The 34th AC and a Blow

I don’t know anyone who follows the sport of sailing, either competing, officiating or just as a sporting enthusiast, who wasn’t taken in by the 34th America’s Cup last week. Even my local mechanic who naturally knows more about cars than boats said he watched the goings on in San Francisco. I’m probably one of only a handful he knows who sail!

I was astounded by the feats of the sailors in handling these beasts at speeds of 40+ knots. These speeds were unheard of until only recently and here we were watching two boats battling it out daily, going to windward at 30? In 20knots of wind, just incredible.

It will be more than interesting to see the coming 12 months of discussions for the 35th event. What type of boat, will it have solid wings or will they go back to soft sails as a cost cut? Monohull or Multihull? We will just have to wait.

Last Saturdays race on Sydney Harbour was a blow out for several clubs. When I took out the little MHYC start boat Sandpiper, it was a lovely 10knots even though the forecast was for much more. By the time we set the start line and re set the pin end, it was blowing in to the 30s. The anchor winch couldn’t hold the chain, so it was racing abandoned for the day. There was only one complaint that i heard of, everyone else was happy to be back in the bar, or was it because the AFL Grand Final was on?

From this weekend, I’m off to South Australia and Victoria on a two week DeckHardware trip seeing customers old and new. First stop is Port Lincoln, then I’ll work back around the southern coastline of Australia.