Prada cup - Auckland

[saxyjt]

A word for our Italian friends here (@guidocreo ,@fabriziodalisera ,@aldevis to name a few, but I know there are more) although I'm not sure they know anything about sailing, furthermore the America's Cup, but I must tell them how proud I am for their compatriots to win this exceptionally difficult event.

It's not the first time they do. One of my close friends worked with the Prada team some years back and they are where they should be based on the very hard work they put in. I'm not trying to say the other teams, INEOS or American Magic deserved to be sent home, but there's got to be a winner and a better team and this time it is the Prada Pirelli team.

I wish them the best for the next part of this event. Being a European, I'd like to see the cup back on this side of the world. It's a stupid, reptilian type of feeling. I also have some old antagonisms with my neighbors in Italy, being from Toulon I sailed against them... But at the same time, I admire their sailing abilities and craftsmanship when it comes to building. If I had the money would be looking for an old wooden built Italian class 1 racer. Such fine boats. Like some of the best vintage horns you can think of.

Well guys, it's time to gear up and get ready to support your team. March 6, Auckland. Yeah, I know it's happening at completely ridiculous hours for us over here. Right in the middle of the night! Like 4am to 6am...

 

[saxyjt]

So some people (like me) would be just as happy to see it go to Europe regardless of who wins. There's also another side to this: As ratepayers and taxpayers we pay a lot of the bills. The businesses who make lots of money from the cup being held here certainly don't fully reimburse the Auckland Council or the Government. It's a very expensive enterprise. Somebody else's turn to enjoy the prestige?

I get what you're saying and quite obviously, New Zealand is very far from the financial center of gravity of the world. At least the world that is interested in sailing. On the other hand, this is the type of event that shows the world what a tiny country lost in the south pacific can achieve in terms of engineering. Not a small feat!

 

[aldevis]

It's not the first time they do. One of my close friends worked with the Prada team some years back and they are where they should be based on the very hard work they put in. I'm not trying to say the other teams, INEOS or American Magic deserved to be sent home, but there's got to be a winner and a better team and this time it is the Prada Pirelli team.

Thanks!
I don't really follow sport, but one member of the crew is from my small town, and we are same age, so I kind of remember him when he was 15 and already won a few races (optimist category, then 470)
I still find refreshing to think that at that age I could kind of sail.

On the other hand, the Brtish trumpet player that recorded my previous album just sailed to Auckland from Panama, and I guess it was much more fun than racing. (Lucky sod stopped in Galapagos and Haiti)

 

[John Setchell]

Obviously there are financial elements in New Zealand who would like to keep the cup and race here forever. Auckland is a great place to visit and sail, but I think it's also realized that there would have been more contenders and wider interest if the cup were held in Europe.

So some people (like me) would be just as happy to see it go to Europe regardless of who wins. There's also another side to this: As ratepayers and taxpayers we pay a lot of the bills. The businesses who make lots of money from the cup being held here certainly don't fully reimburse the Auckland Council or the Government. It's a very expensive enterprise. Somebody else's turn to enjoy the prestige?

I was in Auckland a year ago and was very impressed with how much reconstruction of the waterfront was in progress, but it did make me wonder how a relatively small population could justify it for an intermittent sporting event. A new stadium for comparison would have cost a fraction of the endeavour and been used regularly. There must be a back-story I don’t understand.

 

[Wade Cornell]

I was in Auckland a year ago and was very impressed with how much reconstruction of the waterfront was in progress, but it did make me wonder how a relatively small population could justify it for an intermittent sporting event. A new stadium for comparison would have cost a fraction of the endeavour and been used regularly. There must be a back-story I don’t understand.

If you can understand it please tell me. The only thing I can say is that kids here learn to sail the way Norwegians kids learn to ski...from a very young age and they take it very seriously. There are more boats per capita in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world (I'm told...haven't counted myself!). It's a sports mad country, which is good I guess, except that it takes up a lot of $$$ that isn't available to the arts...rather unbalanced compared to most places in Europe. I guess it's a "new world" thing trying to prove something whereas Europe has nothing it needs to prove to anyone...thousands of years of history and innovation. What does NZ have to show? Sheep? Butter? You can train athletes in years, culture takes hundreds or thousands of years to develop.

