The world's least spectator friendly sport. And the one with the highest $ bar to enter. The definition of minority interest, good luck to them, but the vast majority of us will never be interested in it. Ahoy-hoy.
admittedly if nz were not in it I would probably think the same its quite good on the tv is it really any more expensive than owning a f1 or football team
Over the weekend, I just bought our first ever new technology LG 50" LED 120 Hz, 1080p 3D Smart TV, upgrading from a 37" Sony "boat anchor", so everything right now in HD & 3D looks pretty damn good, including 30 min watching all the action as NZ battled the US in the America's Cup. Also watched my first HD F1 race at Monza. Looking forward to seeing the R's in HD action, although mainly only Premier League games on TV though. This HD TV is really just a big computer screen with a TV thrown in and I couldn't resist as it was $700 off at $1000. We recently sold an old piano for $700, actually back to the same guy I bought it from 12 yrs ago, so we needed something to fill the furniture gap.
Fair enough, its pretty naff as a live spectator sport. In 1986 I was wandering around Australia and spent a few days in Freemantle on the West coast of Australia when they were holding it there (first time a non US team had won it I think). Certainly brought a buzz and money to the town, but nobody bothered to put up stands or anything, because there was nothing to see. Probably not as expensive as F1, but right up there with polo at the elite's sport of choice. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
BUT fantastic TV viewing did you see it last night..woooooooooooooooW And it was won single-handedly by a brit... BEN AINSLEY 8-1 down and he steps on the boat pooowee zap..9-8 US Oracle
Never, in its 162 year history. Used to be US v UK, then they got bored of that and started a mega race off for the right to lose to the US, which everyone did until the 80s, when an Aussie boat won, hence the race location in Freemantle. Winning country gets to race in 'home waters'. A Kiwi team has won it once, and a Swiss team took it from them. Its actually yacht club v yacht club, not country v country. Sorry for the lecture, the history is much more interesting than the spectacle, though no doubting the skill and courage of the crews, especially on those catamarans
Not that I follow this sport, but was that one almighty Kiwi choke (like Cardiff in the good old days)? I was so sure that NZ would prevail? I watched part of one of the earlier races in HD and found it quite exciting stuff, almost like F1 on the water. How did Sir Ben Ainslie help inspire America's Cup win? It has been described as the greatest comeback ever, a moment in sailing history when Oracle Team USA fought back from the brink to beat Team New Zealand by 44 seconds in a winner-takes-all finale. The Americans had been trailing 8-1. Their challengers had been on match point. The turnaround was dramatic. It was unexpected. And it happened once Britain's greatest sailor, Ben Ainslie, came onboard. But what role did the four-time Olympic gold medallist play in Oracle's 9-8 triumph in San Francisco and how influential was the Briton? please log in to view this image http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/sailing/24285864
should have won it on the day they were 1.2 kms ahead only to run out of race time 2 minutes from the finish line grrr
