The America's Cup: Another tradition murdered in the name of progress.
The yacht clubs have fallen for the money.
Where it once was a Cup for prestige of being able to build the best sailing boat. Now money and profit is what matters.
With these changes it just becomes another regatta.. All the tradition that was build around will just become a memory of the past. A regatta where there are already enough off.
Using last time's boat, with less crew and more machines, is not 'the pinnacle of sailing' .
The charm of the (old) AC was that it was; human, boat, wind, sea. The best boat had the best change, but because it was sailed with a TEAM, with human powered, human decisions, human tactics, it made it a race anyone could potentially win. Forcing the other boat into errors was part of the game, getting tired, struggling with a line. Now the cyclists will be replaced with a power pack. The team's made smaller and smaller. The aspect of managing a crew is gone. It's computerised. Might as well put the pilot in a simulator on the shore and let the boats go about without anyone onboard. bleh.
I'm not against diversity, but enforcing it is not the way, the best sailors should man the boat. Using two boats in the preliminary race, one for the men and another for women and youth, is just a slab in the face of the female sailors. This way, that boat is just there to make up the demand for diversity.
And the whole changing of the the deed, oh boy. Kiwi's if you guys don't want to organise the AC anymore, then just stop winning. The Brits seem to agree with this, somehow??? But part of me hopes that (for instance) the Italians will say hell no, and we get some good old court battles in New York again.
This is literally the opposite of what the public wanted. The 'demand' was to get the AC offshore again. With less electronics, where crew and boat were fighting exciting battles.
ps: Adding an (opening) fleet race to the Louis Vuitton cup would be a good idea though, for the excitement.
