That has been our observation all along (except maybe for Jeff, LOL)...

Anyone else wish the skippers were Ashby and Bundock?

Mike

I wish it were Smyth for Oracle, and what ever Kiwi is their best cat racer.

If you haven't read the excellent book, "The Race" get it and read it!

Randy was racing a monster cat around the world 13 years ago and setting new speed and 24 hour distance records.

Here, order yours today!!

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Extreme-...=1-1&keywords=The+Race+Tim+zimmerman

Timbo, I've noticed that Oracle (upwind) will "foot,foil,fast" mode to "ferry" quickly across the strongest current. When on foils they are less affected by the current. Strategy has worked well. The three stooges haven't commented on that yet. They're too busy babbling about the replays to notice. Just my opinion but I think Ainslie is the game changer (tactics wise), the three on the back gel very nice together.

We've seen in the past that these guys are just plain better *sailors* than what we can produce in the multihull world. When you're a good sailor, it doesn't matter what world you're coming from. I bet these guys could hop on an F18 and hand 95% of us our butts around a race course.

Of course THEY can...but to get to that level for them to look at you, you have to sail a lot while finding a way to pay the bills. That, or have a connection that gets the ball rolling.

Can you list the pro catamaran sailors out there where sailing is their sole occupation? {cricket, cricket}

I agree, Jimmy has gotten much better at putting the bows down to go fast in a puff, rather than pinching up like he was doing early on when they were getting their butts handed to them on every upwind leg.

I don't know if that was because JK was telling him to do that, or if it was just his natural habit from racing monos all his life. Seems Ainslie has it figured out, maybe because in a Laser you need to foot off and go fast, vs. pinching, which in that light boat is certain death. But if it's Ben that's been telling Jimmy where to go (get to the city front for the lift!), and how to go faster (Foot off!) good on him!

What is Slingsby's background? Has he done any cat racing?

I've seen a few moves that make me wonder what they're thinking early on but I consider both of these helmsman some of the best multihullers out there (assuming keeping the boat in one piece is also part of your goal). They had a learning curve, but they climbed it.

Taking a page from Wally Meyers on the Hobie 16. Start at the pin, and foot to get away from the fleet. Pinching is the enemy.

Mike

True, but I would change it to "with everything to lose on either side"

Keep it in focus that at the beginning of the series Oracle was simply not ready. They were still developing and climbing the vertical learning curve, and starting with a new wing trimmer. Difference between Oracle and NZ is that it appears that Oracle is never satisfied and constantly pushes the development envelope, where maybe NZ got comfortable or were afraid to try drastic changes. In the end, this is an epic event, close racing, no capsizes, no structural failures, and anything but boring. This is the Cinderella story of all time. The naysayers were surprisingly wrong. There were some hiccups along the way, but Larry got it right. May we never go back to the old format.

This is a fact. I've raced against a few of these converts and watched a bunch more race. All they are doing is shifting gears not learning a whole new sport.For example Nathan Outteridge came to the A cat worlds w/ limited experience and did extremely well against the worlds best ( Ashby wasn't present). Broken boards put him in 16th otherwise he was top 5. These guys know how to connect the dots.

I certainly don't think these guys "suck" by any stretch. There's so much going on, I'd venture to say that while they probably couldn't win a Worlds on a beach cat, a beach cat sailor wouldn't even be close on these boats. Moving a beach cat around on the water with one other person aboard is just night and day different than dealing with anything larger, and with more crew (and complexity). I think their slow-boat instincts have hurt them at times, but that's a really easy thing to say from the comfort of one's keyboard.

I'd love an honest answer from Ashby or Dunbock as to whether they'd want to steer one of these things at this level. I sure would have liked the event if they'd at least been the tacticians.

Mike

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDQQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2013%2Fsep%2F25%2Famericas-cup-team-usa-finale&ei=Z_9CUrD_IZHY9QT08oGICw&usg=AFQjCNH8Gv6-81tslGpzmhFcm-7on--nKw&sig2=iGU8kHRsKQNh4tLGtR948A&bvm=bv.53077864,d.eWU

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...a-americas-cup-winner-take-call/2865521/

I wonder if we might see a surge in beach cat sales after this event, as mono guys start to consider that going fast might actually be... FUN!

I know as a mono guy myself, I never seriously considered racing cats until I watched Dennis Connor (and Randy Smyth) use a 60' cat to crush that 90' Kiwi Sled of Mike Fey, back in that AC (was it 1988?).

I never thought cats could "point", because all I had ever seen of cats back in the 70's and early 80's was...Hobie 16's lying on their sides out in the bay when the wind came up, they always flipped over.

"That looks stupid" is what I thought, swimming is not sailing. I'm sure many of the mono guys are rethinking their opinions of cats as we speak, or at least I hope they are, and I hope we see some more guys make the transition. I know I'm getting a lot of questions from the guys I fly with, about what type of cat they should get into. The conversations this summer have always started with them asking me, "Have you seen those monster cats that are racing in San Francisco?", and then I give them about 2 hours worth of info, and tell them about this site, and how they can pick up a used Hobie 16 for peanuts and be out there having fun too.

Obviously racing a beach cat is much more physically demanding than sitting on a keel boat like a J24, going 5 knots upwind, and a whopping 8 knots downwind, so many fat mono guys are not going to make the jump, but I'm glad I did, or I'd be really fat by now!

"I don't know what everyone has been doing here the last couple of weeks," Glenn Ashby, New Zealand's wing trimmer, cheekily told reporters. "The regatta actually starts tomorrow."

Cool thing is, He and Jimmy were teammates at the last Little AC/C class worlds in Newport. Glenn drove and Spithill crewed Alpha.

Too funny. They just don't understand. . .
Oracle OpenWorld attendees fume over Ellison keynote

Even the video production team is beaming with confidence.

Same start time as normal? I don't want to miss it for anything.

I started sailing small monos and did not switch to beach cats until I... well, moved to the beach. I have spent a lot more time swimming while sailing the small monos than I ever have on a cat.

On a different note, she sings after this next race. The only question is who is she singing to?

be near a good computerat 4pm today, find NBCsports online, live america cup covera ge, that is 4pm.wedns.sept25,..got it?if i was in a 2 boat start and hit the other boat on the start line..i am not much of a skipper am i?let see what happens today!
professor bruce
i 17
tampa