Pete,

Gary got lost looking for your house. I think he stayed with your neighbor because he called yesterday complaining now his toilet won't work and his cat's pregnant.

My cats are all fixed and the outhouse has a new bag of corn cobs.

so, obviously he was lost and never found your house...

It was a ProAm event - they were allowed one pro on each boat. I don't mind the yelling - it makes it interesting and cranks up the intensity.

I really liked seeing sailing on big(er) TV - but I was disappointing at the coverage. It wasn't luring to me (and I had an idea about what was going on)...I didn't make it all the way through the program before I moved onto something else.

Thinking about the other sporting events I watch, the big allure is that I get to form my own opinion while watching and I can second guess whether or not they should have gone for it on 4th down, pitted with only 12 laps to go, or replaced the pitcher in the 7th inning. I get to watch those decisions, made on the field and made in my armchair, play out.

I'm sure they were trying to get the entire event into one time segment but the coverage of this sailing event felt so compressed I felt like it lost all the nuances of sailing that make it so interesting. Shifts, tactics, etc. were downplayed or not explained. I never got any sensation of the racing area and the introduction of the teams was lacking (beyond some glorification for sailing 7 months pregnant or highlighting a few superstars). During game day, the players themselves aren't necessarily the headline anymore - their actions exceeding or not meeting expectations are. Success and failure is the theme. Terrific sporting events make great stories with twists, turns, and suspense with someone succeeding and someone failing...this coverage was like reading the obituary section.

Jake, I agree, and as you said, we even understand what is going on, yet it was so compressed as to be very hard to follow and we didn't get to hear any real tactical input prior to any decisions, or see the bigger picture as to which side was favored, and why, etc. It could have been a lot better and for an outsider, well, I can see why people don't watch sailboat racing if it's presented like this was.

I thought ESPN did a grea job showing the laylines and tactics with the last America's Cup coverage, I was expecting to see it like that on this, but this presentation was tough to like, and I like sailing!

Oh, PS, Ding and Jake, and all the other Alter Cup sailors, how about a quick appraisal of the F16's and the racing?

would love to see a new thread with a discussion of the likes/dislikes of the Viper and how it compared to the Capricorn.

Versus network did AC 32 coverage.


Has anyone seen the iShares cup coverage or the Volvo Ocean Race. I think it's done by a company called Sunset & Vine, much better racing coverage IMO. Too bad it's not on the mainstream sports networks.

Yes! here in Florida it is on Sunsports network, and recently the iShares reporting has been on regularly (at odd times though, like Tuesday mornings..) A few weeks ago they broadcasted four 30 minute iShares episodes in a row.