those quaint 12-meter days . . . amazing how these 'boats' fly . . . is it still a boat because it touches water?

That was crazy! Did a pesky Great White pull the boat down? They have been know to do this.

had that happen on a Hobie 18 once - going bat crazy fast then hit a big wave. These boats are so light that they stop hard and then bury bows. My wife and a friend were both out on their traps and swung way around forward and ended up in the water on the leeward side. I was riding stern quarter and ended up smacked into mast.

Pretty sure whatever happens it will not be BAR this time

I agree with that.

Happy to see today cancelled so we can get more work done on the boat. I don't think we should have too much trouble with getting to 5 first over BAR.

It's been an amazing Challenger Series so far.

I kind of wish they were still saying the AC72 (modernized version). Can you imagine how fast they could go in 25kts of breeze!

They definitely seem to be having a tough time with these boats. Often you see them splash down in order to slow down for roundings etc. But I guess we all saw what happens when you just go for it.

I find the slight nose down attitude a little disturbing, it just doesn't look right.

I think it's bullshit since they got rid of monohulls

A lot can be said of boats that can go 20+kts upwind and 30+kts downwind in only 5kts of true wind. Amazing.

Although there was/is a lot of style and grace to big monohulls battling it out, and probably more tactics.

With these boats, it's all about minimizing maneuvers and not making mistakes. Come off the foils for a few seconds and the other boat is speeding away going 10-20 kts faster.

Exactly. I'm not a sailor, but I've been sailing a lot and was ballast/grinder in some beer can races. I appreciate the skill of sailing which I think is a lot harder in a monohull than on the AC boats. It's like you say, you come off the foil and you're toast and it doesn't really matter what the wind is doing.

Wind shifts are making a bid difference. Even a small shift, when the boats are going 35-35kts, means big gains. And if a puff comes through, 1 boat can be going 5-10kts faster just because of wind speed.

What we aren't seeing, are classic match racing tactics, lee bowing, or tacking duels. If a cross is going to be close, the port boat will always duck, because they would lose too much by tacking/gybing.