Hey look everybody - It's the America's Cup! The pinnacle of sailboat racing! The best and the baddest! The ultimate in technology and ingenuity! Great men and fantastic machines!

Look - they're ……..not sailing????

No they are not. 20 plus knots was deemed too much for all of the above, and Tuesday's races were cancelled. And that my friends, is a sad commentary on the state of the current AC boats and rules.

I am moderately familiar with the current structure of upper wind strengths that the AC boats can race in, and I understand that today's AC boat design and construction factor that into the boats that they produce. But it artificially places limits on how much breeze they can race in, and eliminates what otherwise could be fantastic racing and action in moderate wind ranges.

Think back a ways - what was the best AC television you've ever seen? I can assure you it was not the light air Coma Off Pt. Loma. It was Freemantle in '87. Big breeze, big waves, big boats, big balls. It was intense, thrilling and incredible sailing - the likes of which most of us had never seen.

To now be racing in these modern boats in a venue known for great breeze, and yet have a format that says they can't race in over 19 knots is absurd. Patently so.

19 knots?

The rules need to be changed so that boats are built to handle breezes in the 20's without fear of abnormal breakage. Of course there is going to be gear that breaks in big breeze - that possibility (should be) part of the game when you sail in those conditions. Who can forget when DC blew out a genoa in Freemantle, and then we watched as they got a new one up in time to continue on, ultimately winning the Cup? Good Christ that was exciting. It really was a test of the limits of what the sailors were capable of, and we felt like we had witnessed some truly heroic sailing. But now we are saddled with a system that says in 19 knots they go home?

If this sport wants people outside of the very small inner circle of the game to pay attention, it had better put the men and machines to a bit more of a test. Want people to notice? Give 'em a shot of two of these fucking awesome things duking it out in 20 plus. Show 'em sticking the bows under going downwind with the huge kites up. Let me be clear about something: I'm not talking about stupidity or pointless carnage or reckless endangerment just for the sake of it. This is not a "I go to the car races to see crashes" mentality. I'm talking about letting the top of the sport hang it out there and show what they hell it is really made of.

Going home because the wind is blowing 19 knots and making excuses for it is not what the AC should be about.

10/02/2002