Sailbydate

They get to see how truly unimportant everyone else's job aboard is. As in, "All you fuckers have to do is point in the right direction, steer and trim the thing".

It's all relative. What's quick compared to a barge?

I like their chances for the Challenger Series. They look a strong prospect, with a good B2.

Might B1 and B2 have accidentally got mixed up in the shed? You know, like babies in the neonatal ward. ;-)

Blue bucket, Mk2. Fuck, I hope not. ;-)

Pretty conservative, really. Looks damn slippery. Wait...that's the old boat, right?

Rebooted their GPS more like. ;-)

Pretty bloody arrogant Euro trash talk, actually.

Mode. Arms are down. Check out post, #2966 above.

Blah,

I'd almost forgotten what racing AC dinosaurs looked like. What a time warp.

Hmmmm. Prolly just the luff breaking before the whole boat rotates back to leeward, no?

Calling Weta and others interested. Response from Waterfront Operations Manager to request for Viaduct Webcam field of view alteration: "Thanks for the email enquiry, It is great to see the webcams getting good use. Unfortunately the webcam is unable to be moved as it’s optimally placed to overlook Wynyard Quarter and Viaduct Marina. It’s an added bonus that Team New Zealand, Ineos UK and the Stars & Stripes team bases are in view. If the camera was moved to bring Luna Rosa base into frame, it would be pointing out towards the Waitemata Harbour and the Viaduct Marina would no longer be captured. Once again, many thanks for the enquiry and hope you get to enjoy a great summer of sailing,

Why America's Cup challenger won't sail new boat just yet NZ Herald Just 24 hours separated the launch of America's Cup Challengers American Magic and INEOS Team UK's second boat, but the teams have taken very different approaches to their timing of hitting the water. American Magic unveiled their second boat 'Patriot' on Friday before immediately taking it out for a sail off the coast of Auckland's North Shore. Meanwhile, British Challenger INEOS Team UK officially christened their second AC75 'Britannia' from the team's base in Auckland on Saturday, conceding they'll wait at least a few days before taking their America's Cup race boat for a spin. "We're quite methodical in our process and the structural testing we've done both in the UK and here and we've still got some more of that to go," skipper Sir Ben Ainslie said. "Good on the Americans for getting out there, a pretty ballsy approach, thankfully they didn't [capsize], would've been a bit embarrassing but they got away with it. We'll stick to our program, we're happy with that and we'll be sailing in a few days time." Ainslie said he was impressed by the design and execution of their new boat and was looking forward to seeing how it performed. "It's a beautiful boat, it's the best looking boat I think I've ever seen so we're incredibly proud of it. We hope it's as fast as it looks," he said."It's a big step up from the first boat, both in performance and ease of sailing it's been a great development. It's not just the hull shape, but the layout of the boat, the systems that go into the boat, how the grinders and the rest of the sailors operate the boat, it's a lot more efficient to sail because of that." INEOS Team UK designer Nick Holmroyd admitted a lot of inspiration behind the new boat was based on close examination of opponents such as Team New Zealand. He said observing what the Kiwis were focusing on, helped determine what type of sailing to expect in Auckland. "My first thought when I looked at particularly Team New Zealand who have significant event control, is to look at the boat and say what kind of racing are they envisaging to be drawing a boat like that so there was a lot for us to learn because they held a few cards that we hadn't seen at that stage," Holmroyd said. "This game really is an incredibly elaborate version of paper scissors rock, we all pull out whatever we have at the end and go 'oh okay,' so practically when I look at other teams I'm interested in where their focus is ... we're a well-resourced team but still you have to make decisions of where you're going to focus your energy and spend your time." Italian's Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand are set to unveil their own versions over the coming weeks ahead of the Christmas Cup regatta on December 17-20.

Hmmm, I wonder. Let's suppose for a moment, Alex gets his win this go-around. What does he do next? Another VG? In which case there would be another 2.5 years of IMOCA 60 'secrets" But the question is, would he go again? He might, if there wasn't a bigger mountain in front of him to climb, I guess. Could an Ultime solo RTW record be in the offing?