ROGER VAUGHAN and IAIN MURRAY ON THE AMERICA’S CUP | stephenlirakis.com

ROGER VAUGHAN and IAIN MURRAY ON THE AMERICA’S CUP | stephenlirakis.com:

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. I wrote the book (as yet unpublished) about Oracle’s dramatic, nail-biting victory in 100- foot multihulls in 2010, the match that led to using multis for 2013.Along the way I wrote scripts for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.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….

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