Sailing into the 21st Century

The BMW-Oracle racing team, founded and directed by Oracle owner Larry Ellison, won the 33 America's Cup competition. The deciding race 2 was completed Sunday off Valencia. Race 1 was a “horizon job” win by BMW-Oracle and only a big wind shift lifting Alinghi on the first leg kept it close for a short while in race 2. Let's skip the pseudo-nationalism nonsense and just revel in transnational corporate “boys with toys”.

San Francisco bay will be a great venue for the next defense, not only for the winds, which are reliably better than most places, but also for the high-tech silicon valley environment.

The race should not return to slow sloops! I loved the old 12 meter class and the (slightly) updated AC class but speed is fun. Both these multihulls were very fast, at 20-30 knots more than twice as fast as the wind. High-powered 'chase' motorboats strained to keep up. With a little more high-tech creativity, I predict a hydrofoil platform with a kite sail pushing speeds near 50 knots. Whoosh! Sailing in the 21st Century won't be your granddad's Corinthian snooze-fest.