Re:Betrayed by the America’s Cup
by jdietrich on Friday September 27, 2013 @03:41AM
(#6455795)
I wish OP would have learned something about sail racing before writing his screed.
Boat trim is an integral part of racing, even in many strictly regulated one-design classes. An eighth-grader racing an Optimist dinghy at their local club will spend a large part of their day tuning their rig, carefully adjusting the shape of their sail to eke out every last ounce of power.
Criticising a race crew for making their boat go faster is preposterous, because that's what most of the crew are there to do. If Oracle did a better job of that, then they won fair and square. Money certainly helps, but it can't win races if you don't have the skill and expertise to turn that money into speed.
An equivalent article would be to write an outraged expose of Formula 1 motor racing, complaining that the top teams "cheat" by having a huge team of engineers, aerodynamicists and strategists to make the car go faster. All that stuff is an integral part of the sport and nobody has ever pretended otherwise.
Boat trim is an integral part of racing, even in many strictly regulated one-design classes. An eighth-grader racing an Optimist dinghy at their local club will spend a large part of their day tuning their rig, carefully adjusting the shape of their sail to eke out every last ounce of power.
Criticising a race crew for making their boat go faster is preposterous, because that's what most of the crew are there to do. If Oracle did a better job of that, then they won fair and square. Money certainly helps, but it can't win races if you don't have the skill and expertise to turn that money into speed.
An equivalent article would be to write an outraged expose of Formula 1 motor racing, complaining that the top teams "cheat" by having a huge team of engineers, aerodynamicists and strategists to make the car go faster. All that stuff is an integral part of the sport and nobody has ever pretended otherwise.