The sad part of watching Tim Howard was...the rest of his team gave him NO support! Heck, they didn't even start playing until the final 5 minutes, when that rookie from Tampa got the one goal! Where was he earlier in the series, and why did the US Coach wait so long to put him in?

Now, back to the big Cats vs. Mono for the AC debate.

I remember watching many of the 12 meter AC regattas, and later regattas when they switched to the AC boats. As soon as one boat got ahead, they pretty much stayed there for the rest of the race....slowly going nowhere at great expense.

We thought the same thing was going to happen last year, but the speed of the big cats proved they could catch up, close huge gaps and even pass, with several lead changes all in one race. It was by all accounts the most exciting AC racing in years, if not of all time.

How they could even consider going back to mono's, and watching paint dry, is beyond me, but nothing would surprise me when you get the ego's of Billionaires involved in making those decisions.

Unless they keep it foiling, I doubt it will draw the TV coverage or non-sailing audience of the last one. As to the "Commercial Viability" of it, well, they need more teams to enter and compete, as the Scuttlebutt article points out.

So how do you get more teams to enter?

You have to make it 'more fair' i.e. cheaper, i.e. smaller (foiling) cats...with soft sails, or, if a wing, figure out a better/cheaper way to raise/lower and stow it.