Penalties

Happy days Rupert, who wouldn't prefer to do that?! Glad that you survived today, what did you buy?

Originally posted by Rupert This event isn't the America's cup

It isn't the AC but it is the AC teams, sailing the AC course, in boats that are more similar to the AC boats than anything else around.

I think I'd rather go sailing.

In general so would I but there are 100 days a year I could go sailing and just one I could go and watch this.


Edited by blueboy - 26 Jul 15 at 1:07pm

I have to admit I'm not a fan of the current AC format.

I've lost interest in a number of pro sports lately, and I'm not sure why. Maybe its over exposure. Might just be old age, but it seems to me that in any pro sport everything the same is happening all the time, and there's not much new. For me it takes some of the gloss out of Wimbledon tennis, for instance, when you realise that the same people are playing the same people practically every week of the year, so other than one tournament having more status than another its really the same every week.

Same with Olympic sailing. When I was young all these people you'd never heard of would turn up at the games, seemed like many of them hadn't sailed against each other much, and there was much novelty. These days they all sail against each other at a dozen events a year, and no-one can turn up out of the blue because they all have to qualify anyway.

That's the world my generation has built, so no point in complaining about it, and it makes for a better career for professional sportsmen but...





Edited by JimC - 26 Jul 15 at 11:24am

Not exactly complaining about the event itself, but the way that it has been put out on radio and the telly. This event isn't the America's cup, it is a series of races much like any other commercial series, the Extreme 40s, for instance, yet we are led to believe that because of the AC name and Ben A's presence that it is somehow different.

Yes, the AC has always been about rich people spending money, pro sailors earning a wage and rule arguments, but this isnt the AC, it is simply a branding exercise.

Maybe I'd have been won over if I'd gone to Pompey and watched it live, but I think I'd rather go sailing.

Hang on a bit there Rupert: lets examine those phrases:

"A few rich people" "spent loads" "hire the best pro sailors" "dick measuring contest" "very little to do ... with sporting ideals" "expensive freak show"...

Isn't that *exactly* what the America's Cup has always been about even right back to the beginning?