It was always going to end in tears
by John Curnow on 5 Jun 2017
There can be only one - Andy Warhol SW
Somebody had to go home early. It was in the actual design of the thing, after all. It is so incredibly old school, but there would be no blue ribbons for all competitors here! However, to then find out that is was the French, who are the greatest multihullers in the world, did make it all seem particularly peculiar and odd. Had the choir all really and truly been given the exact same hymn sheet? Are you sure?
That it would appear as if the USA (with more than a dose of AUS) and NZL (them too with a healthy soupçon of AUS) would battle it out once more, was probably the way the tea-leaves had fallen in the first place.
So what did we learn? Well, the 49-footers are hugely quick, especially so given that it was only 2013 when the 72-footers were doing the same sort of speeds. The racing itself is also quick (especially when compared with the 12s), which kind of suits the modern press and click world, where 15 seconds is an eternity. Andy Warhol was onto something, but perhaps he just needed the correct unit of measurement!
Now they must have been tears of joy when the call came in. “We’re heading North, can you join in?” I knew the people. I knew the cat in question. A journey in the right direction for this time of year was definitely inspiring. All that remains is to find a way to get the planets to align correctly.
It is a little bit akin to fractal geometry. Until the arrival of the latest super-computers not all that long ago, the Mandelbrot set was classed as proven, but no one had ever actually seen it. This was because the number of simultaneous calculations required to physically portray it was beyond the technology of the time. So the analogous situation is that I could well be in need of some serious time with the Milky Way 2 computer and all of its teraflops, should anyone have an in for me... Much obliged.
Easy there boy. We’ll just bring the inner nerd back in a tad shall we? Anyway, it would seem the Etchells are also onto the early migration North for boat watching season. The Line 7 Etchells Australasian Championship is on next weekend at Mooloolaba, and apart from Line 7, North Sails, the Newport apartments and even the local council have also seen the smarts in the plan, as well. