America's Cup

[trevor]

What is frustrating is the cloak and dagger attitudes of Oracle and ETNZ. While the races were going on, I get it. Afterwards, if you were not cheating, why not come clean.

Stephen

Simple: What they've learnt they can use next time.

We wait and see what the Aussie challenger and Oracle come up with next, but I'll put money on it being a foiling cat with a wing, Jimmy said as much at the last press conference.


I recorded his interview the other day, not got around to watching it yet...

[stephen]

I hope they can settle on a boat that brings in more competitors. I am out of town a lot for a couple of weeks, but will check in when near a computer.

Stephen

[trevor]

Foil control system on Oracle's AC72



http://www.cupexperience.com/blog/20...control-system

[stephen]

Great AC follow up. I read that post several times. Would the removed spring been a rule violation? When was this system installed? Is there access to the hulls that would allow the installation after the competition began?

Stephen

[trevor]

Springs are "stored energy" so therefore nor allowed.

Jimmy was on our breakfast TV today (he spends all his spare time here got married has a house etc.) said the two teams had basically the same thing. ETNZ used a dedicated crew member to control foiling (our "bow man") he controlled it on Oracle.

Nothing about the next one....

[stephen]

I am sure ETNZ had a similar system. Oracle's s system probably worked better. The head of Oracle's campaign, Russell, said they put more load on the rudders. They probably got the foil-rudder combination just right also. If I remember correctly, each team was allowed a fixed number of foils a and rudders at the start of the competition. Oracle figured out the best combination. The AC has always been an engineering competition. I hope they set standards for AC 35 that will encourage more entry's.

Stephen

[stephen]

Today's SF Chronicle ran an article saying the city of San Francisco lost $5.5 million on the AC. The job and business projections were not met. The business projections are still increasing, however. They are including the construction of a cruise ship area in these projections. This project was already in the works, but, the AC dragged the project forwards.

Stephen

[IanA]

I reckon SF didn't get the perfect result because of the awareness inertia in the general populace, locally and US-wide. Next time around will be different - now that people have had a taste of what an extraordinary spectacle the AC 72 circus really is. Bloody hell, I would even consider cashing in the old frequent flier points to get there, if the format is even remotely similar!
5.5 mill is peanuts compared with what some cities theoretically "lose" on Big Events. In our 'hood, Sydney reckon they are still paying for the 2000 Olympics, Melbourne "loses" on the F1 GP, Bike GP, various sailng, triathlon, golf, cricket, tennis, World class events, but still fronts up for more evey year despite changes in local government colour. I don't mind, it's fantastic having the Best in our own backyard. Taxes well spent, I say.
Although, how Brazil is going to make it through the next few years, who knows?

[stephen]

If any sailing fanatics from down under wish to come to AC 35 (assuming SF is the venue again), I have a good size house and enjoy company.

Stephen

[IanA]

Trevor, did you hear that? I hope ol' Stephen can cope - we have about 60 members in our local multihull club....

[richarde1605]

Thanks for the invite Stephen, if I can recover from Scotland and the UK next September I might just take you up on the offer

[stephen]

We have years to get logistics figured out.

Stephen

[trevor]

Trevor, did you hear that? I hope ol' Stephen can cope - we have about 60 members in our local multihull club....

Yep

Stephen: The USA is real cheap for us to visit from "downunder" because you keep printing money and our economies are not totally f**ked.

Example: In the 20 years I've lived in NZ I've seen the kiwi dollar go from ~$US0.43 to where it is today ~$0.83.

The Aussie at times over the last couple of years has been greater than the greenback.

[Roadpizza]

Oh ya?....Well, we have F-35's to back up our paper.............

[stephen]

If I remember correctly, the AC generated $350 million for local business, 1/3 of estimates. The jobs were 4500, 1/2 of estimated.

Ian, I know 2 families that do house swaps. With enough lead time, something can probably be worked out. One family is walking distance from me. the other is in Berkeley, 15 minutes by car. Your boating club members might be able to work something out with enough lead time.

Stephen

[IanA]

I really do appreciate the offer, Stephen, but I will probably be OK, we used to have a couple of offices in the Bay area, and I still have good friends there. Now, about the other 59.....

[stephen]

The SF Chronicle ran an article Sunday saying AC venue negotiations are not going well for the next Cup. SF is not offering the same deal at this point in time. Russell Coutts claims to be looking for other sights. Probably just a bunch of posturing on both fronts.

Stephen

[trevor]

Yeah local paper ran similar stuff while I was away.

Protocol should be released in March, expect a venue to be set later. Look to see more "one design" elements.

