Are Americans interested in the America's Cup?

[Matt Smith]

It seems not.

Pity, as there has been some awesome racing with the AC 72's. Tomorrow morning for Kiwis, and yesterday afternoon for Bay area Californians will be a great, defining couple of matches. Wind allowing, indulge yourself with some foiling madness, danger, politics, engineering high-ground and billionaire egos reaching a tipping point.

Estimate is over a quarter of our entire population in NZ will be watching these races, recommend you do too.

[sc_rufctr]

Are Australians interested in the America's Cup?


no

[mph911]

Matt, Im an Aussie and was in NZ last week.
To be honest, until then I didn't even know it was on. In NZ it was on front page of the paper. all over the news and people talking about it on the streets.
I returned home last Friday, and have not heard a word again.
Maybe the US has more interest.

[T77911S]

i did not know it was on intil my wife saw it and told me, only because they were sailing big cats. i use to have an 18ft "sol cat". very fast boat.
i think the AC was really messed up some years back. i can picture that captain but cant think of his name. dennis something?

[Chocaholic]

Not a school sport or even remotely accessible to the masses. The Ellison/Branson crowd playing with toys on a level the working stiff can't even dream of. It's football season and baseball playoffs are unfolding. AC doesn't even register.

[GH85Carrera]

To answer your question, NO.

We like the fact that America won the thing for so many years, but the ultra rich playing with yachts just does not get my interest.

It will not trickle down to anything I will be using. Race car technology at least trickles down to street cars.

I appreciate the technology of a sailboat that can go that fast but motorized boats have been around a long time and they go even faster for a lot less money.

[VINMAN]

Lost all interest in it once they stopped using boats.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by T77911S

i did not know it was on intil my wife saw it and told me, only because they were sailing big cats. i use to have an 18ft "sol cat". very fast boat.
i think the AC was really messed up some years back. i can picture that captain but cant think of his name. dennis something?

Dennis Connor.

[trader220]

"There was one?"

Cruiser: I joined the army 'cause my father and my brother were in the army. I thought I'd better join before I got drafted.

Sergeant Hulka: Son, there ain't no draft no more.

Cruiser: There was one?


Stripes - Introductions from StripesFan


In all fairness. My pop taught me to sail at a very young age on the lake by my grand parents home in NY State. I have sailed all kinds of vessels in all kinds of seas and conditions, including an epic voyage from Panama up the west coast to Nicaragua Stopping to surf many beaches un accessible by land. I don't even know if those things they are using can be called boats.

[BeyGon]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Lost all interest in it once they stopped using boats.

This is it, I haven't watched it since. Now if they renamed it, called it something else, the world championship of multi hulls it might be new and maybe interesting. Retire the old name when they changed the game.

[sammyg2]

I personally know one person who "cares" about the America's cup but he has a sailboat.

To me it just isn't that big of a deal and there are sooo many other things to follow.

[weseeeee]

Only my friends that sail seem to care. I'm a car guy not a boat guy so I have no interest in it.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by BeyGon

This is it, I haven't watched it since. Now if they renamed it, called it something else, the world championship of multi hulls it might be new and maybe interesting. Retire the old name when they changed the game.

Originally Posted by sammyg2

I personally know one person who "cares" about the America's cup but he has a sailboat.

To me it just isn't that big of a deal and there are sooo many other things to follow.

I see it as both of the above. Once the game changed and it became a race between technological designs that no longer resembled the esthetically beautiful yachts of old, it lost all the romance, mystery, human effort, skill, and other elements that non-sailors could relate to (that is not to say it still doesn't take effort and skill, it absolutely does but the general public sees the boat.) It is now a race between "machines" instead of the graceful vessels that deserved to be referred to by a female, human pronoun. The general public can no longer relate as they once did and, with so many other things to watch that they still can relate to, the AC has been regulated to the niche of the rich.

[BeyGon]

move the Kentucky Derby to Los Alamitos and use Quarter Horses, still call it the Kentucky Derby, that would be the same thing.

[cairns]

I'm a sailor and a car guy; I follow every race and attended in Barcelona and NZ the last two times. The boats they're using now make F1 look technically challenged. And the politics make F1 look like child's play.

Larry Ellison won the cup in court instead of on the water. He then decreed an extremely complex and expensive boat and therefore there's very little competition. If the NZ government weren't backing their team there wouldn't be any competition. When the Kiwi's take it home I predict a little sanity will prevail and there will be a lot more competitors- as well as a boat that doesn't kill people (and the skipper of Artemis was killed). Even so, they're not going back to j-boats any more than Mercedes is going back to a W196. Boats have evolved and carrying around tons of lead just to stay upright isn't my favorite way to sail.

And fortunately (IMO) it looks like the Kiwi's will take the Cup home with them. Best of 17 and Oracle's down 7 to 1. They had a two race penalty for cheating in the AC45 series (moving weight around) so it's closer than the numbers appear and Oracle is improving.

In spite of my (and a lot of others) being critical of the boats and Larry it is the most exciting boat racing I've ever seen. Those guys are moving these things around like they're dinghies- but they're huge masses of carbon fibre doing almost fifty miles per hour. You tube a race and you'll get the picture.

And I disagree it's a race between machines. NZ has won on tacking ability and superior strategy. The boats are pretty evenly matched. Their last win (giving up a lot of lead to gain starboard advantage) was brilliant- they would have lost otherwise.

[nostatic]

I have been watching every race (DVR) and also the Vuitton Cup races. The boats are brilliant - F1 without the parade aspects during the races.

[Lapkritis]

Answering the question : yes but very very few. Zero interest personally and know nobody who follows. Americans will start caring as soon as Budlight starts sponsoring and Dale JR joins. And teams get cannons to sink each other.

[BE911SC]

No sex, no violence.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

No sex, no violence.

The boats are pure sex. As for violence:

[tadink]

Some Americans do follow this, and nearly EVERYONE in SF has come around once the racing got close. The finals have been brilliant, close racing and very exciting. Pity the politics have gotten in the way again and "the Larry's" have been penalized 2 races in the finals because of cheating on the 45's last year. Lots of controversy and discussion about that....and an appeal.

Sadly for SF, it will all be over too soon as the invasion of >100 ft private sailing boats has been as spectacular as the actual racing. And then there was a SuperYacht race that was a classic! Imagine a sailing hotel crossing a 130' historic yawl. Just beautiful to see....

Still in all - I think it has failed to capture a TV audience, and ESPN is too busy showing the "sport" of Poker to run any of the footage. sigh.

Could be all over today - I'll be watching in person.

td