I've written before how I agree with many traditional sailors that the America's Cup races have very little to do with what we non-billionaire sailors do on our own sailboats. And it may very well be that races between these mega-catamarans are even bad for the sport of sail racing, given how they're more like a cross between the Mars Landers and NASCAR than the kind of sailing or racing "the rest of us" do. Nonetheless, there is something fascinating about these behemoths flying over the surface of the water on their foils. While I'm not interested enough to set aside the time to watch the races live (potentially dull racing, after all), I do enjoy watching the highlights later on good YouTube videos. Here's the link for the highlights of races 1 and 2, both won by New Zealand. The first was better, involving some crossings and drama; the second was a less dramatic chase the whole way with not much happening competitively. And here's the link for the highlights of races 3 and 4, the second of which Oracle won in a dull chase - and neither of which had much competitive drama. Oh well. I'll probably keep watching for a while to see if anything interesting happens. Otherwise, the big talk about the sailing skills involved leaves me rather cold, about as closely related to my own sailing as a US supercomputer vs. a Russian supercomputer in a chess game. So, yeah, I'll miss the live races tomorrow - I'm going sailing instead!
