{"id":6873,"date":"2013-08-20T21:42:41","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T02:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/?p=6873"},"modified":"2013-08-20T21:42:41","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T02:42:41","slug":"roger-vaughan-iain-murray-americas-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/?p=6873","title":{"rendered":"ROGER VAUGHAN and IAIN MURRAY ON THE AMERICA’S CUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Roger Vaughn, Oxford, MD:<\/strong><\/em>
\nI’ve tried hard to get behind the 2013 America’s Cup. I really have. I’ve been covering this event longer than I want to admit. I’ve written three books about it, including one about about Dennis Conner’s precedent-setting multihull defense in 1988, so I understand the nature of the multihull beast. I wrote the book (as yet unpublished) about Oracle’s dramatic, nail-biting victory in 100- foot multihulls in 2010, the match that led to using multis for 2013.<\/p>\n

Along the way I wrote scripts for the videos produced about the AC 45 World Series.Those events convinced me there really could be arresting match race competition in high-tech, winged multihulls. And I wrote the introduction to the striking new book about the 2013 Cup, Sailing on the Edge. I wrote in a positive way about it, relating how John Cox Stephens had a catamaran in 1820, and how his businessman’s smile would be broad as a Cheshire cat’s if he could watch the AC72s flying by.<\/p>\n

But it’s time to rethink. There have been 3 matches in the Louis Vuitton final and we have yet to see a race. Three matches, three breakdowns, and one frightening bow plunge by New Zealand that was a miracle of survival. Why that boat wasn’t totalled is a mystery. Three matches without one display of tactics by either boat. Three matches with no light sail handling. How can there be light sails when the apparent wind angle on the leeward legs is 25 degrees? Gone is the compelling ballet of billowing spinnakers, the sets, the jibes, the takedowns that are the lyrical melody of sailboat racing. All we’ve got is big, hugely expensive, overpowered, dangerous machines ripping at 40 knots and more, with crews wearing body armor suits and crash helmets with oxygen bottles and commando knives strapped to their bodies just in case….<\/p>\n

We are still calling it sailing, calling it the future. The speed and the technology is intriguing, even momentarily arresting. But is it sailboat racing? Here we are well into the Louis Vuitton final — the final! — and I have yet to see any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Iain Murray, AC’s Cool Head In The Hot Seat<\/p>\n

\n

By Michelle Slade<\/strong><\/em>
\nIt\u2019s hard to say if Iain Murray, America\u2019s Cup Race Management\u2019s quietly spoken head honcho, will be pleased to see the end of AC34, or whether he almost wishes he could have it over again to make serious amends to a sailing event that has proven to be unpredictable. Here Murray explains how he is dealing with the daily frustrations of AC34.<\/p>\n

How are you managing to juggle all the curveballs that must consume you on a daily basis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IM:<\/strong>\u00a0[Laughs] It\u2019s just what I have to do. It\u2019s my job to keep this show running. I\u2019ve got a lot of good people helping me and there\u2019s a lot of experience in the race management team. The America\u2019s Cup has always been difficult, I think going forward it\u2019s no less difficult. There\u2019s been a lot of difficult instances in the past, whether it\u2019s been wing-keels, or plastic yachts.<\/p>\n

Is this what you expected two years ago?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IM:<\/strong>\u00a0No, I can\u2019t say it\u2019s turned out quite how I expected. I think with all the action and bits and pieces, responsibility and liability has taken on a whole new level that I don\u2019t think anyone could have anticipated.<\/p>\n

Where and how did things start going wrong in your opinion with this event?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IM:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s easy to sit here now, look back and say, \u201cWe should have done this or that.\u201d I think probably the biggest disappointment to people is the fact that we\u2019re so short on challengers, and you can ask yourself why is that so? Clearly the cost of the campaign is an issue, the complexity of the campaign is another issue. I think everyone looking forward is saying, \u201cThese boats are really cool, the guys love sailing them, we\u2019re in the first generation of boats foiling and understanding the race formats.\u201d<\/p>\n

We came off something that was pretty good at the end with the AC45s and high expectations with 10 boats roaring around, a great event in Naples, great events here in San Francisco, and Newport [R.I.]. In many ways coming back to three boats has been a dip. If you look back, you can say we need more controls, we needed something more like an AC45, something that was maybe not an AC72, but not an AC45. Maybe we should have done it in an AC45\u2014I don\u2019t know. I think a 55- to 60-foot semi one-design boat is probably what you\u2019ll see the teams looking toward.<\/p>\n

I believe in November 2011 teams were given a choice to move forward with the 72, or go to another boat. A unanimous decision was required, and two teams – Artemis and ETNZ – chose not to. Can you comment?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IM:<\/strong>\u00a0I put all the principals of the teams together in San Diego in 2011 and did ask them that question. It was clear by that time in the year what it was we were doing, and because there were challenges in the financial world post 2008 that the money wasn\u2019t flying like it was in 2006-\u201807. Getting teams to be able to step up from the ACWS to the America\u2019s Cup was a lot more difficult than people had anticipated. The options were there and discussed. People had made commitments to designs and were well down the path of the 72 and the decision was to continue.\u00a0Read On<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

Current LV Cup Finals Schedule<\/p>\n

\n

Wednesday, Aug. 21: Final Race 4 (1:10 pm PT), Final Race 5 (2:10 pm PT) – ESPN3, live
\nFriday, Aug. 23: Final Race 6 (TBD) – ESPN3, live
\nSaturday, Aug. 24: Final Race 7 (1:10 pm PT), Final Race 8 (2:10 pm PT) – NBC Sports Network, 7pm ET (tape delayed)
\nSunday, Aug. 25: Final Race 9 (1:10 pm PT), Final Race 10 (2:10 pm PT) – NBC Sports Network, 7pm ET (tape delayed)
\nWednesday, Aug. 28: Final Race 11 (1:10 pm PT), Final Race 12 (2:10 pm PT) – NBC Sports Network, 5pm ET (tape delayed)
\nFriday, Aug. 30: Final Race 13 (1:10 pm PT) – NBC Sports Network, 5pm ET (tape delayed)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Roger Vaughn, Oxford, MD: I’ve tried hard to get behind the 2013 America’s Cup. I really have. I’ve been covering this event longer than I want to admit. I’ve written three books about it, including one about about Dennis Conner’s precedent-setting multihull defense in 1988, so I understand the nature of the multihull beast. … Continue reading ROGER VAUGHAN and IAIN MURRAY ON THE AMERICA’S CUP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[632],"tags":[1781],"class_list":["post-6873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas-cup-34-2","tag-roger-vaughan-speaks-his-mind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6873"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6874,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6873\/revisions\/6874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stephenlirakis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}