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Goodbye cruising, hello bruising in
Cup
By
Michael Burgess, New Zealand Herald // July 24, 2011
Helmets - check. Shinpads - check. Reinforced wetsuits - check. Lifejackets
with extra padding - check.
America's Cup sailing now resembles a collision sport but Cup veteran Murray
Jones is loving every minute of it.
Along with the radical switch in design from monohulls to multihulls, there
has also been a pronounced change in the experience on board for the sailor. As
the catamarans fly across the water, it sometimes seemed that they have a mind
of their own, as the sailors struggle to control the craft and can get bounced
around like a pinball. It brings to mind the image of the large greyhound taking
its owner for a walk, while former America's Cup skipper John Bertrand compared
it to “trying to tame a wild stallion” after a recent stint on board.
Jones now goes to work with the sailing equivalent of full body armor - and
still ends each day covered in bruises. It is quite a rebirth for the
53-year-old who has needed a profound attitude adjustment. While he would often
scale the mast on the old America's Cup yachts at Team New Zealand or Alinghi,
it was still a much steadier experience.
Now it is goodbye cruising, hello bruising but Jones has the enthusiasm of a
schoolboy ahead of the inaugural America's Cup world series event in Cascais,
Portugal, early next month.
“On these boats, you can just get hammered,” says Jones. “I come in each day
covered in bruises; you can get so knocked around. They are very physical boats
and you can't let up for one second.”
Link to full article: Goodbye
cruising, hello bruising in Cup
Photo: Guilain Grenier/ORACLE Racing
Coutts strives to make Cup
appealing
Source:
DTS News Agency // July 24, 2011
Russell Coutts, CEO of ORACLE Racing, recently was interviewed by German news
agency DTS. In the interview Coutts explained his vision for the Cup, one that
sees the event TV friendly and where young sailors have an avenue to sailing’s
pinnacle event.
“Many of the rules changes we’ve made have been aimed at making the event
more attractive to television and for non-sailors,” said Coutts. “It was obvious
that we need a young audience; that we need to appeal to the Facebook
generation. We prefer electronic boundaries that narrow alleys, so that the
boats are forced to engage each other throughout the race. Now we will
experience water blitz chess.”
Link to full article: Coutts
strives to make Cup appealing to non-sailors
Original language
text: Segel-Star
Coutts: America’s Cup 2013 auch für Nichtsegler attraktiv
Behind the Sailing
Instructions
By
ORACLE Racing Comms // July 22, 2011
The Cascais AC World Series will consist of four events over nine days: the
Cascais America’s Cup Open, the America’s Cup 500 Speed Trial, the America’s Cup
Match Racing Championship and the America’s Cup World Series Cascais
Championship – a winner-takes-all race, which is the showcase competition of the
Cascais event. Following is a rundown of highlights from the Sailing
Instructions.
Opening Weekend
On Day 1, Aug. 6, 10 yachts will be on the start line for the first three
fleet races that day, each expected to last approximately 20 minutes in
duration. Following those races the first AC 500 Speed Trial is scheduled.
The speed trials will be held over a 500-meter course, the length recognized
by the World Sailing Speed Record Council for official speed records. A yacht
shall start by passing to windward of the start boat within her start window. A
yacht’s start window shall be the first 30 seconds of the minute allocated to
her by the race committee. A yacht will be ranked on her highest average speed
for a run.
Racecourse
On the final Sunday, Aug. 14, one fleet race of approximately 40 minutes in
duration is scheduled. The winner will be crowned the America’s Cup World Series
– Cascais champion.
The race will be sailed over the new racecourse developed from the testing
sessions in New Zealand and San Francisco and with great input from the sailors.
It will be used for both match racing and fleet racing.
The course features a reaching start and gates at both the windward and
leeward marks to be completed in this order: Start, M1 to port, Leeward Gate
(M3/M4), Windward Gate (M1/M2), Leeward Gate (M3/M4), finish. The distance
between the two gates will be lengthened to accommodate the longer fleet races
and the start line repositioned accordingly.
Link to full article: Behind
the Sailing Instructions
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