Ben Boulder, it wouldn't be so bad if they were $15 million. The NZ "low budget" is $140 million and Oracle reported close to $300 mill.
The fat lady has not got the song book out yet:)
I think they killed the America cup when the moved from the 12m yachts, I know I have had no interest since and I follow it for 20 years at that class.
Theses yachts are great to watch but the cost eliminates challengers.
I started watching when Gretel (Australia) challenged for the cup in 1962
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Maybe $15million for the rudders. I think I left a 0 off.
I know these cats cost a fortune but if they didn't spend their money we wouldn't see these amazing cats.
Didn't the AC originate from some rich bloke wanting to race his yacht "america" against the British for money.
It's all about the money. The faster you go the more it costs. Team Oracle $Mercenary$
Maybe next cup should go back to AC45 and change the rules to make country of birth.
just remember that the AC has always represented the cutting edge of sailing.
we can thank the challengers for Aluminium masts,then dacron,then mylar ,kevlar,carbon and epoxy.
then they had the audacity to finally get solid wings firmly into the mainstreanm of sailing.
THEN they had the audacity to lift them out of the water and fly on foils, lots of lessons here for the speeed record people , who have been creeping the record up, when suddenly the course racing boats jump 20knts in speed
Dam I guess you are right, Pretty hard to argue about making things go better and faster. When I think about it is that not what we are trying to do with land yachts, I know that is what I like doing.
This story about Australia2 was just aired on Australian Story, some of our overseas friends may like to watch it. It is very interesting about mind games that where played out during the event.
