Americas Cup

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Is there a ****ter contest in World sport?

1. You need tons and tons and tons of money to compete. Plus a bit more.
2. If you win, you get to change the rules to suit you.
3. Constant last minute rule changes further undermine the chances of the challengers.
4. Which leads to non-contests on day one of the build up to finale and probably more non-contests over the first week.
5. Most yachties seem to be thoroughly unlikeable.
6. Not to mention that yachting must be one of the most pretentious, elitist sports ever devised. I mean, buying a horse to take up dressage is more than an expensive hobby, but I can't imagine Phlegm popping down to the shipyard to buy his own carbon fibre catamaran.

 

[Quaggas]

You've met Larry Ellison!

 

[Bishnu Aryal]

We hope to see nicely upcoming Americas Cup recently. It is most interesting Cup to look.

 

[Burgey]

We hope to see nicely upcoming Americas Cup recently. It is most interesting Cup to look.

Quite. The working man's sport.

 

[morgieb]

I think the 12th Man summed up yachting as a sport quite well:

"We'll have you bored ****less when we show you some fat rich pricks in yet another brewery sponsored ocean classic".

 

[BeeGee]

Russell Coutts is a wanker.

 

[James]

Going more and Team NZs way

Quite enjoy watching it actually, more exciting than I thought.

 

[_Ed_]

I'm a blatant bandwagoner here. Really couldn't care less about yachting, and I'm not watching the races, but I really do want NZ to win this. It'd be awesome to host it again.

 

[social]

I'm a blatant bandwagoner here. Really couldn't care less about yachting, and I'm not watching the races, but I really do want NZ to win this. It'd be awesome to host it again.

Best thing about it is the prospect of it going back to NZ

Went across for the last one and had a ball

 

[James]

This is getting pretty worrying now, could go down as the biggest choke in sporting history and/or the biggest come back depending how you look at it.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I'm getting mightily fed up by the coverage this joke of a contest is getting. All I hear on National Radio in the morning is Americas Cup this, regatta that.

Is the Americas Cup the greatest demonstration of free market economics in sport? You can pay who you like as much as you like when you like to compete under your flag of convenience (I have to admit I haven't wasted my time reading the rules to find out if there are any restrictions at all on who can compete for you, but it certainly seems like a free for all). You can pay them to build, grind or fight your case in a court of law. It'd be a relief if someone would torpedo both boats.

 

[Bahnz]

Heh, spectacular choke almost complete now. ETNZ has been stumbling from one ****-up to the next over the last 6 races and Oracle have been flawless. Gotta say they deserve it at this point.

 

[Burgey]

NZ's decision to name it's yacht the Greg Norman is coming back to bite them.

 

[Son Of Coco]

Gee the Oracle International Invitational XXV have staged quite a comeback here. The only issue they have is how they're going to find time to give every nation involved in the sailing of their yacht/catamaran a look at the trophy before the next one rolls around. There are 2.5 Americans on the boat out of 25 crew...not bad 'Team USA'.

 

[Hurricane]

Want to have my two cents. The last three races have involved screw ups by dean barker.

Yesterday he put the wrong sail on the boat.
Today he got penalised at the start line. Why? because he sucks that is why.
In the second race, and I will describe this to the best of my abilities, we had the lead and he tried to use traditional yachting tactics where you tack across and sit on the other person's air. Except Dean didn't understand because he is a bit slow that these are not regular boats. So when he tacked he gave up all his boat speed and then he tacked again and came almost to complete stop. Meanwhile oracle is going at 25 knots and just cruises past our boat which is sitting still in the water. Needless to say we lost.

Why did the New Zealand government waste tax payer money on these fools. And why is there no accountability for their mistakes in the media.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I officially do not care and never have cared about yachting. But what gets my goat is that taxpayer money has been invested in possibly the most exclusive sporting event on the planet. It's a complete crock of ****.

 

[Hurricane]

Its considered officially to be an investment because of the tourism we get if we win. However it is really a gamble as there is no guarantee you will win. Better investment opportunities must exist.

It cost $36 Million btw

America's Cup: Is it Worth $36m? | Stuff.co.nz

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

If we want to gamble, we had better odds flinging it all on Red at SkyCity. Plus, maybe then they wouldn't have bent the government over backwards about this poxy exhibition white elephant that they want to build in Auckland.

 

[social]

Ordinarily I'd be quite pleased to see an Australian win something as big as the Americas Cup but given that he skippers Team "USA" and that boat has one single. solitary, token Yank sailor on board I honestly couldn't give a ****

What a ****ing farce this event has become

 

[Neil Pickup]

No idea exactly what's going on, but it's probably Ben Ainslie's doing.