AC in Plymouth

Just returned from Plymouth watching the AC racing this weekend.  Awesome!!

I've been watching the coverage on sky from the first round and thought they had cracked it. The coverage was exciting and engaging. The commentators gave a good narration to the racing and GPS tracking with associated graphics really helped to explain what was happening. This means that you can enjoy watching the whole race rather than youtube clips of the highlights.

The format in Plymouth has been really well thought out and will go a long way to excite even the non-sailing public. The boats are impressive and by using the Sound as a venue, you feel really close to the racing. The event village on the Hoe had live commentary and close up live video on big screens.

I liked the concept of the speed trials. Basically a 500m drag race fetch across the Hoe, close in to the shore. Big hull lifts, awesome speed, spray, capsizes etc all make for good viewing.

I think a great deal could be learned from this type of event and associated coverage. I'm aware that they have pot fulls of cash, but it really does work.

Anyone else make it down?

Just watching vids on youtube now. Their twitter feed is also pretty good - nice detail on when races are happening, links to interviews etc.  Truly multimedia!

my wife even watched it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plymouth certainly is putting on a good show! The venue is so perfect for this sort of racing and the format is actually really good.  The concept seemed a bit too simplified for me to start with but the course is actually really tactical and works especially well with the multihulls.  The fleet racing was spectacular but I am still not sure whether i like the match racing in multihulls.  I also am still struggling to accept this sort of racing as the americas cup... but I can't fault it for entertainment!

I would be interested to know how people found plymouth in terms of infrastructure, were you able to park anywhere easily, did you stay anywhere overnight or enjoy any of the local bars etc?  It was easy for me because i have a flat in plymouth, with its own parking space and being a student i didnt find it hard to make good use of the bars either! Not sure how others without the luxury of a flat and a parking space might have found it though?

Without wishing to detract from the most spectacular, exciting sailing I've seen broadcast on any media, I thought the commentary could have been better.

They clearly had two extremely knowledgable and attentive commentators in Annie Gardner and another chap whose name I didn't catch, but the main shouty guy added nothing - even insisted on saying the cats were doing over 30 kph when the speedo was clearly showing on screen that they were not.  All he could do was say who was in front of who and who was capsizing, which was faily obvious.

Sailing isn't obvious to the wider audience they are clearly trying to attract.  We deserve better explanation of what's on the screen in terms of the tactics and the rules, without which it must all seem very confusing to the uninitiated.