One of the guys I was blokarting with last week is a professional sailor/designer and he was giving the NZ blokart team weather updates first thing in the morning which he was "testing" for Alinghi.

Amazingly accurate +/- 5 knots with a +/- 30 minutes over the course of the 10 hour day he was forecasting. And that was for Rockingham (just South of Perth) imagine what it would have been on the Cup course!

Oh and he said whatever they "save" in one place they will "spend" on design. It's bullshit that the next cup will be less ETNZ. Are looking at a $US140,000,000 budget about 10% up on last time.

[stephen]

In Today's SF Chronicle, there is an article that says Jimmy Spithill will re-sign with Oracle for the coming Cup. I guess that a requirement for a home grown group of sailors is off the table.

They also went on about SF's low ball offer to the AC suggesting alternate venues. The suspense builds.

Stephen

[stephen]

Today's SF Chronicle says that Russell Coutts is considering 5 sites in addition to San Francisco. Hawaii, San Diego, and Newport, Rhode Island were mentioned. Larry Ellison has large property holdings in Hawaii. SF is looking for a little more money(rents etc.). It is reported that SF lost $5 million (probably a low estimate) on the last AC. Right now, there appears to be 6 challengers.

Stephen

[stephen]

The estimates of the economic cost of the AC to San Francisco have been revised upwards to $11.5 million according to an article in the SF Chronicle today. The original estimate was $5 million.

Stephen

[IanA]

Peanuts, compared with the intangible benefits

[trevor]

Oh Dear....

Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker last night conceded questions were asked over team boss Grant Dalton's position on the catamaran and that Dalton's decision to agree to a lay day during the America's Cup was "clearly a mistake".


In a candid interview on why Team New Zealand blew an 8-1 lead - and eventually lost the Cup regatta 8-9 to Oracle Team USA - Barker told TV3's Paul Henry: "There's a lot of things we'd do differently".

Full interview (video may not work outside NZ - not my fault)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news...ectid=11200293

[stephen]

There is an interview with Larry Ellison in today's SF Chronicle. It looks like Honolulu is probably the sight for the next AC. He expects 12 countries to enter. The regattas leading up to the AC will be sailed all over the world, races in every country with an entry. It sounds like AC 45s leading up and AC 60s for the final Louis Vuitton and AC regattas. He anticipates total costs to stay below $30 million. I will believe that when I see it.

Stephen

[stephen]

I was out on my bicycle this morning. The wind was up. Team Artemis had 2 winged cats at anchor by their facilities in Alameda. The wings were deployed. I could not tell what size they were.

Stephen

[stephen]

I stopped today, Tuesday, and took a closer look at the 2 Artemis Cats. They had to be AC45's, they have not announced the specs for the 35th AC and the regattas will be sailed in AC 45s. The specs are soon to be announced, although the venue will not be announced until the summer. The AC web page has an interesting article.

Stephen

PS I just read a sailing article on Artemis's AC45s from AC 34. These are probably the same Cats and are capable of foiling.

[trevor]

Q: What do you do with an AC72 when you came 2nd in the Americas Cup?

Leave it in a old car park wrapped in plastic and watch it rot away.

But we are good at that in NZ. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/poli...-for-scrapheap

[Roadpizza]

We just stick the old stuff out in the desert in Arizona…… Looks like you guys need some F-35's…."$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$"

[stephen]

http://americascup.com/en/home.html

The team Australia AC45 could use a flashier paint job.

Stephen

[richarde1605]

Battleship grey? Look out!

[stephen]

I think that the grey is the primer coat. I expect as they pick up sponsors, the boat will look considerably better.

Stephen

[richarde1605]

It's not the paint job that gets you over the line....... Don't forget while the Americans spent squillions developing a pen (biro, bic) that would write in space, the Russians used pencils!

Trash talk starts now?????

[trevor]

It's not the paint job that gets you over the line....... Don't forget while the Americans spent squillions developing a pen (biro, bic) that would write in space, the Russians used pencils!

Trash talk starts now?????

Shame that's an urban myth. NASA used pencils like Russia but both stopped because of the dangers of graphite floating around in a capsule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_P...space_programs
http://www.physics.org/facts/apollo-nasa-pen.asp

[richarde1605]

Rephrase; invested millions!!!!

[stephen]

Does the knowledge from racing AC45s transfer to the larger boats? The AC45s do foil a little, but hardly continually. By the end of the AC 34, everybody was foiling all the way around the course.

Stephen

[trevor]

Stephen

Yes is the simple answer, it's how we prepared until the 72 was ready. http://www.catsailingnews.com/2014/0...lands-lab.html



Things like the moth "self level" but that was not allowed in AC.

