DAY 3 AND THE FUTURE OF SAILING
Sailing’s Sacred Monster Roars Again
There’s one heck of a difference between tests and trials, and defender and challenger selections. All we know is that two 72ft catamarans will be pushed to the limit, and the rest of the world will briefly pay attention to our sport of sailing, mainly in the hope of seeing a spectacular and very expensive crash before dinner.
But for sailing enthusiasts, mixed feelings only begins to describe it. Horrified and slightly guilty fascination is probably the most general reaction. Not to worry, folks. It has always been that way. The America’s Cup is indeed sailing’s sacred monster. But it’s undoubtedly our monster. And it’s just about the only way the general public connect with sailing. So we have to live with it with the best grace we can manage, for it’s completely pointless trying to assert that it has nothing whatever to do with us.
It’s grand guignol goes afloat. And it’s the apogee of the times in which we live, for it’s now way beyond the international. It’s beyond the supra-national. It’s globalisation par excellence. It may in theory be New Zealand challenging America. But the multiple-nationality mixes in the crews have made traditional concepts of sailing for your own country irrelevant. So it’s completely appropriate that it’s taking place in sailing waters off the world capital of electronic technological development in the American state which is home to the world headquarters of the entertainment industry.
If this all seems way over the top, worry not – be of good cheer. For just about every staging of the America’s Cup has provided some of the most over-the-top events of its era. Larger than life characters. Spectacular and often dangerous maritime technology. And expenditure that does nothing whatever to reduce the popular perception that sailing is basically a rich man’s sport. — WM Nixon watching in “horrified fascination” at the America’s Cup in Afloat magazine:
The Question has been, even more than who will win, what next? Will the America’s Cup return to monohulls? In a word: the cat is out of the bag. I do not see how we can turn back time. Foiling is a fact of life, a rather normal one now. The “C” class championship starting in two weeks in Falmouth England will be won by the boat that foils best. If you don’t foil you will not be in the hunt.
I predict that in two Olympics from now there will be at least one foiling class. I think that for any 20 or 30 year old foiling is a completely normal idea. I think despite the problems the America’s Cup has had, the flintstone generation is indeed that, extinct.
