Mike,

I didn't mean in the sense of technology or whether or not it made sense - I just meant in the sense of sailing. I'm very familiar with the systems in use on those boats. I'm all for multihulls, wings, foils, etc. at the bleeding edge of the sport but you take someone not familiar with the America's cup and show them the New Zealand boat, everyone jumps to the conclusion that they are peddling props on the bottom of the boat. It takes a lot of explaining through furrowed brows that the bicycles (another mode of human transportation) were mounted to a sailboat (typically considered relatively slow) to build up hydraulic pressure so the two or three guys at the back of the boat can push buttons and control the sails and foils and make it go. To someone not fully invested in sailing as a sport, it sure as hell seems like a lot of complication to go 40 miles an hour....hence the tinge of absurdity.