America's Cup Kicks-Off Today (1 Viewer)

The Military Workshop said:
Newspapers in Oz today pretty much highlighting the Aussie team members in Team USA. 4/11 of final race crew were Aussie. 8 of USA team were from Oz. See final race crews below.

This Daily Mail article below is interesting for those who missed earlier part of the series.

"In desperation (after race 6), Ellison sacked his tactician, an acclaimed yacht-racing genius named John Kostecki (USA), who had made a series of errors, and replaced him with Ainslie (British), who had been included in Oracle’s team only to sail their trial boats, and — having won four Olympic gold medals in a very different form of sailing — was not considered experienced enough to play a major part in the America’s Cup".

Link below has link to another article where Ainslie talks about British team for next Cup and needing 25million per year to do it.

Article worth a read and mentions 203 people in Team USA.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lie-compared-Nelson-Americas-Cup-victory.html

ORACLE TEAM USA Crew List
Skipper: Jimmy Spithill Oz
Tactician: Ben Ainslie British
Strategist: Tom Slingsby Oz/USA
Wing trimmer: Kyle Langford Oz
Jib trimmer: Joe Newton Oz
Off-side trimmer: Rome Kirby USA
Grinders: Shannon Falcone Antigua, Joe Spooner NZ, Jono MacBeth NZ, Gillo Nobili Italian, Simeon Tienpont Dutch

Emirates Team New Zealand Crew List
Skipper/helmsman: Dean Barker NZ
Tactician: Ray Davies NZ
Wing Trimmer: Glenn Ashby Oz
Trimmer: James Dagg NZ
Bow: Adam Beashel NZ/Oz
Pit: Jeremy Lomas NZ
Pedestal 1: Chris Ward NZ Pedestal 2: Rob Waddell NZ, Pedestal 3: Grant Dalton NZ, Pedestal 4: Chris McAsey NZ, Float/Grinder: Derek Saward ?
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I do not know if you would have seen the joke Bob Hawk cracked while discussing the Aust win 30 odd yrs ago with Bertrum and Bond.....good old Bob used the F word in the punchline and had me laughing my gut out.....the poor old Kiwi's.....next time they say the Wallyabies chocked in a game,,,we can remind them about the cup......cheers TomB
 
I have read a few articles about the recent race and all of them refer to "sailing machines" rather than "sail boats". I find that in and of itself interesting. It sums up the fact that these are not boats and this is not even true sailing.
 
Rob said:
That's quite a gap then, thought it may be more often than that. I enjoyed watching them race and had never watched much competitive sailing up until the last couple of Olympics.

Rob
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Rob mate, since the Aussie's took the cup back in the early 80's, the cup holders have spent more time in the court room than on the water probably a thousands times over. This latest races in SF took nearly 4 years of court battles between Larry Ellison's 'Oracle' & the Italians to finally get on the water.

Sadly, all that these time consuming court scraps have achieved, is to put off potential challenges, plus blow budgets through the roof......{sm2}
 
Ive sailed all my life and the best thing to happen to the America,s cup was Australia winning it in 83,and the worst thing to happen to the America,s cup was Australia winning it in 83.
Now its not about sailing anymore its all about MONEY,and IMO has ruined what was to me one of the greatest sailing races in the world only second to the Sydney to Hobart.

I sailed on Gretal II and it was a beautiful boat,the sooner they go back to 12metre yachts the better,and make it a race/cup that many countries can compete in,not a race about who has the most money but which country has the best yacht and crew,which also should only be from that yachts country.
 
Desertkiwi said:
For those interested, below is an interview with America's Cup great, Dennis Connor on the eve of the final race. He has a 'sailors' insight into the current series that many of you will find interesting......have a listen, you won't be disappointed.


http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Americas...s-Lush/tabid/506/articleID/38064/Default.aspx
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Interesting that he said sailing world wanted NZ to win. Connór's first remark was that wanted NZ to win but NZ interviewer did not specifically ask him why. Connor wants to go back to more traditional sailing.
 
The Military Workshop said:
Interesting that he said sailing world wanted NZ to win. Connór's first remark was that wanted NZ to win but NZ interviewer did not specifically ask him why. Connor wants to go back to more traditional sailing.
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I think the winner gets to pick the rules for the next race so his thinking was probably that NZ would favor a less high tech format, perhaps even a monohull. Ellison will certainly not be in favor of giving up his robo boat approach. As well as being very correct, I though the interview was most amusing since the reporter kept inviting Connor to say glowing things about the race and the winners and he kept dumping on both. It seemed that the questions were totally scripted and had no relationship to the answers. Perhaps a computer wrote them.
 
Harper said:
I think the winner gets to pick the rules for the next race so his thinking was probably that NZ would favor a less high tech format, perhaps even a monohull. Ellison will certainly not be in favor of giving up his robo boat approach. As well as being very correct, I though the interview was most amusing since the reporter kept inviting Connor to say glowing things about the race and the winners and he kept dumping on both. It seemed that the questions were totally scripted and had no relationship to the answers. Perhaps a computer wrote them.
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I'd heard the tail end of an earlier interview with Dennis Connor, where he talks about the cup in SF, but haven't been unable to find it to post a link. Again he talks about Ellison and the introduction of the Cats.

I'm sure the interview was edited, but the guy you hear interviewing Connor, Marcus Lush is pretty onto it and mentioned later in his radio slot how Connor had taken a while to answer some questions. He did say he 'shot from the hip' and was straight up with his comments which was refreshing.

When the Kiwis were racing against him and his 'Stars & Strips' team many moons ago, things got fairly heated at times and Connor was considered by many Kiwi's as public enemy number one after his cheating claims by the Kiwi's, I think that's why Lush was not wanting to sound like he was putting the boot into Oracle or Connor for that matter.

