Oracle hits pothole :)

[ramillett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1MOsI1BfbM&feature=player_embedded

[TimH]

Oopsie.
Did that in a Hobie 18 last summer.

Monohulls are better :)

[ramillett]

Note ... sails do not hold up to crew :)

[Woxbox]

It sure looks like that wasn't the first time -- they had the recovery routine down pat.

[bamamick]

Well, we finally figured out how to get sailing into the mainstream media! Just build a 45 foot carbon-fiber wing machine and let it loose on San Francisco Bay!

I remember when I was a kid they brought some Aussie 18 skiffs to SF for an exhibition match with Cam Lewis or someone driving one of them. This was when such boats were considered radical in the extreme, unlike today where a lot of people have sailed something like that. I remember one guy saying that they were on a plane one minute, all three guys trapped out and screaming bloody murder, and the next minute the boat was disintegrating beneath them. They had the aluminum tubing framework, the racks, the rig and sails, but no hull. Sounded freakin' awesome!

Mickey Lake

[Ian McColgin]

If you're allowed an assisted recovery in a race, they all they need to do is figure how not to fall through the sail and to speed up the rerighting drill. Or maybe they can make a way the mast can be run through its step far enough that the crew can hang on that to right the boat. . . All ya gotta do is . . .

[BBSebens]

Reports on the internet indicate it was Russell Coutts at the helm, and who went through the sail. Good times...

Apparently, the boat is a scaled down prototype for the upcoming America's Cup.

Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/14/us-sailing-americas-idUSTRE75D0GP20110614)

[JimConlin]

A lot will be learned from these boats.

[Bob Cleek]

Yea, we're starting to see America's Cup gearing up out here a bit. Methinks many will find sailing on SF Bay to be a rather steep learning curve, although Oracle is a local syndicate. Where else does the wind blow from all four points of the compass at once!

[ramillett]

San Francisco bay looks like anything could get exciting , even the 12's :)

[ILikeRust]

I sent the link to the video on YouTube to my wife, who is not yet fully comfortable with sailing. She wrote back "I really DID NOT need to see that!"

I then had to explain to her the many and significant differences between that boat and our 1968 Pearson Wanderer, and between San Francisco Bay and the areas of the Chesapeake Bay where we sail.

[The Bigfella]

I sent the link to the video on YouTube to my wife, who is not yet fully comfortable with sailing. She wrote back "I really DID NOT need to see that!"

I then had to explain to her the many and significant differences between that boat and our 1968 Pearson Wanderer, and between San Francisco Bay and the areas of the Chesapeake Bay where we sail.

I'll show the video to my wife when she gets home from work. She caused one of those on our Tornado.

[ILikeRust]

I'll show the video to my wife when she gets home from work. She caused one of those on our Tornado.

http://yachtpals.com/files/userimages/tornadomain.jpg

[JimConlin]

As a multihuller, that's why I always have an eye on the leeward float.

[ahp]

I believe it is called "boneyarding" by the surfers. We did it once with a monohull sailor at the helm on my Hobie 16. The small cats like mine could be righted by the crew, and we did. He didn't realize how many ways a cat can capsize, fast!

[ILikeRust]

I believe it is called "boneyarding" by the surfers.

Pitchpoling. I did it once, many moons ago, on a Hobie cat 16 in Galveston Bay in near gale-force winds. They weren't gale-force when we went out, but we were out there a couple hours, and by the time we were trying to get back in, a small craft advisory had been issued. Of course, we didn't have a VHF radior or anything - heck, we didn't even have PFDs. Because we were young and indestructible.

But we were flying with one hull up in the air when we executed essentially the same maneuver. I recall flying through the air, clear over everything. We managed to get everything back and righted, but by the time we finally got back to the dock, the Hobie had some damage. Tore out some reef points and broke the gooseneck.

[elf]

Looks like fun to me, except the big, big, big Coutts sized tear in the wing.

One commenter on one of the sites said the kite surfers in the bay were really looking forward to racing the big AC boats when they got there. He said the kites achieve the speeds of these boats routinely.

Oughta be fun as long as everyone keeps their sense of humor.