Boat speeds - are the Kiwis really pushing 60 knots?
No, almost certainly not. Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby was quick to pour cold water on the 60-knot rumours. Ashby insisted it wasn’t even possible due to cavitation (a phenomenon which occurs when water pressure around the foil is lowered to the point where the water starts to boil).
“There once was a movie saying, Tell him he s dreaming, so it s very much that with the 60 knots,” Ashby said last week. “The boats are definitely getting faster and we re pushing the boundaries pretty hard.but you run into some barriers at just over 50 knots. That s physics.”
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The exit of any team from the Challenger Selection Series is always a sad occasion.
No longer will we hear their anthems as they leave the dock, or see the crowds of team-uniformed, flag waving, families, friends and fans, bidding the crews farewell and unconditionally welcoming them back at the end of each race day.
New York Yacht Club s team American Magic are the first to exit from the Prada Cup. The race schedule called for one team to exit the 36th America s Cup about now. The teams like to assume that someone else will be the first to be excused.
Leslie Egnot at the 1995 America s Cup.
Photo: Supplied
But in 1995, against all odds Egnot led an-all women s team which came excruciatingly close to beating Conner s Stars and Stripes for the right to defend the America s Cup against Team New Zealand.
When the America s Cup cycle rolls around memories of that campaign start flooding back to Egnot.
Team New Zealand of course made history in 95 when they won the America s Cup for the first time but there was another major story line in San Diego, and Egnot was smack bang in the middle of it.
From the controversy of a man being substituted on to the boat and a back room deal which saw Conner s team survive to make it to the final, the women s journey in the Cup had all the makings of a classic sports movie.