Ben Hall was at GYC with his "Wing". I didn't notice a performance difference on Sunday. However, because of the high winds on Saturday, he left the top section off. That was slower downwind, imo.

My opinion (based on information recieved from credible sources, unlike your web opinion) is that the design is exceptional and shows a good deal of innovation compared to the current benchmark designs.

I am flying to LA tomorrow and then off to San Fran for a few weeks, but maybe I will have to keep guessing...

Interesting to us cat sailors from a technical point of view

But... what we really want is to see is a high speed, gear changing, position changing race!

The public can't really see the speed on the TV set. .. So what if they do 20 miles in an hour....

I hope that these big cats are nimble...(but don't have much hope)... I think they will be strait line speed demons.

Tack's and Gibes will be rare! Boat to Boat dueling could be very very rare... especially if one has a speed advantage.

I think the ICCC showed the potential of a match race with cats and had a decent amount of lead changes.

The VX 40's looked awesome and very nimble in the in port racing in Baltimore.

I think something on these lines would be best for our sport.

Put all teams in F18's and see who is the real winner!

They still have the pre-start manouvers to consider, and they both know that the race can be won or lost there. I think we will see plenty nimble. I just hope one team dont have a speed advantage so we get to see some real match racing.

I've used a very complicated formula to decide who to root for. I look at Woooooter's post and see who he backs, that would mean that's the a$$hat, so I then support the other.
Wouter do you practice being such a tool? I'll give you this, your consistent.

Todd

Thanks Todd, I needed a laugh!!!

I wonder if they'll have trapezes? Probably not, but six guys hanging off the side of the boat in a blow? That would be cool.

Wouldn't crashes make the AC a bit more interesting to the general puclic? I think a majority of people watch Nascar just for the wrecks. With EXTREME everything nowdays I think a small element of danger would add some appeal for alot of people.

Crashes would result in 20 secs of interest, and 20 years of backtalk about how dangerous, unseaworthy, prone to breakage etc. multihulls are. Not good.

These boats will probably have some monster winches, so they will need at least some of the crew on the grinders. Even if they use hydraulics someone will have to pump the pressure up. Will probably have wheels instead of tillers as well, so helmsman also sits in. Trapeezes would probably be a disadvantage all over for boats of this size. Slower manouvering, higher risk for messing up etc etc.

good ol PILE ON!!!! if it pitchpoled with 6 dudes on the wire
<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Thats kinda what I was thinking.

Could we really loose any more credit within the mono community though? They already view multi's as inferior to thier boats, what's to lose? It the general public you want to get interested. Those that still have a plyable opinion and aren't set in stone as to what they want. Obviously what we're doing isn't raking in the numbers.

Bertarelli has a LOT of success racing multi campaigns.
Naive to think he won't be up to speed so to speak.
Does not matter about the money involved here, it is all about what media coverage these races (only three) does for multi racing.

The "tactics" argument does not wash here as the last AC final saw NO tactical sense whatsoever. The NZ tactician was remedial at best.
If they can get these boats on screen in 15/20 knots televised yacht racing will never be the same.

There will be a lot of Frenchmen doing summersaults today.

Also, it is clear to me that what is really in play here is personality clashes between Lary, Ernesto, Brad and Russell.

How nasty is the split between the Kiwi pair? and how bad does Russell want to beat the "Swiss" pair?

This should wind up into a really nasty "catfight"

Coutts is launching the 70 foot class next year so he will be a happy camper at about now......but if Ernesto beats him on the water.....

annnnnd where are Ashby and Bundock today?....never mind tired old mono sailors, I know who I would be paying the big cheque to.

What is the timing relative to china?

Could the top guys pull of their campaign and do a cup campaign at the same time...

We know where the pay checks will come from.

I imagine Smyth is at the top of someone's list, eh?

I was wondering if either team had hired Randy yet... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

He was in Houston not too long ago for a project boat of a friend of mines. He also joined us at our club party. He didn't say anything then, but again, this deal was still in court too. I bet somebody is trying to snag him up.

Lets not forget also that the 88 cup was a disgrace due to a the legal battle (such as here) and second the races where not even close. That cat walked all over Bonds boat like an A cat to an Island Packet. This race of course will be cat against cat, a much fairer fight. I too am routig for BMW for two reasons. One because Bertelli has deliberatly in my opinion screwed up the AC, and secondly because I support my country in any sporting event when competeing against other countries.

/quote]

Lets not forget also that the 88 cup was a disgrace due to a the legal battle (such as here) and second the races where not even close. That cat walked all over Bonds boat like an A cat to an Island Packet. This race of course will be cat against cat, a much fairer fight. I too am routig for BMW for two reasons. One because Bertelli has deliberatly in my opinion screwed up the AC, and secondly because I support my country in any sporting event when competeing against other countries. [/quote]

Wasn't Bond it was a Kiwi and the only disgrace was that the fat guy did not turn up in a sloop and race a match. The "Big Boat" was the fastest mono around an Americas Cup course ever and represented the beginning of all of the outrageous designs we attempt today. It was a great and outrageous dream that wimps just did not turn up to.

Of course the cat won....that is why we all sail them right?

Well, this is a pretty cool birthday present!

I echo others here, let's hope this goes well and isn't seen as another waste of time before getting back to "proper" boats for the AC.

Whether or not this helps the Olympic situation remains to be seen, IMO.

Mike

Wasn't Bond it was a Kiwi and the only disgrace was that the fat guy did not turn up in a sloop and race a match. The "Big Boat" was the fastest mono around an Americas Cup course ever and represented the beginning of all of the outrageous designs we attempt today. It was a great and outrageous dream that wimps just did not turn up to.

Of course the cat won....that is why we all sail them right? [/quote]

The fat guy, as you so eloquently put it, showed up in a cat because based on the intel that they had, they thought NZ was bringing a cat also. My point as to why it was a disgrace, in my humble opinion, is because the TWO teams could not play by the spirit of the rules. While I am sure there are two sides to every story NZ certainly has some of the blame to shoulder. Having said all this, it is distant in the past where it should stay. I just hope history does not repeat itself. Also, my sincere apologies for mistakingly saying Bond instead of Fay. I meant no ill will as it was an accident. By the way, I thank NZ1 was a cool boat too. I still have a copy of a magazine with it on the cover.