65 Feet Ain’t What it Used to Be!

TIME WAS that a 65-foot America’s Cup yacht got a spectator’s adrenalin going. Less so today, it appears. The Alinghi guys are going to fix this.

TIME WAS when going into a typical international marina, boats over 50 feet were unusual, even few and far between. Now, yachts over 100 (!) feet raise only a few eyebrows, and mostly from those who pay scant attention to goings-on around them. The world’s awash in RBBs (Really Big Boats) and are being built and launched every day.

TIME WAS when really wealthy guys received a rushing of breath just watching their 65-foot America’s Cup yachts. No more, it appears, especially when the can TOWER over them from enormous spectator boats or when tied up to the docks or when out watching the races at the start/finish line. These AC yachts almost resemble canoes as their sleek hulls slide by these multiplying mega-yachts.

Today’s well-to-do own or charter MULTI-DECK yachts that can LORD OVER America’s Cup boats in any marina. A case in point: Dennis Connor’s America II yacht rests gracefully at anchor in New York Harbor’s North Cove Marina (http://www.thenorthcove.com), see their live web cam link.

A person might think a 65-footer would be a wonder of wonder for those rollerblading and jogging by. No so. In fact, one has to STRAIN to even SEE this small yacht, while it rests elegantly between a Sparkman & Stephens 77-foot sloop, and some unnamed mega-yachts (motoryachts the size of SMALL OFFICE BUILDINGS).

Even Dennis Connor’s two 50-foot Formula 1’s, America’s Cup flush-deck training sloops, seem dwarfed by their enormous slip-mates, including a 65-foot Privilege cat., and a 115-foot visiting world-traveling sloop. It’s even small compared with Ken Reed’s visiting Puma Volvo-Cup boat, in a slip opposite America II. Reed’s Puma challenger is a bright orange monster with plumb bow, a square-ish look, and gaudy panther graphics. It’s a mean machine that looks ill at ease tied to the dock.

Anyway, it’s easy to visualize growing support for Alinghi’s 90-foot (mega) America’s Cup boats for 2009, when comparing today’s sloops with today’s yachting buffs. Bravo for the vision and foresight for bigger/better boats. They should be forces to reckon with, both inside the marina where the millions of stroller pass by, and outside on the race course. Dwarfs no more.