Love the America's Cup, but as per normal, nothing on TV that l can find without donating a load of money to some very rich institution. Has anyone found it on TV anywhere or did anyone go to Portsmouth? Flying yachts, travelling at over 50 miles per hour! Come on Great Britain, Ben Ainslie and Land Rover BAR. First and Second in the first two races, beating current champions, America, in both and loosing to New Zealand in the second race. First place on the leader board after Day One. Double points tomorrow. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2531154-americas-cup-world-series-2015-results-updated-standings-from-portsmouth-event Regards, Nick
Nick BBC 2 are showing highlights on Monday lunchtime 12.05pm to13.05pm. 1 hour only. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2015/30/sailing-americas-cup-world-series (If it's not Formula 1 or Football, the BBC don't want to know about paying for the rights to broadcast many other sports live). Same happened with Moto GP too, only way to get it is to pay to see it on BT Sport. . Makes me so mad. Lesley
Thanks Lesley, I have high hopes this year and even with BG in position one following day one played out in Portsmouth, it does not even get a mention on BBC News at 10!!!!! Well lets make sure it gets mentioned here. Regards, Nick
They didn't have much Little League Yachting when I was young so I never really developed a taste for the sport. From a distance it is marginally more entertaining than submarine racing.
Portsmouth calling, here is the report from the seafront on the race. Sunday 19 July: sailed from cowes in light winds under blue skies and Caribbean coloured seas to Gosport. Mon-Thursday: sight seeing in Portsmouth historic docks and various military museums in area. M33 looking very colourless in black and white dazzle-flague, Mary rose has a fabulous new display house, lots of AC material around. Watched AC boats going out for training runs. In the evening the setting sun lit up the spinnaker tower, the lipstick tower and the new bar HQ against a dark sky backdrop. Recommend a radio 5 live preview with Ben being QandA'd by his lovely wife Georgie. Thurs very wet so cycled to RM museum in Eastney in full and colourful foul weather gear. Friday: first practice for the crews on the course, in murky weather and light winds, red arrows were cancelled, watched parade of sail of regatta go past the marina entrance, the foiling moth dinghies were great fun, Ben had the bar boat alongside HMS Alban and gave great pictures, Saturday: first race day, sunny and windy 15-20 knots, secured seat in the grandstand at the windward edge and caught a constant cold wind in the right ear hole, had to bung the gap with tissue paper. Sun was in and out of clouds but in front of us meaning that the boats were backlit. Racing started at far end (southern side) of course and BAR led off the line, but slowed on downwind gybe, they recovered on the upwind legs and kept lead until finish which was right in the shore line under our noses, France was last. Oracle came in hard and fast to the final mark and almost landed on top of the Japanese boat. In the second race NZ boat got a flyer whilst bar was last through the start gate, the wind was tricky and boats were foiling in one moment then falling off, many had tank-slappers and wheelies, diving into the water and stopping. The NZ boat kept the lead to the end but Bar got the boat flying on the foils making many passes to finish second to great cheers. Oracle USA was nowhere in both races and looked very slow. Everybody in the marina bar on the Big Green Lightship were very happy. Sunday: weather forecast of low tracking up from South promised winds and rain, we had full English on board and found the race start time was advanced to midday, rushed to the ferry to catch the shuttle bus to arrive at the site to be told that race was cancelled. Came back to boat and watched F1 on iPad and hunkered down in very wet howling wind. Hoping for better day on Tuesday and chance to see classic J class boats on the water during their round the island. Velsheda looked spectacular and very large against Larry ellisons huge private yacht.
Thanks for the local colour. I named my 1950's soapbox "Sceptre the Second." "Sceptre" was a contender ( defeated ) for the cup at the time. It would be fantastic if we won. I know someone who was in a hired boat for the round the island a couple of years ago and another boat made a big hole in the side. The crew of the damaged yacht had to sit on the other side to stop the water from coming in. I thought fibreglass was supposed to be strong.
