the only bad rap on the last cup was, it was too expensive, and nobody showed up (competitor wise)
Are you talking about the last AC or all of the ones prior to that?
I think that the 12 meter rule was about the only time the AC was deemed "affordable" and that was using a very liberal definition of the term...
My limited recollection of the history of the Cup demonstrates a lot of the cutting edge of design and materials (which couldn't have been cheap at the time)... Marconi rig, winged keels, composite construction, laminated sails, etc.
why is this current iteration supposed to be different?
