[Sunroof]

As a sailor I questioned the differences between the sail trim techniques on the New Zealand boat compared to the American vessel. On the American vessel they trim sails by using standard "winching" and man power through the use of arms. We will call them "grinders". On the New Zealand boat however, they set up the winching using world class triatheletes on bicycles (cyclers) that provided greater leg power resulting in less time to trim the sails. Granted Spithill made some strategic errors in tacking that slowed their progress, but the huge differences in distance in all four wins by New Zealand is extrodinary! Could the "cyclers" make the differences? Perhaps, but Spithill has this week to figure it out and back the American boat in the win column. His performance in San Francisco (2013) and a come behind eight wins to take the Cup has sailors like me confident he will find that set up to win races. In the meantime, going forward, I expect "cyclers" will be used in all Cup contenders in the future.

Bob
onboard "Breezin II"
Lake Lanier, GA