America's Cup

[oldrider]

Every second of delay is in Larry Ellison's favour and he just got another 24 hours given to him to work on his boats!

[AllanB]

Every second of delay is in Larry Ellison's favour and he just got another 24 hours given to him to work on his boats!

Agree - I am starting to wonder if the races will be delayed and delayed until the wind favours USA ......

[Bikemad]

Agree - I am starting to wonder if the races will be delayed and delayed until the wind favours USA ......

in a nutshell dude

[jasonu]

in a nutshell dude

Nutcase more like.

[BMWST?]

That Oracle boat is a "rocketship" ... the American team just did not know how to sail her .... ETNZ showed them how it's done!

ETNZ boat is "agricultural" by comparison and as they always insist the fastest boat will win the cup!

Unless the American team make a mistake or suffer a gear failure ETNZ will probably not win another race!

The ETNZ performance will probably deteriorate and so will morale etc, they will start arguing among themselves and playing the blame game!

Oracle on the other hand will probably go from strength to strength and all the "luck" will go their way ... greatest comeback since sliced bread! etc etc etc!

Still compelling viewing with the odds set the way they are at this stage!

Eh?
If anything it is apparent that oracle is set up for specific conditions,this is a sport where things can happen,it's bound to happen to Oracle too

[phill-k]

Until they win this thing they are simply just the best of the rest and so far that's the best they can hope for or "raise the anti" and ...... actually , WIN!

Luck has nothing to do with it!

Having spent 48 of my 55 yrs sailing am going to disagree with ya, luck does play a part in the end result, and these races have certainly demonstrated that - 44.5 degs instead of laying the ship down, wind shifts going TNZ's way and Oracles as well, however the odds of Oracle being able to take out the next 6 races is stacked against them, TAB are giving odds on TNZ winning of 1.01, and they are just working the odds, not interested in the sailing. However much as I love our team Spithill & Anslie as a team are probably the best in the world, we won the first five whilst Oracle played catch up are we that far behind now that we can't take one win out of the next 6 no I don't think so, but I do love the fact the sponsors are really getting their moneys worth, there is much more support in NZ for this effort than the allblacks had for the world cup, and thats saying something - perhaps the fact that any ordinary kiwi can pronounce all the names of the kiwi crew and know where they come from, where as with the allblacks most of us have no idea where most of the team originate from!! or is this sailing just really edge of the seat stuff?
Luck - Oracle get a halyard tangle that and favourable wind shifts see TNZ out to a 1300 mtr lead luck? Oracle get to race another day we run out of time - luck?

[Road kill]

Having spent 48 of my 55 yrs sailing am going to disagree with ya, luck does play a part in the end result, and these races have certainly demonstrated that - 44.5 degs instead of laying the ship down, wind shifts going TNZ's way and Oracles as well, however the odds of Oracle being able to take out the next 6 races is stacked against them, TAB are giving odds on TNZ winning of 1.01, and they are just working the odds, not interested in the sailing. However much as I love our team Spithill & Anslie as a team are probably the best in the world, we won the first five whilst Oracle played catch up are we that far behind now that we can't take one win out of the next 6 no I don't think so, but I do love the fact the sponsors are really getting their moneys worth, there is much more support in NZ for this effort than the allblacks had for the world cup, and thats saying something - perhaps the fact that any ordinary kiwi can pronounce all the names of the kiwi crew and know where they come from, where as with the allblacks most of us have no idea where most of the team originate from!! or is this sailing just really edge of the seat stuff?

Edge of the seat stuff,,get real who would care if it wasn't a Kiwi team involved ?

So far I've watched exactly one full race and even that was a forgone conclusion by the halfway mark.

Ordinary "white" Kiwi's should get the fuck over themselves.

[phill-k]

Edge of the seat stuff,,get real who would care if it wasn't a Kiwi team involved ?

So far I've watched exactly one full race and even that was a forgone conclusion by the halfway mark.

