Some of the most boring coverage ever. They really need to get someone with a little attitude. Someone that has spent some time on these boats and knows first hand what it is like to race them. Plus a few real personal insites on the sailors and thier sailing style. And just a little excitment. It was like watching American commentary soccer.
Even taped I could not maintain enough interest to watch much of the match race.
You have to figure that most people watching this are sailors. We don't need comments like "the long piece above the word Oracale is a dagger board". Maybe show that info in a small technical window or something but I felt like it was geared for sailing for dummies. If you are going that route do a whole preliminary piece before that race on how and what makes these boats special. That way the new viewers will know what they are looking at during the race and the commentary can be race oriented.
I agree, everyone gets so fixed on making the sport interesting that they forget all the interest available with the people doing it. I think they did a good job on the coverage - but it could have been better with a little more introduction of the teams and some of their traits.
Having a mockup of a boat like NASCAR does would be really interesting so they can explain the features of the boat if something comes up. Or do a segment prior to the racing to explain some of the systems on the boats or a key item that has changed recently. Instead of a basic "daggerboard is above the word Oracle", a 3 minute segment on the daggerboard with a host standing next to one would be really cool. Explain how they use them, what they do, how they're rigged, how long they are and how heavy they are would be interesting. Show a cut-away to display the carbon fiber glory and discuss the loads these things have to carry to go fast. Hell, steal a page from "How it's made" into a segment and show a mold and fabric being laid.
