Is there any interest in The Admirals Cup in the US?
To see these vessels sailing at speeds up to 50 knots is amazing. The US entry after punching a 400 x 600mm hole in the hull is now expected to be back on the water within two days to race the Italians and the winner races the British for the semifinals.
These yachts are sailing on the edge of control. The British and Italian boats match racing yesterday and with the closing speeds that these yachts were moving it had more in common with an aerial dogfight than a yacht race. The other thing one notices is the noise. All the boats made a different noise but the US entry made a loud low frequency whistle.
It was fortunate that the US boat could be repaired so quickly to keep up the competition. There are quite a few yards here experienced in carbon fibre and composite construction.
I think you mean the Americas Cup. The Admirals Cup was a set of offshore races in England that hasn’t been raced for many years.
And yes, the current Americas Cup is amazing. The “boats” are going 40kts in 8 kts of wind.
The carbon fibre replacement piece for the American boat has already been fabricated by Team New Zealand’s build team and is currently being fitted. NZ does indeed have a very experienced and competent composite industry.
Obviously .i have a certain amount of biased opinion regards who is best… But I do feel for The American team.
The skipper decided for a tricky manoeuvre when they had the race to themselves… What was going through his mind?
However, even though the odds are stacked against at the moment, they can still challenge for the mainevent if they win the next two races against Italy and UK.
It has been years since I was interested in the Admirals Cup, it must have been a brain fade. A lad who sailed in centreboard yachts when I was still at school skippered a yacht that one it. Perhaps I was thinking how totally out of touch I would be sailing one of the Americas Cup boats.
As a long time student of the Cup, I’m afraid that I find little or nothing attractive about where it has ended up today. YMMV.
Cheers,
Earl
Where are you guys watching? Online, or TV?
I watched it live and knowing the harbour well couldn’t believe the speed that these vessels were moving. The TV live coverage was quite good.
Where can this be seen or streaming?
The actual America’s Cup will start Wednesday @4pm NZT which is Tuesday evening in the US. Except Thursday, racing will be every day. Many pundits expect a NZ whitewash.
They named the semi-final series the “Prada Cup Final,” which is confusing because the actual final will be the Italians vs NZ. I see now the actual final is just called “The Cup.”
For those in the US who want to watch the Cup and not pay several hundred dollars for the nbc sports “America’s cup package,” you could hypothetically use a VPN to get a NZ IP and register on the NZ America’s Cup site (hypothetically). You can stream there for free after making an account. Hypothetically speaking, it should work very well.