Cactus Cowboy
Well-Known Member
Now that I have a good lead on a gubmint job, and weeklong sailing vacations in San Diego may again become a real prospect, I got to thinking about good times I had in the past... and a glance at my framed Cup poster featuring the "Auld Mug" kinda jogged my memory. The '90s were generally good to me, I had a lot of good times in that decade: I pulled some primo Baja island voyages, had work published for the first time in my life, met Bill Bennett (a.k.a. Billy Bones, a real hand when it came to sailboat racing), and watched some really cool Cup races in person and on ESPN, with onboard cameras bringing the action home to viewers around the globe. Did a bunch of other $h!t too, lol, but right now I wanna focus upon the IACC boats and their place in history. Billy Bones, bless his dear departed soul, also gave me a serious look into the world of professional sailboat racing... they called him "Baby Dennis" because he looked like a younger version of Dennis Conner, lol. He called himself a "struggling sailor"---but he really knew his $h!t when it came to actual racing, unlike so many kooks and posers, aye? 
Now, I like the direction which the America's Cup has taken in recent years, with the catamarans impressing spectators & all the onboard cameras bringing exciting footage to those watching from their homes... but I also like the historical aspects of America's Cup racing, right down the entire timeline, ya know? And I was THERE to witness many of the Cup races off San Diego while working with Bones aboard a large spectator craft, I even sailed my Laser out to the course and watched some very exciting finishes from the floating gallery of spectators. Sure, they were monohulls, but those IACC boats were BIG and FAST despite the fact that they were monohulls, and like so many other spectators I was thrilled to see them push the envelope... however, as a result of all this experimentation in a class which was new (or relatively new, depending upon which Cup series you take into account), their skippers & crews often experienced equipment failures, and I'm talking about a broad range of equipment failures, from the minor sort to the absolutely disastrous sort of equipment failures, lol.
Does any other site member here recall the dramatic sinking of oneAustralia in '95? With the entire hull cracking amidships and the ballast in the keel dragging the boat down in record time? I did NOT witness that in person, but the footage was very dramatic, with skipper & crew leaping overboard to save themselves from injury or death. I LIKE John Bertrand too, he has always been one of my favorite sailing idols, a very cool world-class skipper with an excellent record of victories... and to see him leap overboard like that, and joke about it afterward, well, that just made him even COOLER in my book. But I digress: those IACC boats and their crews often experienced equipment failures, from broken hardware to blown-out sails to snapped hulls & spars, and everything in between, lol. The syndicates were pushing the envelope in design, striving to make everything better, lighter, faster, etc., and whenever you do that you increase the risk of equipment failure, no lie. In fact, I'll always remember what one hand said in an interview during the Cup races, though I don't recall the exact year, lol.
This guy who was interviewed, I think he was on the design team for one of the syndicates (or IACC boats), and the media would use such interviews as filler during lulls in racing action. He had a very interesting perspective on racing in general and IACC boats in particular: he said that the perfectly-designed IACC boat would literally FALL APART as it crossed the finish line. THAT is how HARD they were pushing the envelope in those days, and THAT is why there were SO MANY equipment failures during those Cup races featuring IACC boats. They were messing with carbon fiber, a relatively new material, trying to lighten EVERYTHING aboard the boat, and the rigs were tall enough (110', if I remember correctly) that immense stresses were placed on rigging, hardware, etc. Hell, even John Bertrand said that when equipment failed and the hull of oneAustralia cracked, it was like a SHOT... funny I should've so recently used that same analogy or comparison while describing the mast step failure aboard my Laser. The forces involved are just so great, that's how it sounds when it happens...
Anyway, I was just reminiscing about those "good old days" when life was heller cool and the America's Cup races were going off, despite dramatic equipment failures as teams and syndicates pushed the envelope. Sure, now they have racing even more BAD@$$, with foils coming into play in Cup races, but I remember those older days when things were still just as exciting in their own way. If you've ever watched a Cup finish which involved IACC boats from mere yards away in the gallery, well, you know what I mean. Enough said, time to get on with making dinner and drinking a few more beers in celebration... with luck, this job pans out and I can again look forward to sailing in San Diego, as I should've already done (twice) had it not been for some wanker and the new PC bull$h!t which protected him... but 2020 will always go down as a year in which ALL rules & regs went out the f#%ng window, and FRAUD reigned supreme as the goddam corruption ran deep. Meh, I'm not sure that whole scene is over yet, we'll just see what happens as these fraudulent clowns try to push their agenda, AYE??? P!ss on 'em...
Y'ALL HANG LOOSE, TIME FOR THIS KID TO GRAB ANOTHER COLD ONE... MAYBE I CAN DREDGE UP AN OLD VIDEO OF JOHN BERTRAND'S BOAT SINKING, LOL.
Sinking of oneAustralia
ENJOY!!! AND CHEERS!!!
P.S. Did I ever tell y'all about the time I wheeled the "Auld Mug" itself into the San Diego Convention Center? No $h!t, they brought the actual trophy (not a replica) into the Convention Center for some regatta-related b.s., and we met the armored car which brought the trophy to the premises. The guard crew didn't give a damn about the Cup, except to keep it under watch, so I volunteered to wheel the Cup in on a dolly or handtruck. Next thing I know, I'm wheeling the Cup into the huge building, a small army of guards and event-related staff keeping close company, lol. Pretty cool, AYE? And the engraved inscriptions on the Cup itself are awesome, like a history of the race over the long run, very cool indeed... at least for this old hand and lifelong small craft sailor, LOL.
Now, I like the direction which the America's Cup has taken in recent years, with the catamarans impressing spectators & all the onboard cameras bringing exciting footage to those watching from their homes... but I also like the historical aspects of America's Cup racing, right down the entire timeline, ya know? And I was THERE to witness many of the Cup races off San Diego while working with Bones aboard a large spectator craft, I even sailed my Laser out to the course and watched some very exciting finishes from the floating gallery of spectators. Sure, they were monohulls, but those IACC boats were BIG and FAST despite the fact that they were monohulls, and like so many other spectators I was thrilled to see them push the envelope... however, as a result of all this experimentation in a class which was new (or relatively new, depending upon which Cup series you take into account), their skippers & crews often experienced equipment failures, and I'm talking about a broad range of equipment failures, from the minor sort to the absolutely disastrous sort of equipment failures, lol.
Does any other site member here recall the dramatic sinking of oneAustralia in '95? With the entire hull cracking amidships and the ballast in the keel dragging the boat down in record time? I did NOT witness that in person, but the footage was very dramatic, with skipper & crew leaping overboard to save themselves from injury or death. I LIKE John Bertrand too, he has always been one of my favorite sailing idols, a very cool world-class skipper with an excellent record of victories... and to see him leap overboard like that, and joke about it afterward, well, that just made him even COOLER in my book. But I digress: those IACC boats and their crews often experienced equipment failures, from broken hardware to blown-out sails to snapped hulls & spars, and everything in between, lol. The syndicates were pushing the envelope in design, striving to make everything better, lighter, faster, etc., and whenever you do that you increase the risk of equipment failure, no lie. In fact, I'll always remember what one hand said in an interview during the Cup races, though I don't recall the exact year, lol.
This guy who was interviewed, I think he was on the design team for one of the syndicates (or IACC boats), and the media would use such interviews as filler during lulls in racing action. He had a very interesting perspective on racing in general and IACC boats in particular: he said that the perfectly-designed IACC boat would literally FALL APART as it crossed the finish line. THAT is how HARD they were pushing the envelope in those days, and THAT is why there were SO MANY equipment failures during those Cup races featuring IACC boats. They were messing with carbon fiber, a relatively new material, trying to lighten EVERYTHING aboard the boat, and the rigs were tall enough (110', if I remember correctly) that immense stresses were placed on rigging, hardware, etc. Hell, even John Bertrand said that when equipment failed and the hull of oneAustralia cracked, it was like a SHOT... funny I should've so recently used that same analogy or comparison while describing the mast step failure aboard my Laser. The forces involved are just so great, that's how it sounds when it happens...
Anyway, I was just reminiscing about those "good old days" when life was heller cool and the America's Cup races were going off, despite dramatic equipment failures as teams and syndicates pushed the envelope. Sure, now they have racing even more BAD@$$, with foils coming into play in Cup races, but I remember those older days when things were still just as exciting in their own way. If you've ever watched a Cup finish which involved IACC boats from mere yards away in the gallery, well, you know what I mean. Enough said, time to get on with making dinner and drinking a few more beers in celebration... with luck, this job pans out and I can again look forward to sailing in San Diego, as I should've already done (twice) had it not been for some wanker and the new PC bull$h!t which protected him... but 2020 will always go down as a year in which ALL rules & regs went out the f#%ng window, and FRAUD reigned supreme as the goddam corruption ran deep. Meh, I'm not sure that whole scene is over yet, we'll just see what happens as these fraudulent clowns try to push their agenda, AYE??? P!ss on 'em...
Y'ALL HANG LOOSE, TIME FOR THIS KID TO GRAB ANOTHER COLD ONE... MAYBE I CAN DREDGE UP AN OLD VIDEO OF JOHN BERTRAND'S BOAT SINKING, LOL.
Sinking of oneAustralia
ENJOY!!! AND CHEERS!!!
P.S. Did I ever tell y'all about the time I wheeled the "Auld Mug" itself into the San Diego Convention Center? No $h!t, they brought the actual trophy (not a replica) into the Convention Center for some regatta-related b.s., and we met the armored car which brought the trophy to the premises. The guard crew didn't give a damn about the Cup, except to keep it under watch, so I volunteered to wheel the Cup in on a dolly or handtruck. Next thing I know, I'm wheeling the Cup into the huge building, a small army of guards and event-related staff keeping close company, lol. Pretty cool, AYE? And the engraved inscriptions on the Cup itself are awesome, like a history of the race over the long run, very cool indeed... at least for this old hand and lifelong small craft sailor, LOL.
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