Dear rowers,of direction which could quickly add hundreds of metres of advantage as compared to the marginal differences between the high tech. on display.
having watched all the races of probably the most prestigious and elite sporting event in the world I was left feeling a bit disappointed by the whole affair.
It is undoubtedly an impressive achievement that foils, which can be deployed at will, mean that boats can travel three times the speed of the prevailing wind.
Such high tech. and investment of millions in any currency was thwarted at times by insufficient wind to supply lift off with foils jibs and mainsails of varying design. What seemed evident to me was the overwhelming importance of the sailors' choice
As with any competition if the rules are fair and equal then you can have faith in the result. The Americas Cup left me unsure of the value of victory for either party. New Zealand and Italy both competed to excellent standards but left me thinkingthat sailing is more confused than upgraded by foils.
A good clinker built hull well varnished does it for me.
Steve.
On Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 12:06:30 PM UTC-7, Stephen Maddalena wrote:of direction which could quickly add hundreds of metres of advantage as compared to the marginal differences between the high tech. on display.
Dear rowers,
having watched all the races of probably the most prestigious and elite sporting event in the world I was left feeling a bit disappointed by the whole affair.
It is undoubtedly an impressive achievement that foils, which can be deployed at will, mean that boats can travel three times the speed of the prevailing wind.
Such high tech. and investment of millions in any currency was thwarted at times by insufficient wind to supply lift off with foils jibs and mainsails of varying design. What seemed evident to me was the overwhelming importance of the sailors' choice
that sailing is more confused than upgraded by foils.As with any competition if the rules are fair and equal then you can have faith in the result. The Americas Cup left me unsure of the value of victory for either party. New Zealand and Italy both competed to excellent standards but left me thinking
spite of the massive amount of expertise purchased into these crews that there's still a massive learning curve ahead of them, part of which is likely unlearning what they mastered with hulled craft.A good clinker built hull well varnished does it for me.I'm ignorant about sailing and the technology of foils, but seems to me even in hulled sailing races, choices of direction is a critical part of sailing competition, choosing a line that is longer in order to grab a gust. Also, I would imagine that in
Steve.
I was reading Fairbairn the other night and it's interesting that long after seats and tracks were becoming standard in most racing shells, coaches still struggled with how to use them. What intrigued me was how the body of coaches rejected the idea oflonger tracks therefore using more leg compression for a number of reasons, part of which was the standards of rowing technique based on using the legs but in a very short slide length (greased leathers on flat board, no wheeled seats or tracks).
I couldn't find anything but I would bet that someone set up wheeled seats and tried to use them before using tracks. This would add a complication to technique (seat goes a astray) that might undo any advantage.changes were somewhat dramatic but certainly not radical, blade shapes, lengths, track lengths, spreads and workloads, but nothing as extreme as revolutions in the past.
(ha ha, brought thread to rowing!!) :^)
In my time, we went through a technique revolution, from the quasi-Conibear style here in the US to the modern style as sold by Karl Adam in clinics, books, and film in the late 60s early 70s. Wow, did we ever misinterpret some things!!! The technology
I think real gamechanging developments such as the sliding seat in rowing require significant physiological and technique changes in the athletes to be fully realized. That is to say it became much more of a quadriceps sport with the sliding seat. So avery experienced 1860s rower used to developing maximum power with lots of layback and back, arms etc. on a fixed seat, would not see a huge, dramatic improvement rowing in a similar way on slides. He would not have the right build or technique. Such big
To bring it back to the OP subject matter, the Americas Cup boats always had upper body only winch pedestals for the grinders (sometimes, I digress further, employing former rowers- such as former M1X champion Rob Wadell who was a grinder on several NZboats in the 90s) The technology existed to use bikes instead, the rules allowed it in the last Cup and everyone knows legs are stronger than arms but I understand it took a surprisingly long time to change the grinders from olympic arm wrestlers to
I'm ignorant about sailing and the technology of foils, but seems to me even in hulled sailing races, choices of direction is a critical part of sailing competition, choosing a line that is longer in order to grab a gust.
On Thursday, 18 March 2021 at 20:02:27 UTC, sully wrote:spectator sport. The name of the game is VMG (velocity made good).
I'm ignorant about sailing and the technology of foils, but seems to me even in hulled sailing races, choices of direction is a critical part of sailing competition, choosing a line that is longer in order to grab a gust.Indeed. For fast boats (foils or not) and the courses they usually sail on (windward, leeward) mean that at almost no time do they spend their time point towards the direction they are trying to get to which is just another reason why it is a terrible
On Thursday, 18 March 2021 at 20:02:27 UTC, sully wrote:spectator sport. The name of the game is VMG (velocity made good).
I'm ignorant about sailing and the technology of foils, but seems to me even in hulled sailing races, choices of direction is a critical part of sailing competition, choosing a line that is longer in order to grab a gust.Indeed. For fast boats (foils or not) and the courses they usually sail on (windward, leeward) mean that at almost no time do they spend their time point towards the direction they are trying to get to which is just another reason why it is a terrible
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