I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

[QC]

And we won!!! tommays Tangent thread reminded me that I wanted to post this . . . As part of a team building exercise for the Company I work for we "raced" two retired 12 Meter America's Cup boats yesterday. There is an outfit in San Diego Bay now that offers rides on these boats and also charters them for Corporate outings. We had 12 of us on each boat along with 4 crew members. I was on Abracadabra which last raced for Team Aloha in the 2000 America's Cup off New Zealand, and the rest of our gang was on Stars and Stripes which last raced in the Citizen's Cup in 1995.

I manned one of the Jib sheet Grinders along with my boss. We ran three heats and won two out of three. The crew did use some monkey business to keep the boats close and we had some passes on opposite tacks that were within a couple of feet and was very exciting. Abracadabra ran 11 knots upwind into an 8 knot breeze. Pretty flippin' amazing if you ask me. What a blast!!!

More info here:
http://www.sandiegotours.us/tours/tourDetail.cfm?tour_id=7713

 

[tommays]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

I have envy

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

SWEET! Way to go QC!!

 

[azlakes]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

... you have no life and are boring to tears. Congrats on the victory!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

just SWEET. envy

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

Lucky you! Next time let me know and il be there.

 

[Don S]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

As part of a team building exercise for the Company I work for we "raced" two retired 12 Meter America's Cup boats yesterday.

Talk about company perks! (Place large GREEN WITH ENVY icon here)

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

If you love boats and water it dont get no better than that.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

You darn noisey feline, sometimes you make me sick. SICK I TELL YA, REAL SICK.

Hello QC, How are ya doing mate?

 

[QC]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

It's not all good, my boss is a cranky Brit with attitude . . . That sucks plenty Oh, and my latest exotic travel schedule is Houston three times a month . . .

 

[QC]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

They gave us a lot of info during the 2.5 hour deal. A typical mainsail is made of Carbon fiber, like the entire boat except for hardware for that matter . . . Cost of the sail was $105K and they're only good for about 25 hours of racing. These guys get hand me downs form the various teams. A jib costs $55K and was good for 33 tacks

With fresh sails they could point as high as 15 degrees off of the wind. With the worn sails we were capable of about 22 degrees they said. They were just about to schedule a mainsail replacement for Stars and Stripes which takes 30 hours . . .

Conner switched boats after the Citizens Cup and lost to New Zealand badly. The boat he switched to was the one he had just beaten so it was considered a major blunder.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

Well that sure sounds like plenty of fun.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: I raced against Stars and Stripes yesterday

Nice to hear your enthusiasm, QC. I used to race sailboats quite a bit and was even taught how to jibe a spinnaker by one of the crew members of Australia II, the boat that took the America's Cup away from the New York Yacht Club.

The fastest boat I ever sailed was a Ross 930, which is a New Zealand built "ultralight." One of the things that I loved about that boat, is that the slightest adjustments in heading or sail shape, would affect the boat dramatically - either positively or negatively. It was a boat that taught you a great deal about such things, because you could see the effect of what you had done immediately.

Hard to explain why it is exciting to race something that goes 10 or 12 knots but, none-the-less, it is!