Two Alinghi Choices Stun Sailors Worldwide

America’s Cup 33 - - Helm to Lee: From Biff at the Masthead

In case you haven’t heard, the Defender recently announced TWO new tacks (huge changes) for upcoming America’s Cup 33, both without much fanfare in the mainstream news media. THESE ARE BIG. BIGGER THAN BIG. REALLY, REALLY BIG items. Jibe ho, slam-tack and more.

FIRST and foremost, the next event will be conducted only TWO years away, not the usual FOUR. WOW. The venue starts all over again in 2009. Everything backs up sooner for Defender and for the Challengers.... Maybe there won't even enough time for the rumored NEW race for the Swiss cup holder to race a Challenger or two/ten prior to "the big event?" It hasn't, however, been ruled out.....

That’s less time to design and build a boat, less time to hire a skipper and crew, less time to de-bug the thing, and less time to prepare all of the computer programs and such, including polars, and ideal tacks, etc.

SECOND, the cup holders have decided they’d like to sail for the cup in REALLY, REALLY LARGE boats, maybe 90 footers or more. This should separate the “men from the boys,” so to speak, and require a lot more of them…which, of course compounds the so-called “chaos factor"—adding a single additional crew can compound the problems by two times or more….some say, by a factor of four, six or more!

Not to forget trying to just “hear” what the skipper is saying (did he say "Tacking" or "Take Down" the genoa: If you are positioned from abeam forward, will communications become a serious problem? (We've alreaady beent through the "failed mikes" drill.) How about failed headsets? And how about judging how and when to tack when rounding a buoy? And how do you successfully trim such gigantic sails, let alone hoist them and get them set up correctly. Just imagine the size of the battons, the booms, the sailbags, masts!

And, of course, every single bolt, fitting, line of the standing and running rigging will be subject to more stress, more failures, and just more cost. And masts and the required “sliding” (up/down) keels will be subject o incredible stresses when entering shallower harbors.