America’s Cup off Oakland causes love of travel

DrHe must see the hat! Those horrible high-tech duels in Hauraki Bay. Sailboats that can no longer be called that because they go through the water at the riders, so fast, at 90 kilometers per hour, that their crews have to wear ski goggles because the eyes cannot respond quickly enough when droplets of water approach. These are flying marine bodies, and at the same time they look like colorful animals that lift their legs out of the water when it comes to spinning at breakneck speed.

America’s Cup, this is not the sailing that we know. The sails on the AC 75 do not inflate and do not move during maneuvers. Nobody rushes from one side of the ship to the other side in a step or gap to re-trim it. Instead, the treadmills move left and right in their shafts with all their might, and the viewer on screen only sees their helmets, as is the case with skaters.

A few days earlier, the winds weren’t blowing hard enough, so first the New Zealand T Riotai, then the Italian Luna Rossa, fell off the runners and swayed in the water before the crew could pick them up again. Once again the winds suddenly changed, they were lucky for New Zealand, and for Italy it was bad luck. And as a viewer (thanks to Servus TV, it can also be seen as canned food on the homepage) I tried it.

Is the true fascination of sailing perhaps based on trying to exercise maximum control and knowing you’ll never get it? That is, simply because you do not know exactly where the wind will blow from? Plus, of course: Even the most powerful skippers in the world, like Australian Jimmy Spethyl on Luna Rossa and New Zealander Peter Burling on Te Rehutai, make mistakes.