Ordinary "white" Kiwi's should get the fuck over themselves.

I guess you have to understand what this is all about, if you are patriotic its about NZer's up against the best in the world using both our innovative abilities and the kiwi can do attitude, we see this n many things, rugby, soccer, hokey.
In addition to this both teams go out there every day knowing they are tenths or hundredths of a second from disaster, and possibly causing or being involved in death, these boats are lethal, that is why the wind limits are in place, pitchpole as we have seen already means one minute you are at sea level and within microseconds 50 - 70 ft in the air being tossed at 20 = 40 knots with the real possibility of hulls, wings or what ever coming down on top of you, Barker and Spithill have the lives of their crews in their hands what other sport places that much pressure on its team leader? - What do you do for a living? clean toilets or perhaps write computer programs, thrilling is it?

[MD]

Two Questions for anyone who actually knows jack shit about sailing - that's definitely not me.

We all watch eagerly as the lads grind away cranking those winches around and around and then back the other way.
With traditional sailing boats you can see ROPES being pulled in by the winches, this way and that, attached to the booms and sails or whatever. You can see what they do. BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE WINCHES/PUMPS/HANDLES actually doing? What are they attached too? Are they secretly cranking a propeller? All this talk we can hear of 'more hydraulics'. Hydraulic what? It's not a digger with a bucket on the front is it.

Secondly, call me ignorant, but I can't see any rudder in the water, so just what is the 'steering wheel' turning? Clearly somehow they can turn on a dime but watching there is no obvious swinging sideways of the sails or foils? Just the hydrofoils at the rear and the centre boards that they lift up and down. But these don't seem to rotate sideways like a rudder does. I realise they can vary the angle on these foils for lift but what is steering the bloody boat?

And no bright spark say they counter steer.

[BMWST?]

Two Questions for anyone who actually knows jack shit about sailing - that's definitely not me.

We all watch eagerly as the lads grind away cranking those winches around and around and then back the other way.
With traditional sailing boats you can see ROPES being pulled in by the winches, this way and that, attached to the booms and sails or whatever. You can see what they do. BUT WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE WINCHES/PUMPS/HANDLES actually doing? What are they attached too? Are they secretly cranking a propeller? All this talk we can hear of 'more hydraulics'. Hydraulic what? It's not a digger with a bucket on the front is it.

Secondly, call me ignorant, but I can't see any rudder in the water, so just what is the 'steering wheel' turning? Clearly somehow they can turn on a dime but watching there is no obvious swinging sideways of the sails or foils? Just the hydrofoils at the rear and the centre boards that they lift up and down. But these don't seem to rotate sideways like a rudder does. I realise they can vary the angle on these foils for lift but what is steering the bloody boat?

And no bright spark say they counter steer.

They Counter steer them







The "winches"(at least some of them) are hydraulic pumps.I know they need hydrailic pressure to change the shape of the wing(sail).They need to change the shape of the wing everytime they change direction.If they dont they get pressure from the wrong side and tip the thiing over...I dont know what else is hydraulic.They dont look like rudders but i think the boards near the back are the rudders

[oldrider]

Racing prediction for today: Oracle 2 ... ETNZ 0 Anxieties on full alert for tomorrow!

[awa355]

Racing prediction for today: Oracle 2 ... ETNZ 0 Anxieties on full alert for tomorrow!

I hope so, The wife is watching the TV1 build up. Jeezus! talk about childrens television.

[oldrider]

OK brains trust ... who or what decides port or starboard entry on start up?

I have listened and watched for this to be explained and nobody ever tells us, do they toss or what?

[george formby]

OK brains trust ... who or what decides port or starboard entry on start up?

I have listened and watched for this to be explained and nobody ever tells us, do they toss or what?

IIRC the defender chooses where they want to start in the first race & it goes turn about after that.

[wysper]

Looks like the cup is going to Oracle or to court.