Tactics, Not Speed Won the America's Cup

Jesse Fradkin reports:

Many if not most of the pundits are proclaiming that Oracle's superior boat speed won this race and the series. Here's the data from the final race. Oracle's average boat speed is exactly, I repeat exactly the same as ETNZ's. ETNZ's top speed was faster. The race was won by tactics.

It is no coincidence that the change of tactician to the 5 time Olympic Gold Medal winner Sir Ben Ainslie about faced Oracle's racing from losing to winning. His leadership, expertise, decisions and determination greatly helped to shape the turn of the tide in Oracle's complete favor. 

Update: BUT Jerome Tauber argues that Oracle was pointing higher, thus sailing a shorter course.  And that makes it the faster boat!

Race 19 Performance Data
Course: 5 Legs/10.07 nautical miles
Elapsed Time: OTUSA – 23:24, ETNZ – 24:08
Delta: OTUSA +:44
Total distance sailed: OTUSA – 11.9 NM, ETNZ – 12.2 NM

Average Speed: OTUSA – 30.55 knots (35 mph), ETNZ – 30.55 knots (35 mph)
Top Speed: OTUSA – 44.33 knots (51 mph), ETNZ – 45.72 knots (53 mph)

Windspeed: Average – 18.2 knots, Peak – 21.3 knots
Number of Tacks/Jibes: OTUSA – 9/7, ETNZ – 9/7

Foiling

Prada foiling past Angel Island.  (note reefed jib)  Ft. Baker boat basin at the left. photo by Peter Miron Conk

Gary Jobson America's Cup Report 18 — America's Cup Experience

Gary Jobson America's Cup Report 18 — America's Cup Experience: 
"Today's victory by Oracle Team USA concluded an America's Cup that will add quite a unique chapter to the long history of this regatta.  At the post race press conference, team owner Larry Ellison, was on stage.  He was gracious, funny, respectful, interesting and happy.  I sat among the 100 or so journalists thinking to myself, "Where has this guy been?" Ellison explained that he was absent because he simply wanted to support his team, and let them run the defense.  There was no doubt, however, who was in charge.  Alongside Ellison were the Australian skipper of OTUSA, James Spithill, the Australian strategist, Tom Slingsby, and the British tactician, Ben Ainslie.  The team leader, New Zealander Russell Coutts was not on stage, and he was missed.  Ellison gave Coutts considerable credit for pushing the team to improve when they were behind.  Something happened during 19 races over the past 19 days that took the American team from awful to spectacular."

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New York Harbor Regatta at Governor's Island

New York Harbor Regatta at Governor's Island
Friday, October 4, 2013

A Dream River in Iceland Rich With Salmon - NYTimes.com

A Dream River in Iceland Rich With Salmon - NYTimes.com:
by Peter Kaminsky

MIDFJARDARA RIVER, Iceland — Along this river in Iceland’s cold northwest, the world is reduced to its bare components: rocks, grass, water and fish. The view is as uncomplicated and as beautiful as a well-constructed haiku. The scale of the river is inviting and intimate. Its twisting course cuts through black lava canyons and tumbles over numerous waterfalls, pausing only to collect itself in the deep runs and deeper holding pools in which its salmon wait....

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In Bronx River, Helping Oysters Stage Comeback - NYTimes.com

Seeding an oyster reef in the Bronx River

In Bronx River, Helping Oysters Stage Comeback - NYTimes.com:
by Winnie Hu

"Not much lived in the Bronx River in the 1970s, when it was tainted with toxic chemicals and human waste and choked by abandoned cars dumped into its waters.
The oyster did.
Oysters clung tenaciously to tires here and there, a tiny remnant of the vast oyster reefs that once thrived in New York City’s waterways and nourished natives and settlers alike. Now after decades of cleanup efforts in the river, the oyster has emerged as a tangible measure of how much more needs to be done to return the river closer to its natural state.

¶

A one-acre oyster reef has been created in the river just off the shore of Soundview Park in the South Bronx — one of the largest oyster restoration projects in the city. On Saturday, students from the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School relocated about 100,000 farm-raised baby oysters, known as spat-on-shell, to the reef, which was made this summer by piling 100 tons of empty shells on the river’s muddy bottom. "

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Spanish Tuna Recipe with Red Pepper Sauce | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Spanish Tuna Recipe with Red Pepper Sauce | Hunter Angler Gardener Cook:


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AC Skeptics: You gotta admit this is getting good. Oracle wins Race 16

OK they're all even now 8-8 (if you subtract the astonishingly harsh two race penalty by the international jury for a violation by Oracle in the AC 45's)  If the Kiwis win tomorrow it will still be a win on the water - because they'll have 9/17.  But if the Americans win one more it will be 9/8 on the water but 8/7 on the books.  Something ought to give. - GWC

Ice Closes in on Northwest Passage-makers

The Canadian Coast Guard reports 50% more ice in the Northwest Passage this year than last.  Several yachts are already icebound.  Stephen Lirakis reports. - GWC
GAME ON, STARTS SATURDAY AND ICE IN THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE |

What a Messy Desk Says About You - NYTimes.com

Shackleton's cabin aboard the doomed Endurance

mine

What a Messy Desk Says About You - Well - NY Times

Cleaning up your desk can be a good idea.   But “Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition,” Dr. Vohs and her co-authors conclude in the study, “which can produce fresh insights.”The implications of these findings are also practical. “My advice would be, if you need to think outside the box” for a future project, Dr. Vohs says, then let the clutter rise and unfetter your imagination. But if your primary goal is to eat well or to go to the gym, pick up around your office first. By doing this, the naturally messy can acquire some of the discipline of the conscientious.

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