America's Cup. Anyone?

[John Sand]

The 34th America's Cup Regatta starts today. The oldest trophy in sports I believe, first awarded in 1851 by the Queen of England, thereafter named for the first winner, schooner America. Raced now in super high tech catamarans that exceed 40 knots. I hope it's a good series, the challenger series was a blowout, seven races to one. Put on your helmets and life vests, off we go.

[Foothiller]

Love your avatar! My wife and I got to see the last race of the Louis Vuiton cup (the America's Cup challenger qualifier) in person, and may be able to see a day of America's Cup. The boats are incredible in person!

[John Sand]

Wow, that's great! I hope for a good competition, though today was a sweep.
Thanks for the compliment. My avatar is my boat, also my beer label. The pic was taken by my wife from the beach on her iphone. It was the first time I sailed after dislocating my shoulder, I'm wearing a sling onboard. Well, the second time. The first was the day after the injury, I had to get the boat home. But I only set one sail on that occasion.

[Foothiller]

Today was what I had feared: the challengers have been practicing for weeks against other great sailors, while Oracle had only sailed against its 2nd string. Hopefully that will change soon!

By the way, anyone wanting a flood of tweets can search Twitter for "oracle", follow them, see who else Twitter suggests, follow them, etc.

[John Sand]

I agree, ENZ handled their boat better, and it was faster when the breeze was up. USA seemed a little faster in lighter air. Hopefully they come up with some solutions. With two more races today, and a two point advantage before the regatta, it would be very hard to catch ENZ if they sweep again.

[Foothiller]

Race 3 was a challenge in the upwind leg. Let's hope Race 4 goes better, or this could be over in another couple of days.

[Foothiller]

Ahhh ... Much better in Race 4. Oracle led, but New Zealand kept getting close.

On the humorous side, I noticed an America's Cup tweet saying KarlTheFog was an unaccredited guest, which led us to discover from KarlTheFog's Twitter page that the Bay Bridge, Coit Tower, fog horns, etc. also have Twitter pages, and they carry on conversations.

[John Sand]

That was a great race. The first time that Oracle sailed faster and better. The win reduced their penalty to one point, but still have a steep hill to climb. I'd love to see the US win, but even more I want a good competition.

[NOVA Brewer]

I like the way the series is being run with two races per day. With the relatively short course and the amazing speed of these boats it makes for some pretty good racing -- even on TV.

[John Sand]

True, though it puts off many traditionalists. I always liked TV match-racing. The boats are astonishing.

[Foothiller]

A disappointing result today for each team: Oracle's attempt at a different technique cost them in time, while New Zealand didn't get their 2nd race of the day. But it might give us a chance to see the racing again this Sunday, after my wife didn't the opening day crowd on Saturday and then realized both the SF Giants and SF 49ers had home games on last Sunday.

[John Sand]

I was disappointed too, but it was some great racing.

[Foothiller]

That was an exciting Race 6. I liked the NBC commentator's line: "Is this sailing's version of 'chicken'?" Now if Oracle could only find more speed upwind.

[Foothiller]

Well, I think Oracle has some more tactical planning to do.

[John Sand]

Well, I missed a couple of days of races while crewing in a classic yacht regatta, with the requisite parties! But I'll watch replays on the net.