Real Contrast: Cup Sailing vs. The Courtroom

This past weekend your Blogster taught an American Sailing Association course on Coastal Cruising aboard one of Dennis Connor’s 50-foot America’s Cup-type boats called Formula 1’s. (No fools we didn’t sleep aboard, we over-nighted in a local club.) We sailed UP Manhattan's East River, right in front of the United Nations (!), through Hell Gate, and on into Long Island Sound. We managed to hit Hell Gate at slack tide, rather than fight the 3-6 knot tidal currents. We navigated to a local club and later to Stamford, Ct., right into your Blogster's backyard.

The 2 ½ -day class introduced adult students (an NYU professor, an art buyer, a sourcing manager and some financial types) to “life” aboard one of these gorgeous America’s Cup-type boats. All passed the course and became ASA certified, acing the exam the final day of the class.

Formula 1’s draw 10 feet (!), making “cruising them” a bit impractical, since many harbors in the New York area run out of water at about 8 feet. We moored these two scaled-down America’s cup yachts at the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, which also happened to hosting the annual Long Island Sound “Fall Series,” attended by a number of local speedsters. Needless to say, everyone had seen our arrival and had marveled at our sailing skills catching a mooring (Well, maybe not the latter, but we were an impressive sight with our 75-foot masts, fully battened mains, and massive sail plans!).

One J-105 sailor said they had topped out that afternoon at about 11 knots. Aboard the Formula 1’s, we easily topped 14.9 knots in modest breezes, romping quietly over all sailboats in the area, even some motorboats. These flush-deck rockets feature low freeboards, double wheels, and massive winches. They also are no frills down below (OK, it’s empty and rough down there), and feather-touch steering. Students learned grinding, tacking and gybing these powerful rigs. The boats accelerate upwind at speeds approaching planning, and turn with even the slightest motion or twitch of the wheel by the driver. This must be just a FRACTION of the fun (and physical strains) aboard a full-sized America's Cup yacht, from man-handling the main, to dragging up headsails from a dark pit within the bow.

What CONTRAST in a single week: One day happily blasting around the Sound in the fastest boat around. The next, sitting in a claustrophobic courtroom filled with attorneys and TV crews arguing the finer points of history and common law. Sigh. America, what a country!

Which venue carried more “sex appeal?” One guess. (It had hanks, halyards and smiling crews.) Yes, let’s get out of the courtroom and go yachting!