<p>The America’s Cup race hasn’t started so well for USA. The team started in the hole two races because of a penalty for cheating by some crew members in a warm up race. New Zealand raced well today and beat Team USA. </p>
<p>If you watch these boats you will be amazed. They can sail at over 50 miles per hour. The technology to do that is incredible.</p>
<p>There are more races to come. The views of San Fran are a bonus.</p>
<p>I am loving the Jr series which you can watch on the Internet. Two guys from my D’s high school and good friends of hers are on USA 2 and we are rooting for them. USA 2 is not doing well, but they are only 19 and what a huge honor for them. They’ll be able to try again in 4 yrs because they’ll only be 23. </p>
<p>You can check out the Jr teams and see if anyone is sailing from your kid’s schools!</p>
<p>I happened to be riding my bike past the piers a few weeks ago when they were doing the eliminations. There are bleachers set up, right on the water, with loudspeakers, commentators and giant-screen TV (but the boats are also right there in front of you). So I stopped and ate my lunch while watching the racing. Those boats are FAST. Really, really fast.</p>
<p>The video of these boats racing is just awesome. I’ve been following the Louis Vuitton Cup sailing (there was never any actual racing in the challenger series).</p>
<p>Here’s the YouTube link to Race 1 and 2 this afternoon. There’s an option for 720p high def:</p>
<p>[Replay:</a> AMERICA’S CUP FINAL - RACES 1&2 - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>The sailors have to wear body armor and helmets, and carry oxygen tanks. I hope next time they scale things back so the boats aren’t so dangerous.</p>
<p>I know I’m late to the party, but I just watched one of the races and wow! What a thrill to see those 2 boats fly on the water. The local papers had pretty much written off the entire series as a win for Emirates New Zealand, but with today’s tie (8-8 or 10-8, depending on how you count 'em), Oracle US has a chance to win after an amazing comeback. </p>
<p>Anyone else watching?</p>
<p>I’ll be watching the deciding race tomorrow. It’s amazing to see match racing at those speeds.</p>
<p>I haven’t missed a race. Had to be very persistant in catching up with the DVR and YouTube races in order after missing a few days camping and hiking last week. When I left, I figured there would only be one more race. I managed to get all caught up by Saturday, race by race, without ever finding out what had happened. </p>
<p>Tuesday’s races were incredible. Sounds like the winds will probably be too high for racing tomorrow.</p>
<p>Today’s wind is expected to go “from fresh to frightening,” according to the news. Start time scheduled for 1:15pm Pacific.</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Cup: Anticipation builds for Wednesday’s final showdown between Oracle, New Zealand - San Jose Mercury News](<a href=“America’s Cup: Anticipation builds for Wednesday’s final showdown between Oracle, New Zealand – The Mercury News”>America’s Cup: Anticipation builds for Wednesday’s final showdown between Oracle, New Zealand – The Mercury News)</p>
<p>We’ll be there…but fingers crossed…have been having some fairly strong gusts this morning. The winds are making things crystal clear, although there is some fog rolling in
the Golden Gate right now…</p>
<p>We visited the America’s Cup Pavillion on Pier 27. It is amazing just how big these boats are…</p>
<p>America wins!</p>
<p>The Oracle Team was down 8 to 1 but came back and won it 9 to 8. That could be the greatest comeback in sailing history</p>
<p>(merging 2 threads)</p>
<p>So exciting! It seemed to be a blowout, really (no pun intended). What a thrill to watch. Hoping Larry brings the race back to SF again.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed the races, although I have to watch on Internet because I’m not home during the week. It will be interesting to watch whether it will still be super expensive catamarans for the next cup. Provided great level of spectator watching, but was too expensive to bring a lot of teams to the race.</p>