It's true, Jake. All I hear is denigrating comments. Not "wow, look at that thing," but "what a sad, sad joke," instead. Blue Blazer types are outraged. It sucks to be enlightened during dark times.

word on the street is that the wing comes out tomorrow. Stay tuned!

and from last Thursday...a little training session of San Diego. Notice how the RIB nearly disappears under the swell at the end of the clip.

Jesus, that's cool.

Why boards-up, I wonder?

Huh? Boards are down.
That video is cool but would it have killed them to be a little closer? At first I thought it was a scene from waterworld!

I also read an interview from Dennis Conner about the wing from '88, he said that a softsail performed better in light winds, for some reason I thought it was the other way around.

One of the semi-recent changes were these elevator posts that are hinged at the hull and mounted right next to the board. They are used to support lines that hydraulically raise and lower the j-boards (and probably the straight boards - they're now setup to run both). I think Alinghi had those first. That's what you see on the leeward hull - it's not the board. The leeward board is down. On the windward hull, the elevator post is mostly parallel to the mostly raised board so it's hard to see.

Seems that the j-boards work better in light air and the straight boards in heavier...that seems to be how they're using them.

that is just amazing. how much wind?

I'm not sure what you're asking me.

What's the wind speed in the video? 8?

looks about right to me.

Don't think we'll see a wing today after all - maybe not this week. Will know more tomorrow.

thanks Jake, you are doing a great job of keeping us posted.
After seeing that video... i think i need a cigarette (quit years ago)...

Direct link to the A5 cat, cool video:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2561124001?bclid=23754231001&bctid=47800197001

That is a nice video - the fore/aft trim on the boat is DEFINITELY more traditional now. Interesting!

I have to say.... that after watching that video - those guys don't deserve to work for such an **** like EB.

Seem like genuinely cool dudes.

An update on the legal process:

Last week as most of you know, the NY court deemed RAK (in the middle east) a non-legal venue for the event because A) it's in the Northern Hemisphere and not DoG legal and B) because the United Arab Emirates have some discriminatory policies in place regarding nationality and religion. Since the trust is overseen by the state of New York, any venue would need to uphold the anti-discrimination laws of said state.

Cahn's ruling stipulated Valencia, Spain and required SNG to provide a 6 month notice to the venue announcement. This creates a little bit of an impass because the 6 month window is gone (less than 100 days remain) and there's some dispute about Valencia being Deed Legal (although Cahn's ruling specifically named it...it will probably be in Valencia). GGYC/BMWO has already said they agree to waive the 6mo notice requirement for Valencia since both teams already have bases there - they clearly wanted to race in Valencia from the beginning. SNG/Alinghi claims Valencia is not "safe" to race in February because the weather too unpredictable and it might take 30 days to get three races in.

This will also lead to Alinghi putting wind limits in the SI's and another legal fuss over that (hopefully that is being headed off at the pass this week). The court established a date for racing to start and the Deed of Gift stipulates that the date of the first race is determined by the challenger (GGYC/BMWO). Conceivably, if racing is to be canceled that day by some provision in the Sailing Instructions, it should have been done so by the defender with the mutual consent of the challenger. SNG/Alinghi have shown no willingness to discuss any rule, measurement, or race details with the challenger so far.

SNG/Alinghi appealed Kornreich's ruling on RAK yesterday as well...the appeal probably doesn't stand much chance (if nothing else but for the anti-discrimination laws)...but it's possible that this tactic could delay the match which leads to a whole new can of worms. Hopefully the courts will either say "go race first" as was done in 1988 or quickly hear the appeal (which is somewhat unlikely).

Also ruled late on Friday was that it was illegal of SNG/Alinghi to include rudders in the LWL (Load Water Line) measurement...which means that the GGYC/BMWO trimaran should legally measure in now.

A new legal tactic has been employed by Kornreich (the NY judge hearing the issues now) that should quickly get to the bottom of any more issues. Each side nominated one "independent" judge that has participated in past America's Cup events. Those two judges selected a third person also with America's Cup sailing judicial experience. These three people form a panel that will advise the court on the technical issues being presented (sailing rules, measurement rules, weather, etc.). A hearing was scheduled for this Wednesday but the third judge, from New Zealand or Australia (I forget which), couldn't physically get to New York in time. A hearing has been scheduled for this Friday to listen to the Alinghi complaint that Valencia Spain isn't "safe" to sail in February due to unpredictable weather and we also expect the ability of SNG/Alinghi to change the rules at will to come up again (the court backed down from their stance that SNG/Alinghi could change the rules at any time last week).

Take my comments with a grain of salt because I'm a GGYC/BMWO fan...but the The SNG/Alinghi attorney have used some confuse and redirect tactics and told some outright untruths in court. I think Kornreich, who appeared early to side with SNG/Alinghi, figured this out last week and became suddenly suspicious of a lot of things. This panel should cut through any of the "jedi mind trick" tactics employed by either side's attorneys.

Are you sure? I tend to think that they are using only the curved part of the leeward J board, which is consistent with downwind sailing. The boom seems to be just slightly opened, the way they normally sail downwind.

I'm not positive...but it sure looks to be just the elevator pole on the leeward hull. (right click and choose "view image" to see in greater detail).

OH crap! DogZilla just dropped her rig - presumably while out training today. Nobody was hurt and they're currently trying to get the rig salvaged and the boat back to dock. No word on what failed.

OH SNAP!

word is either the mast itself or a shroud failed. Based on that, I'm guessing that the mast they had on it is no longer in one piece - I believe it was M3..their tallest. They have (had) three masts of varying height they could change out in an afternoon.