Yearly Archives: 2014
One of the Greatest Comebacks in Sports History
The winds on San Francisco Bay started kicking up in the late morning. Before long, they were blowing more than 20 miles an hour.
Jimmy Spithill and his 10 teammates put on their crash helmets and flotation vests and climbed aboard the AC72, a menacing, 13-story black catamaran capable of near-highway speeds. As a powerboat pulled them into the bay for Race 5 of the 2013 America’s Cup, Mr. Spithill shot a glance at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was shrouded in fog.
Jimmy Spithill in front of San Francisco Bay on Feb. 3, 2014. Drew Kelly for The Wall Street Journal
An unfamiliar, uncomfortable feeling was tugging at him. Mr. Spithill, skipper of …
Read the entire post on The Wall Street Journal
From asianyachting.com
Is a new event dedicated to amazing foiling boats, their designers, builders and athletes…
Read the entire post on asianyachting.com
SAN FRANCISCO — Max Sirena, the Italian skipper of Luna Rossa Challenge, was standing inside a converted airplane hangar. Watching his shore crew at work on wing sails and gleaming hulls, he wondered if it was still right to define the focus of all this expert attention as a boat…
Read the entire post on nytimes.com
by Kimball Livingston
Part Two
So the boys at Oracle Racing built themselves the fastest AC72 in the galaxy, and they learned how to sail it, just in time. Otherwise we wouldn’t be speculating about another Cup-n-SF vs. San Diego, Long Beach, Newport, Hawaii.
Hawaii? Read the complete article on blueplanettimes.com
Available for trials at the foiling week
Platform aerodynamics, I think, made the difference between the American boat and the Kiwi boat.” Tom Speer, wing designer, Oracle Racing
We could have titled this, Six Extra Feet of Wing, But Do You Know How to Use It?
The way “Fresh” Burns tells the story, and he should know, having been head of performance for Oracle Team USA, there were multiple turning points in Oracle’s desperate, early losing days of the San Francisco America’s Cup. The American boat was losing on every tack, every gybe. Then the Mere Grinders came to the Mighty Chiefs and said something like, “Look, we can tell when the boards are loaded and when they’re not loaded. Why don’t we try moving them when they’re not loaded?”
Complete the reading on blueplanettimes.com
Bora Gulari, two-time Moth World Champion, reveals to Bill Goggins, his go-fast secrets, the importance of the help of friends, the lessons of heroes and future goals.
Recorded November 2013, a transcript of this interview appeared in the February 2014 edition of Seahorse magazine.
