I’ve never even been on one!

It feels a little bit like they just allowed Buell to enter the Tour DeFrance, though. From my relatively uneducated perspective, it seems about that different.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 13:53, STARS: 1

Not necessarily, and I certainly hope not. Here’s a link to the full press release , but the most important bits are here:

The framework agreement and agreed future protocol binds the signatories to deliver the 36th America’s Cup (AC36) and the 37th America’s Cup (AC37) under the following terms:

• The America’s Cup will be on a two-yearly cycle for AC36 (2019) and AC37 (2021).
• The America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) will start, at the election of the defender, as soon as Q4 2017. Venues, sponsors and media partners will be approached over the next six months to secure up to 12 international events over the next two years.
• The first year of the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) will be raced in AC45F foiling catamarans – the same boats used in America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) in the 35th America’s Cup.
• The second year will see a transition to the America’s Cup Class (ACC) boats, the same technically sophisticated class of boats raced in Bermuda in 2017 (with a slight rule modification to extend the wind range in which they can race to 4 to 26 knots). After this transition to the America’s Cup Class (ACC), the AC45Fs will be retired from the America’s Cup competition and the ACC boats will be the only boats raced.
• The America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) will culminate with a final event at the venue for the next America’s Cup and the final standings from the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) will be used to qualify teams for the America’s Cup Challenger Playoffs.
• The America’s Cup Challenger Finals and America’s Cup Match will be held in 2019 in a venue selected by the winner of the 35th America’s Cup.
• To reduce costs, teams will not be permitted to build, test or train on AC45 surrogate boats as they have in this cycle of the America’s Cup.
• This above will repeat for AC37, with the exception that all racing will take place in America’s Cup Class (ACC) boats.

Five of the six current competitors and their respective yacht clubs have already signed this framework agreement: ORACLE TEAM USA, Artemis Racing, Team France, Land Rover BAR and SoftBank Team Japan.

I heard someone in a press conference the other day - might have been Ben Ainslie - say something to the effect of, “well, assuming New Zealand were to stay with the same format and boats...” which implies that they are hesitant. But maybe I’m reading too much into it. Why didn’t they sign on with everyone else, then?

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 13:55, STARS: 1

And then, that they can sail it up on just the relatively tiny foil and rudder, is even more amazing to me.

"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
06/13/2017 at 13:56, STARS: 1

What was the spectator boat? Cause I see the Maltese Falcon was there.

I disagree that the current boats are more interesting for the non sailor viewer. Traditional monohulls duking it out in close quarters is much more entertaining over all. While it is very very cool to see how ridiculous these boats get, I find them quite boring. While I would love the experience to go out on one once, I would never want to keep racing on one. Give me a good old Catalina 37 or other large monohull and I will duke it out any day on the waves.

I went to the one in SF and was thoroughly disappointed. I mean the overall event was fun, but I got bored watching these “sailors” take these big boats across the course and bang the corners. It just isn’t exciting.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 14:04, STARS: 1

I have no data to support my claim, but I feel like the current format is more TV friendly and the more extreme (read: more likely to crash) nature of these boats will probably appeal more broadly than the older boats.

I also follow World Cup ski racing on TV, and this feels a closer parallel to me than the prior format.

To each his own, I guess. I’ve also never been on anything like a Catalina 37, but I’ve been on plenty of smaller cats; I’m also a windsurfer. That could be related...

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 14:09, STARS: 1

Oh and on the spectator boat question... we were, um, NOT on the Maltese Falcon. We were on a ~50 sightseeing boat made only for hauling tourists to interesting parts of Bermuda; upper deck, lower deck, bar, head, swim ladder, that’s about it. Not glamorous but great viewing and they gave us a very good location to watch from.

"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
06/13/2017 at 14:18, STARS: 0

Darn, the Maltese Falcon would just be amazing to even get on board!

I mean they do crash sometimes, but more likely to just crash into water and not each other. but the old monohulls had better dramma battling up and down the course with each other. I also found that much more entertaining to watch.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 1

There were so many yachts there I would have like to see up closer... in particular, it’s telling how many of them were sailing yacths as opposed to just motor. But yeah, those in my picture weren’t even the biggest ones there. One huge gray one has been out at most of the races, whereas the others just stay in port, presumably the owners are out in something smaller. I’d like to know who that is...

"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
06/13/2017 at 14:37, STARS: 1

It wasn’t this monstrosity was it?

The Maltese Falcon is at least a beautiful ship

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/13/2017 at 14:43, STARS: 0

Interesting.

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch)
06/13/2017 at 14:44, STARS: 0

well technically this is flying

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
06/13/2017 at 15:07, STARS: 1

Dang, that looks intense. I had no idea those boats got up to those speeds, especially on such small looking foils.

"davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com" (davesaddiction)
06/13/2017 at 16:26, STARS: 1

They’re incredible... It really is more flying than anything else.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 21:22, STARS: 1

Ugh, no I didn’t see that hideous thing. There were several gigantic sailing yachts there, though. All looked more or less like a sailboat and not... that.

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
06/13/2017 at 21:23, STARS: 0

Interesting indeed... I would find it hard to believe that any team would drop the foiling cat idea, but you never know.

"Cabrio'sNStrat's" (ncarlson1)
06/13/2017 at 21:55, STARS: 2

Great write up. I’ve been watching it online, I which I could go!