Like all these great sporting events the Americas Cup keeps rolling around. Initially, at least New Zealanders fall into two camps – those who hate it because it is a rich man’s sport with rules which favour the rich and successful, and those who love it because it is the ultimate sailing contest. And then there are the inbetweeners – of which I am one – who have severe doubts about the modern pedigree of the Cup but can’t resist getting involved once the racing actually starts and there are winners and losers.
However, whichever way you look at it is a peculiar affair.
I think when it started off it was mostly a straight sailing contest but even back then the design of the yachts mattered. The only way to get away from that problem is to force all competitors to use boats drawn from a common pool of identical designs. What you get is a more genuine test of skill but there is more to the Cup than that.
It was us New Zealanders who first brought technology to the fore and who can forget the “plastic fantastic” nearly winning it all off Perth – some were outraged at the break with tradition and Dennis Connor famously called the New Zealanders “cheats”. His public outrage was mostly successful in starting the TV career of Paul Holmes.
Since then there is no doubt that technology has dominated although that was taken to ridiculous lengths with Michael Fay and his huge conventional boat versus Dennis Connor in his catamaran. However, that did introduce the catamaran design to the cup and that has been its mainstay ever since. The emphasis on technology had been good for New Zealand as we produce clever technologies as well as brilliant sailors.
It was New Zealand that discovered how to make the new catamarans foil and generate tremendous speeds and that was almost enough to win the last cup. (We were also responsible for producing that horror of a yacht that keeps shipping water on board and eventually retired with a broken mast.) I don’t how that the story of the last cup has truly been told with the miraculous comeback back to win by one race after trailing by nine. Did they really introduce a new edge to was it just a case of finally learning how to get the maximum performance out of the design? I go for the edge myself because ten in a row is too much of a coincidence.
And the New Zealanders are at it again with the decision to use pedal power to replace hand grinders. And I suspect there are some other twists they are keeping in reserve at present.
So is the America a Cup just about technology now or is the sailing still the key? I think it continues to be a mixture of both. Sailing comes to the fore in the pre-race manoeuvring and is a key ingredient when conditions are marginal, eg very high, low or unpredictable winds. But under normal conditions, there is no doubt that technology rules the roost and the big question is whether the New Zealand technology is better than that that undoubtedly has been developed by the other big spenders like Oracle.
But what we all want is a genuine contest however it is driven – a contest that requires sailors to display skills of the highest order, that demonstrates the power of one technology over another and that comes down to the wire when it comes to winning or losing.
Roll on the America Cup!
By Bas Walker
This is another of Bas Walker’s posts on GrownUps. Please look out for his articles, containing his Beachside Ponderings.
don021 - 8 years ago
At the last Americas Cup Contest, N.Z. were asked to give the Yanks a lay day, although the N.Z. team had decided to race. For some reason the lay day was granted, a very bad decision as the CUP was as good as in our hands. Why did Grant Dalton change his mind? Will the truth ever come out? I know one thing, it will never happen again.