The next America’s Cup will be sailed in 72 foot catamarans, that is a fact. Is it a good or bad decision? Time will tell. One thing that is certain, the America’s Cup has always been controversial.
Here is an excerpt from an article by David Hollom for Seahorse magazine.
I am sure I cannot be the only one who was overjoyed at the prospect of a
fresh start under new management for the America’s Cup, but who views the
subsequently unfolding scene with more than a measure of disquiet.
The main thrust of the defender proposals seem to be to make sailing a more
visually appealing sport for a television audience. Laudable in itself but
just by making more and faster action is not necessarily the way to achieve
that end. Some of the fastest sports are boring to watch and perhaps the
slowest sport in the world is the most absorbing.
I am a self confessed motor racing nut but have to admit that mostly the
best part of a Grand Prix weekend is the build up and the expectations –
which only very rarely transpire. True, Grand Prix racing attracts a huge
worldwide audience but that is more a result of the hype and not very often
the action, which once the start is over is usually few and far between. By
contrast, golf must be one of the slowest games in the world and yet it also
attracts huge audiences worldwide.
Can you imagine trying to sell golf to a TV executive from a different
planet who knew nothing about the game? ‘Well it’s like this. Two people hit
their ball down a field and if they are lucky, two or three minutes later
they have found it and hit it again but if you are unlucky it might take
several minutes more to find the balls. But don’t worry, during this time
you can fill the screen with two players either walking down the field,
perhaps chatting or you can watch the hunt for the ball.
‘Ah, you may even cut to another pair of players looking for their balls or
even hitting them.’ It doesn’t sound too promising does it and yet golf is
one of the most absorbing games to watch and I have to say one of my
favourites to both watch and play.
Now, our fictitious TV executive might well have said, ‘That sounds rather
boring. To make it more exciting why don’t we make the ball bigger, paint is
black and white and to speed things up, after we have hit it we will run
with it and instead of trying to put the ball down a tiny hole in a lawn,
which normally takes a long time, we will try and stuff it between two posts
which will be quick.
‘Oh, and of course having more people will make it much more exciting so
instead of two we will have twenty two and sod the cost of the wages we will
save something by getting rid of their sticks and they can kick the ball
instead.’ But it wouldn’t be golf. It would be another game that you either
love or hate or view with a measure of ambivalence. — Read on:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0927/
I am not the only one
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