I was very lucky to be back in the UK and my home town Portsmouth to see the first of the Challenge Series and the AC45s up close. My daughter lucky enough to skipper one of the youth RS 16 catamarans leading the parade of sails, Ben Ainslie following out on his new toy, popping wheelies for the crowds. Never seen so many people watching yacht racing, close to shore and very exciting. I know there are a lot of classic lovers on here, but this was real racing at pace! Formula One of the Sea, and for me far more interesting!
Good one, the sailing looks good, poms know how to turn up down at the seaside,
fellow pompey boy here, grew up in Southsea. My Grandad was in the Royal Navy, & all I wanted to do, until we moved to Aus' when I was 15 was join up.
Thanks for the photos.
cheers
I amazed at the the performance of these craft, and the end up boats they use in the final series, and its very interesting...but to me it is not the America's Cup.
The Kiwi's and their J boats, and Dennis Connors Cat response ruined the essence of what was the Cup - mono hull match racing.
I used to agree, but the original winner America was not a J Class, but a schooner, she was the pinnacle of sailing at the time, along came the J Class and so on, all performance boats of their day. The Americas Cup has always been the best of the best a development class, which I believe they still are, these machines are yachts, they are "match racing " within their rules in the same way the J's etc were, its just different, but the skill and seamanship is still all there. As a spectator they are stunning to watch, and to see position changes so rapidly really keeps the crowd on edge, all exciting stuff for sailing. So my views have changed !:-)
