Bring on the Cup!
I can't wait for some close racing.
Amazing, it might even come down to one crew being better than another, imagine that!
Are you serious? Nice is the best you could come up with? Try insanely hot!!! 
FYI Dunedite - I don't mean to go off topic but close racing? You'll never get close match racing in multi's. I'm willing to be proved wrong though. Exciting boats though
I thought the racing in the last AC was much closer than expected... well for multi-hulls it was.
How epic was it when they dropped the headsal and using only the wing, sailed higher and faster...... awesome.
But your right t03y, we can only hope for round-ups, tacking duals and over-taking!
Woohoo
Close racing wont be an issue except at the starting line and prestart manoeuvres where the crossing speeds will be startling. Once they start and if they sail different tacks up the works then it will be a waste of TV coverage. The race will be a matter of waiting to hear which wing rig fails first.
The next event looks like San Francisco where the breeze is steady and flat water. There are not many places world wide with suitable water and a club that can put up 150 million dollars.
The downside of cats racing for the AC is the big money is being spent else where. Those billionaires we all need are off racing else where in boats they like.
Yeah its going to be a terrible Americas cup, theirs only 8 teams registered including an Australian challenger, its going to be very boring to watch... ;)
fascinating watching that first boat sailing the wake from the stern was really rough and messy, I would have expected something cleaner.
they expect to be racing at speeds that us poor little landsailors do every time we race
Personally I can't wait, the old cup formula was stagnant, boring and the newer bread of super maxis were arguably faster. The AC to me, since they binned the 12m class (which was really the end of close tactical racing imo) has really been more of a design challenge and it was no longer at the cutting edge. That all went out the window when Alingi tried some shenanigans and Larry Ellison called their bluff. BOR90, to me was single-handed coolest bloody boat i've ever seen in my life, we probably won't see something as fast as that thing for a long time....it was insane in every way.
The boatspeed differential between Alingi and BOR90 was so mismatched that the last cup was a bit of a throw away in terms of racing but I think under the new rules it should be a lot closer. Sure, with the speeds of these boats you you won't get monohull type close racing, but I think it will be exciting none the less.
I think that the average person will be surprised at how close the racing is, especially with the 45' class. If you get a chance, have a look at some of the footage of the last ICCCC match racing in the C class cats over in Rhode Island last year. They had multiple lead changes each race and I thought it was quite exciting to look at. I think it'll be good.
the speed is irrelevant in my opinion, match racing is not about speed. Sure, it might make better TV coverage, but it doesn't look that fast on TV anyway. I'd much rather watch the world match racing tour anyday. Close racing, tack for tack, aggressive tactics the whole way up the track etc. I do think the evolution of these boats can be a good thing for sailing technology though
I believe the AC all together is old. I like what Oracle is doing with this cup. Making the boats one design (as someone mentioned, last cup was awful because of speed difference. But you must also remember the cup is/was a design race). I'm much more excited about the challenger series than the actual cup though.
looks like it could be fun to watch, hope we get some good coverage on telly for a change.
some carbon fiber,s have died for those babies
for me , ill stick to the fin keel thanks all the same.
stop for a sanga and get blown over.... no way baby.
the answer for getting to people is away from the AC!!!! We need as you said, 18 footers, and the World Match Racing Tour, the X40's, the MedCup etc. They are truly awesome regattas to watch. The AC is just 2 rich bastards racing off in a redundant series
EDIT: The last cup was good, but it actually probably totally ruined any chances of coverage like that happening ever again. Because the boats could not handle any decent breezes, there were many postponements. The first race was postponed 2 times. One HD had live coverage, and had the first race after it was postponed twice and then gave up. It totally ruined the public image of sailing. Also, there are so much better things broadcast live on the internet. Take a look at www.sail.tv - in our winter you will see live World match Racing Tour, live Audi MedCup and possibly live X40. Not to mention all the news and replays. Watch some of the MedCup full replays, that's how sailing broadcasting should look
