Anyone else been watching the Americas Cup?
Team New Zealand did a wide gybe and hit 47.18 knots in race 7 of the Louis Vitton finals... they reckon they will have a crack at 50 knots by regattas end.
http://www.americascup.com/en/news/3/news/17613/emirates-team-new-zealand-opens-6-1-lead-in-louis-vuitton-cup-final

In 18 knots, maximum gust of 21.4 ! According to the report.

I watched that on Sunday. Seeing that beast bear off as it rounds a mark is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From the on water shots watching it come towards the camera was scary stuff. Was just waiting for it to dig a hull and pitch pole!!!!!!

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Ian K said..

In 18 knots, maximum gust of 21.4 ! According to the report.

that's impressive.

Pretty incredible footage..
Especially awesome watching emirates go down the mine at 40knots
And loosing 2 crew!
How you can still finish and get points with some of your crew missing is a bit strange!

Watch them do it... the 52:30 mark of
Amazing.

This vid is old news but good watching if you haven't seen it. Some people argue that while the big AC cats are spectacular, the match racing isn't. The big cats are so fast and dangerous that they can't really get in close and mix it up like the old days. I guess massive catamarans doing high speeds appeals to a wider audience, and with the amount of sponsorship dollars involved it's hard to argue.

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Cluffy said..

This vid is old news but good watching if you haven't seen it. Some people argue that while the big AC cats are spectacular, the match racing isn't. The big cats are so fast and dangerous that they can't really get in close and mix it up like the old days. I guess massive catamarans doing high speeds appeals to a wider audience, and with the amount of sponsorship dollars involved it's hard to argue.

The AC has always been the same though, someone always has a faster boat and particularly post the 12m days it's very rare that the fastest boat does not win. Match racing is always boring in my opinion, once someone is ahead and has a commanding position it takes a monemental stuff up for them to lose. Nothing is different here it's just at the boat speeds are so high at the distance looks enormous.

The AC has always been somewhat about match racing but it's also always been about building the most extreme boats possible under the rules, in that scenario, this AC delivers. Sure, not quite as extreme as BOR90 was but that was light wind optimised and didn't foil

I can't imagine them going back to 24m-ish mono's....f me it will be boring, and the best racing by far is the Ac world series with the AC45's, puts match racing to shame

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windjunky said..

Watch them do it... the 52:30 mark of

?rel=0
Amazing.

The acceleration when they bear off the wind is staggering.