Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Bermuda!



The next America's Cup will be held in Bermuda.

What a brilliant choice!



A natural amphitheater.



Excellent winds.



And it's British.



What more could you ask for?



And if you're still not convinced, read what Charles Doane - a much better writer and a much better sailor than me - has to say about this decision on his blog Wave Train.

Why Not Bermuda?

"We should just kick back and savor the madness…"



15 comments:

Joe said...

Ugh!

Tillerman said...

Why Joe?

You guys in San Francisco put on the worst Louis Vuitton/ America's Cup ever last time. All those ridiculous one boat "races." Not to mention killing Bart.

Did you really expect a second chance?

Baydog said...

I love British things, but why is this good? There may not be ANY Americans on the boat next time, so why should I care? Bus Mosbacher and Bob Bavier are rolling in their graves, not to mention JW on the Barnegat Bay floor. Benedict Ellison should be keel-hauled for treason at once! And the Bart comment is questionable.......

Tillerman said...

Baydog, I agree. My comment about Bart was in very bad taste. I apologize for it.

Let's face it Larry will hire the best sailors in the world to defend the Cup. Are you really saying Baydog, that there is not one American who is good enough to be on his team? If so, that is a very sad state of affairs.

I have no idea whether there will be any Americans on the team next time. But if you are right and there aren't any Americans on the boat next time, then why should the competition be in America?

Why not hold it in some superb venue, accessible to all nations, not too far from all the European challengers, well situated for the TV market in Europe and North America, with a great year-round climate?


Joe said...

I thought being "Eurocentric" was passe? Screw the West Coast, Kiwis, Oz and Asia, we don't matter.

Baydog said...

My point is being ignored, I think. When exactly did everybody abandon the patriotic practice of recruiting a native crew to defend/win back the Cup? It's been reduced to a cheap, mercenary event with little or no regard to National pride. Harumph

JP said...

And surely if Bermuda is British there'll be Marmite. The America's Cup with Marmite - now that must be a plus

Tillerman said...

Baydog asks a good question. "When exactly did everybody abandon the patriotic practice of recruiting a native crew to defend/win back the Cup?"

I think the answer is probably 1899. Scottish native Charlie Barr was a member of the crew of Thistle the Scottish Challenger in 1897. In that series, Charlie met Nathanael Herreshoff, who hired him to be skipper of the American defender Columbia in1899. Charlie went on to skipper several other American AC winning yachts designed by Herreshoff.

So the practice has been going on for at least 115 years. Larry is just taking it to its logical conclusion, although I understand some leading members of his design team are American.

JP - I agree. Surely there will be Marmite. In fact I hope Marmite becomes the title sponsor. They could fill up the Auld Mug with Marmite and we could watch the winners eat it.

Tillerman said...

Joe - I don't think Bermuda is in Europe. In fact, the way things are going, Britain may not be in Europe much longer.

R1 said...

Fantastic: Sailing madness at its best and in a beautiful location.

I fully expect it to be the same result as last time - Ben will win it.

Tillerman said...

Well said R1. Ben was of course the winning tactician for the mixed nationality team that won the Cup in 2013.

By the way, Ben was the first British sailor to be on board the winning boat in an America's Cup since Charlie Barr, skipper for three consecutive regattas in 1899, 1901 and 1903.

kiwiyates said...

Its all a nasty plot! Lets put it as far away from the Kiwis as possible - that will give us (USA) a better chance.

Team NZ has made it a priority to put Kiwis on the boat and in the team - isn't there a % for the next Cup?

Marmite sponsorship -hmmm then it will open up the Marmite vs Vegemite debate and it thats the case, then an Aussie or Kiwi will definitely win

Tillerman said...

Fighting talk kiwiyates. I think it's probably certain that the winning yacht will have a Brit or a Kiwi or both on it.

And yes there is a really really really strict nationality rule this year. At least 25% of the AC62 crew of 8 sailors must be nationals of the country of their challenge. So whether Larry likes it or not he has to have at least two Americans on his boat. (Of course I'm sure he could secure a fast track naturalization process if he really wanted to stack his boat with Kiwis and Aussies and Brits again.)

Joe said...

Ah, I now get it. Larry moved the event to Bermuda to get around the H1B.

Tillerman said...

Who knows Joe. Larry has forgotten more about how to exploit US tax laws and US immigration laws than we could ever imagine we knew. Perhaps it's all about making Russell insanely rich?

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