 

[Targa]

What does NZ have to show? Sheep? Butter? You can train athletes in years, culture takes hundreds or thousands of years to develop.

Maoritanga

 

[John Setchell]

If you can understand it please tell me. The only thing I can say is that kids here learn to sail the way Norwegians kids learn to ski...from a very young age and they take it very seriously. There are more boats per capita in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world (I'm told...haven't counted myself!). It's a sports mad country, which is good I guess, except that it takes up a lot of $$$ that isn't available to the arts...rather unbalanced compared to most places in Europe. I guess it's a "new world" thing trying to prove something whereas Europe has nothing it needs to prove to anyone...thousands of years of history ad innovation. What does NZ have to show? Sheep? Butter? You can train athletes in years, culture takes hundreds or thousands of years to develop.

NZ parking lot!
Yep - more boats than you can shake a stick at.

 

[fabriziodalisera]

Thanks @saxyjt I absolutely don't know nothing about the America's cup.
It's a fantastic copetition, but I have never followed it, maybe I shoul start...
The last thing I saw was "Popeye the sailor man" when I was a child.
Terrific intro...I should transcribe it!!!!

 

[aldevis]

That brings to mind that I come from the town of "Barcolana"
A spectacular reggatta open to everyone (more than 2600 boats in 2019) when every person wears a polo shirt with upturned collar and some sailing-related logo and walk around town sipping spritz and wines
"Every drunkie becomes a sommellier", they say

https://www.facebook.com/RegataBarcolana/photos/3807240965971109

View: https://www.facebook.com/RegataBarcolana/photos/3807240965971109

 

[squeak]

Obviously there are financial elements in New Zealand who would like to keep the cup and race here forever.

I think you are stuck with it. You are just too good!

There are more boats per capita in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world (I'm told...haven't counted myself!).

Hopefully, Denmark comes in a close second. The Round Zealand Race at least was the greatest in the world for many years. Pitiful that I never learned to sail beyond windsurfing, but the sport quickly gets costly, which posed an obstacle.

What does NZ have to show?

Everything. I don't know why governments feel they need showcases. I think America's Cup is fantastic to watch with foiling boats, although I wish they would settle on a class to lower cost and permit more entries; also more open water courses than the small up and down track with predictable outcomes. However, sadly never having been to New Zealand, I could still rattle off Maori culture, incredible natural beauty, clean environment, high living standards, great health care, suicidal-murderous guys in black chasing an oblong spheroid, Mount Everest scaling and of course sailing. How much more does a nation need?

 

[Wade Cornell]

I think you are stuck with it. You are just too good!

Hopefully, Denmark comes in a close second. The Round Zealand Race at least was the greatest in the world for many years. Pitiful that I never learned to sail beyond windsurfing, but the sport quickly gets costly, which posed an obstacle.

Everything. I don't know why governments feel they need showcases. I think America's Cup is fantastic to watch with foiling boats, although I wish they would settle on a class to lower cost and permit more entries; also more open water courses than the small up and down track with predictable outcomes. However, sadly never having been to New Zealand, I could still rattle off Maori culture, incredible natural beauty, clean environment, high living standards, great health care, suicidal-murderous guys in black chasing an oblong spheroid, Mount Everest scaling and of course sailing. How much more does a nation need?

Boy you've got all the PR well swallowed! PM me if you wish to get the real story. In short every paradise has it's flies.

 

[squeak]

Boy you've got all the PR well swallowed! PM me if you wish to get the real story. In short every paradise has it's flies.

Will do - thanks! Scandinavian nations have flies too, although probably better tuned to colder weather. The point is valid though, you don't need to win the America's Cup to maintain an image. However, you asked for it, you got it, and I believe will be stuck with it for a while. (That's a Norwegian emoji btw).

 

[saxyjt]

If you can understand it please tell me. The only thing I can say is that kids here learn to sail the way Norwegians kids learn to ski...from a very young age and they take it very seriously. There are more boats per capita in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world (I'm told...haven't counted myself!). It's a sports mad country, which is good I guess, except that it takes up a lot of $$$ that isn't available to the arts...rather unbalanced compared to most places in Europe. I guess it's a "new world" thing trying to prove something whereas Europe has nothing it needs to prove to anyone...thousands of years of history ad innovation. What does NZ have to show? Sheep? Butter? You can train athletes in years, culture takes hundreds or thousands of years to develop.