Guys, Unlike Canuck's post, this topic cannot be submerged!!!!!! I do welcome your support. Hope you all watched it tonight following Lesley's advice, absolutely thrilling. Sunday was cancelled due to bad weather so GB (Including Scotland for those seperatives) leads going into the next round. You have to see the trill of these boats flying. I would love to try it. Anyway, they interviewed the teams. Team Land Rover BAR, very stiff upper lip, Team France, certainly a bit of cancan and team USA, 'Goodday mate', with a good mixture of Aus and Kiwi thrown in!!!!!!! Even team Japan had been infiltrated by our Southern Brothers. Having sailed round Greece and Turkey for many years l know they are good, but not that good. Watch this space over the next 2 years!!!!!! We lost the trophy 164 years ago (and yes the boats then were more beautiful) and we need to bring it back home with a British team. Regards, Nick
Second round of the AC World Series this weekend in Gothenburg. For information, AC+ is an online app which viewers can follow the action live, and costs £5.60 for each race. Keep up the good work Ben and the BAR team.
I am reminded that in 1983 my wife and I were holidaying in the USA and found ourselves in Newport, Rhode Island where the Americas Cup was eventuallly taken by Australia. Such was the demand for hotel accomidation during the races that the tiny bedroom we managed to find cost us more per night than the roôm we had in the Waldorf Hotel New York Oh to be young again ! Ron
Dear Fellow Forumers, I just wanted to let you know that the published issue of my photos of the America's Cup racing in the Solent has been released and is available to buy on the link below. There is a wide range of interesting views of the Solent with lot of info on military history. WHAT IS IT?: The photo-storybook is a collection of photographs which taken been taken by the author and are selected for this issue for the image quality, or for historical and subject interest. The images have been chosen for the storybook for their artistic composition, or a colourful vista, but mainly for the interest of the many subjects in the view. The contents of each image have been researched and a narrative has been added to tell the story of image and the subjects. This is a refreshing and unique approach to the handling of photographic images many of which do not have any background information. The intention in this style of story telling is to draw the reader into the image and take them on a journey. The images are arranged so that each page leads into the next in a themed sequence. There is a bibliography of sources for the historical information. HOW to REVIEW and to BUY the BOOK: Blurb is a on-demand online publishing company for authors who wish to self-publish their works. Books are created with the online software package provided by Blurb and are ordered and printed from their website. Any prospective customer can order the book, or a run of items at a discount. The book costs about £60 for the largest version when ordered on the premium quality paper. The links to the book are provided below. 1. The published storybook: limited review for public use, order any size, quantity, or quality: SAILING: THE BOOK: Title: Sailing: America's Cup Colours the Solent. Synopsis: The Short Story of the Golden Age of Big Class Yacht Racing: The Solent has witnessed some of the most beautiful boats to have been raced in the recent past. There have been some big personalities and their alter egos, the Big Class racing yachts, have been a source of wonderment and inspiration for the sailing community. The spirit of competition has never been stronger than in the Americas Cup, an international sailing regatta of great intrigue and longevity, a contest which has experienced the best and worst of human endeavours and which has now become the stage for boat racing at the very highest level. The story of the oldest international competition in the world has been the subject of so many masterly works that this short piece cannot do justice to the complexities of the personalities and the boats which have been admired by so many. The first cup was won in 1851 by a creation of the New World, an America team with the vision, drive and commitment to win, and who came to the sleepy Solent and won the RYS 100 Sovereigns silver Cup. It was an affront to the pride and confidence of an island nation with a long history of seafaring. Nelson must have turned in his grave. But the facts are there, sixteen British based challengers later and not one winner in 165 years, whilst three other nations have held the cup at some point. The America's Cup may have been known for the personalities of the team owners and their money but the boats are the beautiful creations of man's ingenuity to invent new designs to challenge the crews and their sailing machines. This photo-storybook celebrates the boats of the Solent and those who sailed in them. The author has researched the subjects and backgrounds of each image to provide an insight into the fascinating history of the Solent and its characters. The images are colourful and the historical background is rewarding. Please enjoy both in equal measure. FOREWORD OF THE BOOK: SAILING: America's Cup in the Colourful Solent: The Solent is small area of sea on the south coast of England which is enclosed by the Isle of Wight. This sheltered water has long been the home of yacht racing for many sailors. There has been a royal involvement since Queen Elizabeth had a ‘pleasure ship’ built in Cowes in 1588. The term yacht came into existence when King Charles II, who was also fond of sailing, was presented with the 100 ton yacht Mary by the Dutch City of Amsterdam. The Royal Cork Yacht Club of Ireland became the first sailing club to be established in 1729 and sailing competitions have been