With the magnificent spectacle of America’s Cup now behind us, here are a few quick and random observations from a Bay Area sailing instructor who has dedicated his life to sailing.
ORACLE TEAM USA rounding mark number three and heading upwind on the penultimate leg of the finals well ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand. © ACEA / Photo Gilles Martin-Raget
By CaptaIn Ray
Published: October, 2013
With the magnificent spectacle of America’s Cup now behind us, here are a few quick and random observations from a Bay Area sailing instructor who has dedicated his life to sailing.
• What a tremendous comeback for ORACLE TEAM USA! Think of a football game where you are down 59 to 3 with five minutes to play, you tie it up at the two minute warning, and go on to win in the last 30 seconds. That’s what ORACLE TEAM USA did in September. Because of penalties imposed by the international jury, the team actually started at -2, and had to win 11 races to get the 9 points needed to win. After the first 11 races, they were down 8 points to 1. Emirates Team New Zealand needed just one more victory, but from that point on, ORACLE TEAM USA was unbeatable and won eight straight races. We have just seen one of the greatest comebacks in the history of competitive sports. Well done!
• On Saturday, September 14, the class I was teaching had to cross the Bay from Ayala Cove on Angel Island to Clipper Cove between Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands. Our timing (just a coincidence) was such that we were near the finish line for the first (and as it turned out, only) race that day. In my 26 years of teaching/sailing here, I have never seen so many boats on the Bay. The number far surpassed the Fleet Week Parade of Boats, the Blue Angels, and the Fourth of July fireworks. There was certainly plenty of interest within the sailing community. However, sailing is not a popular sport in the United States; only one tenth of one percent of Americans call themselves sailors. One of the many reasons given for holding the America’s Cup in San Francisco Bay was that it is a "natural amphitheater" for the event. People would be able to view the racing from the shorelines for the first time in the long history of the Cup. This, it was suggested, would lead to an awakening of interest in sailing among the American public.
• With the Team Artemis accident and the death of Andrew "Bart" Simpson in May, the wind speed restriction was reduced dramatically, from 33 knots to 23 knots. Additional adjustments (usually downward) were also imposed depending on the state of the current. But, hey, this is San Francisco Bay! The wind blows here. To have wind restrictions that are below the normal wind patterns of the Bay led to too many races being postponed and too many disappointed spectators. Imagine the frustration of getting to the Marina Green, whether due to traffic and parking issues, or the joys of depending on mass transit, only to find the race postponed. This was not the best plan for generating interest among non-sailors, and it tried the patience of even dedicated sailors.
• Having read the letters to the editor in the Chronicle, it seems that the visiting Kiwis have been enjoying themselves. Kudos were earned by the San Francisco hospitality industry and the organizers of the Cup’s shoreside facilities. The ability to view an America’s Cup race from the shoreline (in this case, the city front) was one of the major differences of this Cup defense from previous races far off-shore, and it has been excellent!
• I am not a racing sailor—quite the contrary, actually—but it has been a real pleasure to watch the entire America’s Cup event evolve from some very boring one-boat races to this magnificent competition where anyone could view it. Personally, I’m glad for this outcome and look forward to seeing America’s Cup competition in San Francisco Bay again; perhaps with less hype beforehand, slightly smaller (and much less expensive) boats, more realistic wind limits, and with the same fabulous spectator venue.
Ray Wichmann, is a US SAILING-certified Ocean Passagemaking Instructor, a US SAILING Master Instructor Trainer, and a member of US SAILING’s National Faculty. He holds a 100-Ton Master’s License, was a charter skipper in Hawai’i for 15 years, and has sailed on both coasts of the United States, in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Greece. He is presently employed as the Master Instructor at OCSC Sailing in the Berkeley Marina.