It's really interesting you say that. My wife is a graduate from the Louvres school in History of arts and she travelled the world as a cultural tour guide. One of her best friend who also attend the Louvres school went to NZ and Oz a few years ago. Came back with a husband and a kid. She likes it there, except for the lack of cultural content... Generally speaking of course. But for someone versed into arts she feels it's a kind of desert!

The best image I can get in my mind, sorry for the drift, is when I was on Tahiti about 30 years ago, I visited some remote Atoll in the Tuamotu archipelago and found out to my surprise that Tahiti compared with that remote Atoll (called Manihi) was a desert populated by dwarfs (I mean fishes here, not humans). Manihi, like most of the remote islands/atolls in french polynesia is not over populated and fished, so it has a live stock that's truly amazing. Just one example was Parrotfishes. In Tahiti you can see some, but they are skinny and sort of rare. In Manihi, they are everywhere and 10 times the size of those I had seen in Tahiti.

Unfortunately, my wife's friend had a very similar feeling towards arts in NZ and OZ. That's a pity.

I visited Australia way back in the late 80s and then I was considering moving there as my main focusses then were sailing, golf and surfing. How could Australia not be an ideal candidate? But it didn't happen. Who knows, I could have been happy there or not. It's impossible to revisit your own history.

 

[Wade Cornell]

Yes, you get it!

Well, this is about the cup and sailing, so hopefully there will be a lot to enjoy in that. We haven't been invited out on the Eremites viewing boat again (yet?) but I'm not sure that I'd go out again. It was amazing last time to have one fairly close encounter seeing Luna Rossa fly through the spectator boats before the race and that made it all worthwhile. However the food and beverages aboard were total crap (potato chips, nasty beer, cheap wine and bulk stale sweets). You see and understand a lot more from the excellent TV coverage, and I can eat the wonderful food and fruits I grow while watching.

 

[saxyjt]

Well, this is about the cup and sailing, so hopefully there will be a lot to enjoy in that. We haven't been invited out on the Eremites viewing boat again (yet?) but I'm not sure that I'd go out again. It was amazing last time to have one fairly close encounter seeing Luna Rossa fly through the spectator boats before the race and that made it all worthwhile. However the food and beverages aboard were total crap (potato chips, nasty beer, cheap wine and bulk stale sweets). You see and understand a lot more from the excellent TV coverage, and I can eat the wonderful food and fruits I grow while watching.

I think that you're absolutely right. Once is enough in these conditions! You experienced it, which is great, but unless you are in good company and with good products, it's way better in front of your TV at home and in selected company.

Back in 95, I went out once accompanying the French team in a practice session that nearly ended in a disaster as we towed the boat back to Mission Bay. The Incoming swell in the entrance channel lifted the boat while that was towed and it almost went ashore... A few days later, they lost their keel... Here are excerpts from an article published in 95 by the LA Times:

Late in the afternoon, the training yacht France 2 capsized about seven miles off the coast after it lost its keel in 15 knot winds.​

The 13 crew members were fine, other than being a bit stunned, syndicate spokeswoman Barbara Wolfe-Barrielle said.​

It was the same yacht that was dropped by a crane Dec. 7, punching the keel up through the deck and snapping the mast in half.​

I ran away and followed most of the event via reports from a friend on CompuServe's Sailing Forum. We didn't have the exceptional live (or replay) videos and Virtual Eye stuff that are available these days.

The best part of all that was actually making new like minded friends at Fiddler's Green. Great memories!

 

[squeak]

36TH AMERICA’S CUP MATCH COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS UPDATE

First weekend of the America’s Cup Match postponed.

www.americascup.com

I think this is a mistake.The best way to clamp down on Covid is to seal off the marina and have the cup out to sea, while the restrictions are being enforced. I know it is brutal for all the people traveling halfway around the globe, but if you really want to get NZ free of Covid again, the last thing you want is a cluttering spectators on the dock. The coverage of the event is fantastic, so nobody will miss out on the action.