Watching the flat-earthers over at the SA AC forum is hilarious.

You just can't teach some people.Screw 'em.
As far as AC-72/ AC 45: Hell Yeah!!!

I believe the actual quote from the press release was "junior league" - not "youth" league...which I can imagine in some other dialects of English (Aussie, UK, etc.) could mean "minor league" and not necessarily our common usage of "junior" to mean "youth". It would be silly to put 12 year olds on a 45 foot winged catamaran.

It makes me wonder if this is the reason that the general populous has a hard time relating to sailing as a sport. Most sailboats they see are very mundane slow pigs and while yes, a Melges 24 can be exciting, from the outside it seems like a lot of work with a lot of hands to go 16 knots. For some reason, sailing is stuck with the most visual part of our racing done in minivans while the automotive equivalent of Formula 1's are the odd ball multihull outsiders. I would have a hard time identifying with that pecking order too.

http://cdn.americascup.com/AC34-Protocol-9-Sep-2010.pdf

Here's the protocol, probably already posted. I didn't look. I expect it's in there. I think I read somewhere else that it was like Jake said , a minor league thing.

I looked and they used both "junior" and "youth" once in the document in an oblique method "...as in a youth event". Lord knows what it means.

i for one couldn't be happier with all the news.

i think it sounds amazing and it seems good for the sport and hopefully it will find a media outlet and sponsors that result in new cats designed and boats sold.

great avitar - Beaker - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Beaker_muppet.jpg

The monosluggers kicked us out of the Olympics and the multis repayed them by taking over the AC. Poetic justice if there ever was one !

Absolutely brilliant.

Wouter

+1

man I so thought that the "multihull stigma" was over and done with - that with our latest offerings of F18, A class, F16, F20 etc, that we had finally proven that we were "real" sailors.

But now to see the reactions that permeate the AC forum over at SA, and other sailing forums, I'm not only convinced that its real, but its real ugly.

People, including me, have used the word bigot to describe these people who demonstrate an irrational loathing for multihulls. I don't know of a better word for it personally. Its as if they fear what they don't understand, and have to lash out at it.

I'm excited for the AC34, but sad at the same time - because if its a bust its just going to vindicate these nay-sayers.

it's just a vocal minority. They'll get over it.

I don't know Jake, there seems to be a lot of them.

"man I so thought that the "multihull stigma" was over and done with"

Never gonna happen! You might as well try converting a chocolate lover to vanilla.

Why do you think they chose that size? it seems awfully big/expensive - from construction to maintenance to shipping to storage; won't it preclude some teams from competing due to expense? It seems they could have gone smaller and made the event more accessible to more teams.

Any ideas? Is it so that spectators can see them more easily from shore? Is it because that is more comparable to the ocean racing multi's and good designs are already present?

Gotta think that this will add pressure to bring Cats back to the Olympics....

The size, cost and date are all deliberate to keep the field small. This gives home team has a signficant advantage which of course is by design. Keep in mind this is and always has been just a game between the hyper rich and their toys.

I suspect it will do nada for cats in the Olympics, I also predict sailing at the Olympics is not long for this world. The Olympics is becoming or has become more about the $$ than the competition. If it doesn't get viewership and sell ad space it has gotta go.

We're viewed as a vocal minority as well, just keep that in mind...

Mike

<**** necessary to support their weak viewpoint.
It's been this way since Amaryllis, I don't suspect change will happen quick. Having said that hearing what the NYYC commodore and PRO had to say at the LAC awards was refreshing, so we may be making some small gains.

I don't think a competition between 72ft winged cats designed to a tight box rule under mutual consent can bust. This AC scheme seems to be professionally designed to yield a profitable show and that can't be done without interesting races.

If they were smart enough to switch to multihulls against the wishes of the majority of the sailing community, they should be smart enough to make money - and that is first requirement to get to the AC.