I used to race 420s competitively in college, so I was into the whole sailing scene back then – I followed New Zealand’s 1992 victory in Black Magic very closely. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get back into the sailing scene since then for a variety of reasons. If you’re not actively sailing yourself, it’s hard to maintain interest in professional-level sailing – a spectator sport it ain’t.
I would only add that the movie “Wind” is a big honkin’ load of crap (hey Einstein – your secret weapon, the “whomper,” is just an asymmetrical spinnaker – hardly a jaw-dropping new innovation). It did have nice cinematography, though.
“Wind” was the film where Jennifer Grey got her nose and appearance altered. She starts to look much less like she did in “Ferris Bueller”.
The America’s Cup races suffer from the fact that: 1) they are taking place in New Zealand and 2) they are not in the finals yet. I think once the finals start, ESPN will have more coverage. Since they are taking place in New Zealand, they will provide ideal middle of the night time filler.
I don’t know how excited Americans will get over an intramural battle between Larry Ellison and Paul Allen however.
I watched it for 130 years and then we (the US) lost and I lost interest.
Actually, I find the technology and techniques fascinating. But, it is incredibly hard to watch for the most part. I like the highlights and the final.
BobT: Well in New Zealand they’re being used as ideal daytime TV filler so I guess it kind of evens out.
Your all-American match-uplooks like its going to be sooner rather than later, as OneWorld looks set to go up against Oracle to see who goes on to challenge Alinghi in the Louis Vuitton final…
Currently Alinghi look pretty hard to beat, so the world will be watching a small, land-locked European nation take on a small South Pacific island nation for the America’s Cup?!
Okay, IANAY (I Am Not A Yachtsman), but what happens if the Swiss boat wins? IIRC, the defense of the CUP takes place in the home port of the defender. What would we be looking at? Lake Geneva?
The question is academic as TNZ has cunningly catered for that eventuality by allowing their star helmsman from last time to ‘defect’ to the Swiss syndicate…
One ‘wrong’ tack into the side of the Black Boat is all that will be needed if they come close to winning.
Actually I have no idea, I think the old Deed of Gift requires it to be an ocean race, so no doubt Alinghi would buy a small island in the Med and run the race off there.
I’ve been sailing for close to 20 years, my husband for over 30. Our boat is a cruiser rather than a racer, but we do enjoy watching the high-tech go-fast boats. I’m not rabid about it, but if I’m channel surfing and I happen to come across the races, I’ll watch. I venture to say that none of my coworkers know or care about the Cup. In fact, I expect most of the country doesn’t care. It’s not fast enough or dangerous enough or sexy enough for your average person. So, we elitists will enjoy it privately as we sip our Chardonnay and sample our pate and cavier.
I watched the Fremantle races in 1987, which meant getting up in the middle of the night. I know nothing about yatching, but it was one of the most exciting sports event I had seen. It was visually stunning and the races were unpredictable. I didn’t know sails could be replaced so fast after getting ripped up. I know a lot of people in Idaho were watching becuse we’d all talk about the previous night’s race each day.
The next challenge was so cantakerous, with some big-ass boat and a catamaran, that I lost all interest.
There was more interest and coverage in the past. It died off when the U.S. finally lost it. Then, IIRC, the next challenge had a catamaran going against a 12-meter and most of the sailboaters I know lost interest.
