Something to watch while in lockdown...

Most of you probably know the Americas Cup is taking place this year. The PRADA Cup, which is the challenger series, is taking place in Auckland (NZ) and already started yesterday. Those lucky enough to have Sky Sports can find it live on the Sky Sports Mix channel.

Those without Sky can find it recorded on YouTube. Team INEOS UK had been struggling previously and not won any races but a lot of changes to their boat in the last couple of weeks has improved their chances of taking on Emirates Team New Zealand, the current Americas Cup holders in the final.

I will try and post the videos as they become available.

 

 

Lots of wind for day 3 🙂

 

Couple of corrections - you don’t need to have Sky Sports to watch Sky Sports Mix - it’s part of the standard Sky package (channel 416) and the races are LIVE on YouTube, not just recorded. 

3 minutes ago, Downbytheriver said:

Couple of corrections - you don’t need to have Sky Sports to watch Sky Sports Mix - it’s part of the standard Sky package (channel 416) and the races are LIVE on YouTube, not just recorded. 

That's good to hear 🙂

I am agreeably suprised by the quality of the you tube presentation, never thought a foiler lowriding could produce excitement, also after the pre christmas racing Brittannia is finally racing, well done to the team who must have rebuilt the boat

7 hours ago, Mike Ewart said:

I am agreeably suprised by the quality of the you tube presentation, never thought a foiler lowriding could produce excitement, also after the pre christmas racing Brittannia is finally racing, well done to the team who must have rebuilt the boat

The quality is excellent and by watching on You Tube you can view it at anytime and avoid delays, I also like Ken Read as a commentator, Nathan Outteridge is also good but Shirley Robertson is the star. After the boats of course🤣🤣

got to agree with you about Shirley Robertson, she should be in the booth for at least half the time, her commentary yesterday was great and her on the water commentary is great

I watch it with the sound off and FF to about two minutes before the start because I find the commentary so banal, but each to his own.  If you have Sky or Virgin then it's worth recording both the live and the replay versions as they frequently get delays and the live version can finish before the race does.  The boat designs are interesting from a safety point of view as half the crew would be underwater in the normal capsized position.  Let's hope there isn't anything for their clothing or safety lines to snag on.

It's worth having a look at some of the survival training the teams have to do. It's pretty terrifying in itself and shows quite how seriously they're taking it.

Quite fun watching the marginal-foiling races. Realising you're sailing out of the front of the puffs is quite a watershed moment.

1 hour ago, John949 said:

I watch it with the sound off and FF to about two minutes before the start because I find the commentary so banal, but each to his own.  If you have Sky or Virgin then it's worth recording both the live and the replay versions as they frequently get delays and the live version can finish before the race does.  The boat designs are interesting from a safety point of view as half the crew would be underwater in the normal capsized position.  Let's hope there isn't anything for their clothing or safety lines to snag on.

If you notice there's a mouthpiece attached in easy reach in their clothing.  Result of the unfortunate incident that resulted in the death of Andrew (Bart) Simpson 

Additionally, there is a safety diver in the chase boat - in the case of INEOS he happens to be a mate of mine. 

 

That port starboard on the final leg must have been a bit of a buttock clencher at 40+kts!

Does their GPS software not do position prediction and therefore tell them if they can cross safely?  I'm all in favour of innovation in sailing but we need to be careful that sailing doesn't become a contest in software writing rather than human skill.

1 hour ago, Barry Chisam said:

Almost certainly there is predictive software that could calculate if boats were likely to cross safely. I doubt any of them would be able to take into account the speed changes involved in gusts, the sailing angle changes of both boats due to windshifts and tacticle decisions.

The Mk 1 eyeball coupled to the human brain (well some) is still probably the best computer for this situation.

Hi Barry,

I think that I heard them say that the Judge's race management software has just such a thing and is why they were able to make a quick decision on Saturday.

I think that it was in the post race press conference about the on the water umpires had the necessary GPS enabled tools to decide on whether it was a penalty or not.  I would expect both Umpires (I think that there is an Umpire boat typically following each contender) to have communicated and both agreed prior to the "No Penalty" announcement being made.

Bit of insight into the Race Management technology here - 

 

We’re back on tonight - first two semi-final races - Luna Rosa vs American Magic. It’ll be interesting to see if Patriot 2 is sorted out... and a miracle if it is!  

Patriot didnt look sorted to me , they looked very wary of the boat and were undercanvassed as well, not saying I wouldnt feel the same but after todays performance  we need to watch Luna Rossa she looked great today

Yep, Patriot needs a lot of sorting at this stage.

 

Doesn't need a lot of sorting to not be miles off the start line! That's poor start management on board!  Starting second in a two boat race isn't a good plan...

Shame to see it end that way for Patriot. Looking forward to the finals..

I heard that their rudder was bent in the pitchpole and while they were able to bend it back it wasn't as good as new...

On 29/01/2021 at 14:11, Mike Ewart said:

Patriot didnt look sorted to me , they looked very wary of the boat and were undercanvassed as well, not saying I wouldnt feel the same but after todays performance  we need to watch Luna Rossa she looked great today

Finals Day 1

Day 2

 

that was painful watching and day 2 was just as bad, come on Ineos 

2 hours ago, Mike Ewart said:

that was painful watching and day 2 was just as bad, come on Ineos 

It was. 

Prada looks just a shade faster and covered all options.