Connor is actually well respected down here, not because he supported the Kiwi team, but because his views make sense and he has this no nonsense approach which Kiwi's like.

I'm sounding really biased here, but the average Kiwi has a very strong sense of fair play and I think that is why many, including Americans would have liked to have seen us take it out. The belief being that we would put on a fairer regatta, that is less expensive and more accessible to other countries.

Time will tell.....
 
News from yesterday. I saw mention of them wanting crews to be at least 50% from country of the actual team.

Australia will challenge for the next America's Cup after the Hamilton Island Yacht Club was confirmed as the challenger of record to Cup holder Oracle Team USA on Tuesday (AEST).

The club is led by Australian winemaker Bob Oatley, whose super-maxi yacht Wild Oats XI has won the Sydney to Hobart yacht race six times, and is the defending champion.

Oatley's son Sandy says Australia's yachting prowess and the increased interest in the recent America's Cup regatta meant the time was right to launch a campaign.

"We all watched the (London) Olympics on TV and how close with the technology getting in there and the America's Cup," he said.

"We were all on the boats and feeling the pain and the sweat, and the tears. Having the audience so close to the foreshore so they can hear and breathe and listen and breathe with the sailors. It was great."

The Golden Gate Yacht Club, the defender of the Cup through Oracle Team USA, announced the challenge and its acceptance in a statement.

"We are delighted to have Hamilton Island Yacht Club and the Oatley's leading Australia back into the America's Cup for the first time since 2000," said Golden Gate Yacht Club vice commodore and America's Cup liaison Tom Ehman.

"Hamilton Island's challenge was filed on the day Australia was celebrating the 30th anniversary of Australia II's historic win in the 1983 America's Cup off Newport, Rhode Island, which ended New York Yacht Club's 132-year reign as the Cup's defender."

Oracle won the Cup 9-8 over Team New Zealand after a stunning comeback from 8-1 down. The Cup was contested with 72-foot catamarans, although there is no guarantee that the same boats will be used next time.

The last time the Cup was held in Australia was in 1987, when Kookaburra III was defeated by Dennis Conner's Stars and Stripes in Fremantle.

First Australian challenge since 2000
Australia last competed in the event in 2000, when yachtsman Syd Fischer put together the Young Australia challenge that failed to get through to the final Cup series.

Australian Jimmy Spithill, who skippered that challenge, was the winning skipper on Oracle Team USA in this year's Cup win.

Spithill was joined by countrymen such as Olympic gold medallist Tom Slingsby but Sandy Oatley says it is too early to start approaching Australian sailors involved in the just-completed America's Cup regatta.

"A lot of the Oracle and Team New Zealand crew, they are contracted, so we don't know until their hand is shown as to who we can approach," he said.

The dates, types of boat, format and rules for the next Cup series will be subject to negotiation between Oracle and the challenger of record.

A protocol is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2014.

Yachting Australia chief executive Phil Jones congratulated the Hamilton Island Yacht Club on being named as the challenger of record.

"On behalf of the Australian sailing community I’d like to congratulate Bob and Sandy Oatley, and the Hamilton Island Yacht Club, on being announced as the Challenger of Record for the next America’s Cup," Jones said.

"The most recent America’s Cup was incredibly exciting for old and new sailing fans and we look forward to seeing an Australian boat compete for the oldest trophy in sport once again."

Sandy Oatley says Oracle Team USA's Larry Ellison deserved much praise for re-igniting public interest in the America's Cup.

"Larry and his team have done a great job in changing it and we hopefully can both take it to another level," he said.
 
Nice post Brett, yeah our lads were given a big welcome home ceremony yesterday, back here in Auckland on the waterfront, was a big turn out. You would have thought they'd won the cup, judging from the size of the crowd. Was emotional stuff really and the government has now committed itself to helping to support the team financially to have another crack at the old mug.

It's estimated that all up it cost Team NZ 100 million to compete in SF, most of it coming from sponsors......still that's a heck of a lot of money to race boats around a harbour.

Great seeing you Aussie's getting back involved again.:salute::
 
Desertkiwi said:
Nice post Brett, yeah our lads were given a big welcome home ceremony yesterday, back here in Auckland on the waterfront, was a big turn out. You would have thought they'd won the cup, judging from the size of the crowd. Was emotional stuff really and the government has now committed itself to helping to support the team financially to have another crack at the old mug.

It's estimated that all up it cost Team NZ 100 million to compete in SF, most of it coming from sponsors......still that's a heck of a lot of money to race boats around a harbour.

Great seeing you Aussie's getting back involved again.:salute::
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100 million!!!! Good Lord, you could start up your own TS company and make all those figures and etc that you always wanted and then some with money like that. With an Australian team having a go next time there will more interest here over the cup. I hope they wise up and return it to the old format like when Australia 2 won it, but I can't see that happeneing.
Wayne.
 
waynepoo said:
100 million!!!! Good Lord, you could start up your own TS company and make all those figures and etc that you always wanted and then some with money like that. With an Australian team having a go next time there will more interest here over the cup. I hope they wise up and return it to the old format like when Australia 2 won it, but I can't see that happeneing.
Wayne.
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Yeah that's seriously crazy money Wayne and by all accounts it's going to get more expensive to race again this time around{eek3} For the Kiwi's to have a chance at racing last time, the NZ Govt had to put up 36 million in 2008 to get the ball rolling and to prove to the sponsors we were serious contenders.

There was a lot of debate about this at the time down here and not everyone was happy, especially with the recession and all. It's paid off though and according to economists and those involved in IT and yachting circles, it was a good investment overall.

Our Govt has just announced it's prepared to back the team again, but who knows how much this time??
 
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