Categorized | 34th America's Cup, America's Cup

5 Comments For This Post

1. ETNZ Says:
   February 16th, 2013 at 10:06 pm

   OTUSA is certainly looking a lot better than they used to look. Good to see this boat geeting closer and closer to its potential. Boat 2 will be a sight to behold but thats just a reflection of the budget these guys have to play with. Once they get boat 2 on the water, in essence it’ll be their 3rd boat. As this one is pretty much a new boat. Really apart from (maybe) Artemis, no other team would be able to pull off 3 boats while moving their race boat forward.
   If any team beats OTUSA they will have certainly achieved an amazing feat. I mean, racing against a team which has an unlimited budget, full of olympic sailors, Ex- TNZ sailors, America’s Cup and experienced multihull sailors.
   Its certainly going to be an interesting America’s Cup.

2. dalba Says:
   February 18th, 2013 at 3:44 am

   ETNZ, all you say is true, but there is certainly a lot more to it.

   Not only OTUSA has the money, they dictate the rules, and when you have that much money to spend, one can be pretty sure that the rules will be unilaterally in the avantage of Larry.

   For TNZ to win the cup (sorry Prada, but despite being Italian and a big supporter of yours I don’t see you winning the LV cup…, and sorry Artemis, but you have 0 chance, not to mention the fact that you should be disqualified for training with TOUSA to start with) it would require a miracle at best, or a boat failure from the defender during the final stage of the race.
   Else, I am afraid having to concede that we will have to wait for the next cup, and hope that the sailing world will start complaining about those vilains that made this cup a financial disaster so that we can have a fair competition.

   note:
   To Ellison credit, the AC34 being raced on catamarans is a great idea.
   For sure I will not make only friends saying that, but let’s face it, if sailing wants to become a popular sport, and draw sponsors, this is by far the best format.
   Speed, close to shore races, ability to race in light winds, and in strong winds,… it is thrilling, if not to all, at least to lot more people than sailing on monohulls.

3. ed Says:
   February 19th, 2013 at 2:11 am

   I heard a rumor that Artemis are about to pull out of the Cup? Hope it’s not true. Can anyone confirm or deny?
   ed

4. ETNZ Says:
   February 20th, 2013 at 1:22 am

   Ed where did you hear that rumour? That’s pretty interesting…Im not sure that there’s anyone outside of the Artemis Team themselves that can confirm or deny it, as that’s a pretty big call.
   Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it is the case. I mean its a big and expensive commitment to make to Race this Cup if you’re really not that confident of standing a chance.
   To (and this is just my opinion) Their boat is clearly not up to speed compared to USA 17. 17 is a foiling package and Artemis isn’t. By looking at photo’s and hearing the talk coming from San Fran, 17 has already showed to have a speed edge over Artemis. ETNZ is also a foiling package and it would stand to reason that they would have an edge as well – as would Luna Rossa. It wouldn’t make much sense to build a totally different concept boat designed to foil as it would make 2 boat testing difficult as one boat would be much faster than the other. And the Rules don’t really allow it. So they would, in essence, be entering to make up the numbers or act as a spoiler. With another Cup cycle to prepare for, it would be a pretty expensive exercise.

5. David Mahan Says:
   March 1st, 2013 at 6:10 pm

   This so unbelievably exciting, to see the speeds these people are approaching. I’m so glad to see them exit the mono hull limitations. Yes Oracle has deep pockets but so does Artemis. Pushing the envelope sometimes takes that. Hope it is a race though!! Right now i have Artemis racing admitting they have work to do!!

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