[Roadpizza]

OK…. Moth I've have seen…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMsM4TG2ce4

[stephen]

http://www.mysailing.com.au/

Search there site for 35th America's Cup. If you scroll down the page on your screen, there should be a AC information locator.

Stephen

[trevor]

America's Cup sailor Dirk de Ridder has been suspended from sanctioned events for five years by sailing's international governing body, two people with knowledge of the decision said today.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news...ectid=11239160

[stephen]

I had no idea that pro sailors made so much money.

Stephen

[trevor]

OK so one of my friends I Blokart with is a professional sailor (navigator). He has a contract with Alinghi (currently being paid a small retainer), and also a contract with the Chinese team in the Volvo (shore based navigator - really). He flys all over the world for 3-4 days to race all travle comes out his pocket. You are basically a contractor.

Anyway $500,000 is probably for a 1-2 year contract, although if you are clever you pay little income tax (never in one place long enough to qualify).

When you are sailing is 7x24 so that's about 4x longer than your "average 40 hour week"

But you don't have to pay for food (nobody would pay for the crap they eat when racing).

BTW: His joke is.

How do you make a small fortune out of the sailing industry?

Start with a large one!

[stephen]

Musician's have the same joke.

Stephen

[stephen]

Artemis has hired new design engineers for the 35th AC. Go to Scuttlebutt News on-line.

Stephen

[guidoveloce]

Musician's have the same joke.

Stephen

only very few musician have the same joke, the others are usually underpaid. musicologists are absolutely unpaid! especially in italy.

[stephen]

5/22/2014, Artemis had one AC45 on the Bay today. Any thoughts about the delay with the AC 35 protocols? Is the delay an advantage for Oracle? Is the fact that Oracle gets to have 2 boats while everyone else has one completely unfair?

Stephen

[trevor]

Fair play and America's Cup.

Sorry does not compute

[stephen]

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ta...-americas-cup/

Stephen

[trevor]

Well the protocol is out looks like TeamNZ will probably not be spending $US1M just to enter in two months time.

Very hard to get a sponsor on board without knowing where the venue will e.

TNZ: Can you sponsor me in a boat race.
Sponsor: yeah no problem where in the world is the evnt so I can make sure we actually sell our products there.
TNZ: Ummmmm.....

Then there is Oracle are allowed two boats everybody else one.
Oracle sails in the challanger series -- WTF!!!

No international jury. No mention of the ISAF, but Oracle are allowed to decide any penelties for cheating.

The list goes on.......

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland...-america-s-cup


UPDATED 12:40pm: An acceptance from Team New Zealand that the America's Cup is becoming out of its financial reach.
Team New Zealand's yet to decide if it will enter the 35th edition of the Cup, after the release of the protocols from holders Oracle and challenger of record Team Australia.
A $2 million entry fee is required by teams before August 8.

But Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton says it's getting to the stage where their funding model doesn't work.

"It will make it difficult for fully funded commercial teams and I think when this all plays out and we actually dig in to the teams that will be in it, they will be backed by wealth billionaires."
Dalton says it's impossible to get potential investors on board when the venue hasn't even been decided.
While the rules have been laid out, a venue hasn't, and won't be until after the entry cutoff of August 8.

Team New Zealand's still trying to search for the relevant funding to put an entry together and Dalton says that becomes a lot harder when there are still details to be decided.

"It is impossible, completely impossible to raise sponsorship money without being able to close the loops with the sponsors and making commercial decisions through a marketing committee."

Dalton has told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that's a massive problem.
"I don't know how you reconcile those two things. Without a venue you can't raise real money and that makes it very difficult for commercial teams."

Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill is calling out Team New Zealand to enter before the August 8 cutoff.
"The Kiwis were so close. Surely they'll have to try again. I know those guys all too well. They won't leave it like that."

Protocols released

The next America's Cup will be sailed in AC62 yachts with eight crew on board.
The protocols for the event have been released, with the boats to downsize 10 feet and three crew from those seen in San Francisco.
Holders Oracle and challenger of record Team Australia have negotiated the protocols.
There will be a three-year racing programme from 2015-2017 with every race counting towards qualification for the 35th edition of the Cup.
The format to find the team that will take on Oracle for the Auld Mug has changed, with a qualifier series introduced to find the top four challengers.
The first team to win seven points will win the America's Cup.
A nationality rule has also been introduced.
At least 25 percent of each crew need to be nationals of the respective country's challenge.
The entry period is open from June 9 to August 8.

[richarde1605]

What a farce.

Sign here and give us the cash!

What for?

We will tell you later.............

What BS

[IanA]

Un-bloody-lievable!!