recorded as being held on the Thames since about 1739. In Cowes the start of match racing was recorded in 1780 and by 1815 the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS) had been established to organise racing events in the Solent. The Regatta of 1826 was advertised as a race for a Gold Cup, valued at £100, and the annual Sailing Match. The former was so successful that a second Regatta was held with two Gold Cups as the winners prizes and gave the Solent the world famous Cowes Week Regatta. In London the Great Exhibition of 1851 was organised by Prince Albert and held at the fantastic Crystal Palace to showcase the finest products of industry from around the world. In celebration of this great event the RYS arranged a series of races based upon the traditional handicap formula. This allowed vessels of different sizes and sail plans to compete fairly against each other and makes for interesting racing. A syndicate of American businessmen commissioned a new boat or the race which was quite different, and much larger at 170 tons, than the usual English boats. She was so fast that the owners did not want to hamper her winning capabilities with a handicap and the owners of British boat did not want to race her. However, in the spirit of the Great Exhibition, and the legendary sense of English fair play for our international visitor, the annual Round the Island race was thrown open to any boat without restriction. The Old World was about to meet the New with very little idea of what was to be for the next 165 years. The schooner America led the fleet over the finish line in the Round the Island race of August 1851, prompting the famous response to the watching Queen Victoria, that 'there was no boat [seen] in second place' as the winner approached the finishing line. The prize was the ornate RYS 100 Sovereigns Cup and it was gifted by the winners to the New York Yacht Club as a prize for a new worldwide sailing competition to be held between yacht clubs. This was to become the oldest competitive event in the world and was renamed the America's Cup in 1870. The 35th Edition of the America's Cup will be held in Bermuda in 2017. The current holders, Oracle Team USA, are competing in a World Series during 2015-2016 with Challengers from Great Britain, Sweden, Japan, France and New Zealand. In this quite unique place the Solent has seen so many stories of human endeavour and and has witnessed the birth of a sailing community. One Hundred and Sixty Five years ago the America's Cup was born in the Solent and we hope that it will return there very shortly. This photo-album is a reflection of how the sailors and their boats have brought variety and colour to the Solent and of the story behind the most famous sailing competition of all. The historical narrative for each image is an innovative approach to linking the past with pictures of the present day. It is very much my hope that you will enjoy the pictures and the stories in equal measure, and that fortune will safely attend to the sailors who take to high seas in boats big and small. Lionel Austin, October 2016. THE AUTHOR: There is only one way to describe the early years of childhood for the author, varied and interesting. Lionel has always been an avid reader and started to write short stories at school. Throughout his childhood his family were travelling around Britain as his father served in the RAF as a photographer. There were overseas assignments which meant that different schools and classmates were just as challenging as learning about new cultures and countries. Lionel was one of the fortunate few to be at the forefront of mass tourism and enjoyed much of the hospitality that unspoilt countries could offer. It was no surprise then that his career path took him to the Royal Navy and aviation. As an avionic systems engineer Lionel developed a passion for learning how things worked and travelled extensively on missions to so many places that his passport was one big visa stamp. On his travels a camera was always to hand and photography was more than a way of life as he captured images wherever his overnight bag landed. The military service can be a great learning experience for a young person but Lionel was eager to develop further in photo-journalism and was successful in having several articles published in magazines. There was to be no fairy tale success story here though and a return to engineering was tempered with a qualification, after four years of hard work on an Open University course, in project management. Over the years Lionel has become a very successful professional in project delivery in the IT industry. The need for constant travel to client sites may not have been entirely welcomed by Lionel but there were many more opportunities to take photographs of all sorts of subjects. As the library of images grew into a meaningful collection of interesting and unique pictures there was a fresh challenge to be taken up. It was the inspiration of the famous landscape paintings by Joseph MW Turner which provided an impetuous to try something different. The painter was prone to weaving a human story into the subtle brushstrokes of delicate landscapes. Many cameos were played out by people in intriguing situations. And it was this that lead to the creation of a type of photo-storybook which could display photographs in way that informed readers on the many features in the image. There is much to be said about a scene in the Solent where history has been made since sailors made it their playground several thousand years ago. Lionel has been witness to some wonderful occasions on these waters and has set out to present these to a wider audience. He lives in Warwickshire with his partner and counts cycling, historical research, sailing and model railways as the main preoccupations of his time. David Lionel Austin.
