Australia launches first America's Cup challenge in 25 years

Posted by planeray@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 9 comments

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millijuna@reddit

Now if they'd only start running the America's Cup in boats, instead of those... things.

I'll stick to watching races like the Sydney-Hobart and the like.

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Difficult_Limit2718@reddit

What's wrong with a foiling tri-maran that only has one foot in the water?

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slamallama@reddit

The program is that if you fall off those foils the speed differential is so huge that tactics are useless.

These boats have stopped the strategic elements and turned it into drag racing.

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Ok-Bar-8785@reddit

I get it, but if you look back in time the America's cup has always represented the pinnacle in sailing proformance.

If it stayed traditional another event would take its place and the cup could lose relevancy. Even sail GP has made the cup reassess it's self in how to stay at the top.

The last cup had some great match racing and lead changes and I think this next cycle will only improve on that.

I'm not a massive fan of the move to battery power, but with the boats being more = in power that should lead to more aggressive racing from all.

But yeah.. it's a bit tiring coming into the 3rd cycle hearing the same moan.

The AC75 is a absolute beasts of pure proformance. The speed it can do in next to no wind is a site to see and the angles and VMG is hard to comprehend.

The world progresses, get over it.

If you real want , the 12meters still have a active fleet so there's always that.

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See the problem I have isn't the pinnacle of technology bit, it is the match racing bit. Match racing only works when the boats are within a couple % of each other because the tactics involved require close quarters racing.

The new boats punish mistakes far too hard for match racing. Falling off the foils for even a second can lose you hundreds of yards and make all the tactics meaningless. It is simply a drag race.

People look at the Americas cup and say they want f1 of sailing and I think that is right but misguided. Of course f1 is fast, but it is at it's core a strategy sport at least as much as it is a game of raw speed.

What the foiling multihulls have created is more like the NRHA top fuel of sailing.

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AllIsNotWells@reddit

Let SailGP be the F1 of sailing and the technology proving ground. The America’s Cup should be the pinnacle of match racing and crew work. The boat formula should encourage that. You can push technology in ways that would benefit those aspects while restricting the formula to prevent push button drag races and sailing with an Xbox controller.

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__0_k__@reddit

Agreed. But that’s not going to happen, sadly. Purists should look at the TP52 and Maxi 72 fleets for modern monohull racing.

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Next-Juggernaut7404@reddit

I couldn’t agree more…unfortunately! Australia II vs Liberty era is no more. I became a professional boatbuilder mainly because of boats like these, and due to the history surrounding boats like theese.

The AC75 class honestly does nothing for me, no aesthetics and it doesn’t feel and behave like a sailing vessel in my book.

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fastsailor@reddit

Yes, i don't think the foiling craft have improved it. They detract from the match racing aa they lose so much speed during manoeuvring, so tend to minimise tacks and gybes. Sailing out to lay lines is dull and is a poor strategy in normal sailing. I also don't like that the races are so short in terms of elapsed time. Finally, the technology has no real relevance to the vast majority of the competitive sailing world.