America’s cup – day 6
Yesterday we had the excitement of a near capsize (FYI it was a 44.8 degree pitch). My guess is anything above 45 and they would have lost the boat. Today was two really close races. In the first race team USA did a great job blocking team New Zealand and did a perfect race increasing their lead on each leg, crossing the finish line with a 46 second lead. Some spectator don’t understand that those boats are really fast and don’t turn on a dime… Guess who had a discussion with the Coast Guard. On the second race of the day, it was the closest race we have ever seen. They were four lead changes in the race, Team New Zealand won by only 17 seconds. The current score is 7 points for Team New Zealand, 1 point for team...
America’s cup – day 5
What a race !! The score was 6 points for Team New Zealand and -1 for Team USA. Team New Zealand was expected to win the two races. Team USA was fast but significantly slower on the up wing leg. Each time Team New Zealand was able to close the gap, pass and then increase its lead on the up wind leg against Team USA. Today was different in many aspects. First the wind was at the upper limit (more on that later) which seems to favor Team USA. Second Team USA said they made modifications to their boat to make it more competitive in the up wind leg. Third Grant Dalton was not on the NZ boat (last time it was not on the boat, Team USA won the race). Team New Zealand took the better start and was leading at first mark. During the down wind leg, Team USA was able to...
America’s cup – day 1
Today was the first day of the America’s cup between Team USA and Team New Zealand. Everyone was anxious to see how fast against Team New Zealand’s boat Oracle’s boat would be. We guessed that the boats were close in speed and close they are… The first race was close and saw a change of leader happen twice (unseen until today in any previous races with the AC72s). The kiwis made no mistakes, sailing a very good race. The second race was also close but not as close as the first one. That’s two wins for the kiwis. The kiwis left no chance to the Americans. They show that they are fast and sail clean lines, a very hard to beat combo. They will be a lot of analysis and video watching tonight at Oracle’s base, they have to win...
So we’re going to burning man?
“So we’re going to burning man?” was my wife question when I bought two tickets in May. I was sure I wanted to go, why is not to like at Burning Man? Great art display, cool vehicles, half-naked people and of course a gigantic bonfire at the end! It’s in a middle of the Nevada desert at the end of August. There is no hotel, facilities, cell phone coverage and not even water, how hard can it be? First, Burning Man is expensive! Tickets are $380 and give you the entrance right and access to portable toilets. Now you have to bring every thing you need to survive (food, shade structure, water) and more importantly you have to collect and bring back with you all the water you are using (also called gray water). You cannot dump your water...