We'll recall that the advent in the early 19th century of what might be called the first purpose-built cruising boat, Cleopatra's Barge, was nurtured by the vast personal wealth of one individual, George Crowninshield. And as the 19th century progressed, yachting, not surprisingly, continued to be the domain of the wealthy. The vessels and the...
I was just pulling into a mooring field in Sebasco after sailing across Casco Bay from Portland, when I got a phone call from Phil "Snake Wake" Cavanaugh, who was somewhere in central Europe at the time, telling me that Oracle had just won races 17 and 18 and had forced a final race 19...
I was just pulling into a mooring field in Sebasco after sailing across Casco Bay from Portland, when I got a phone call from Phil "Snake Wake" Cavanaugh, who was somewhere in central Europe at the time, telling me that Oracle had just won races 17 and 18 and had forced a final race 19...
OH. MY. GOD. I can't believe this madness hasn't ended yet. I was certain Team New Zealand was going to win one of the races yesterday, as the Oracle crew had yet to do better than split decisions on days when two races were sailed. But now Oracle has in fact won four in a...
Light wind yesterday... and for the first time we saw the big black cats flying gennakers, or Code Zeros, or screechers, or whatever the hell you want to call them. And Oracle had trouble with theirs... and were way way way behind... and Team New Zealand was less than a mile from the finish... when...
We're hard on it, sports fans. The Oracle boys dropped a hard-fought race on Wednesday (two lead changes, plus a big surge on the last downwind leg) and now can't afford to drop any more. One more win and Team New Zealand will be taking our tin back to Auckland. Oracle did what they had...
Women have long complained about how the world is dominated by men. To most men, meanwhile, it is perfectly obvious that modern civilization is little more than a plot to make women comfortable. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle. If it were true, as men aver, that it is women who rule...
I've had a brief exchange of comments following my last full post on the Cup with a fellow named Alex D who complains he is bored by this America's Cup and cites the lack of sail-handling as one reason for this. True enough, there are no sail changes mid-race in this new species of Cup...
Ah, yes. Hype season is upon us once again, and I spent all day yesterday walking the show in Newport. If you visit the same shows every year, they start to assume a sort of timeless quality, as though they are frozen in capsules where nothing ever changes. In reality, of course, they are constantly...
I was going to blog about the Cup again after watching race 4 on Sunday and planned to cheerfully announce how wrong I was in my last post on the subject. I am an optimist at heart, and I was ready to drink all the Kool-Aid in sight after watching Oracle finally beat Emirates Team...
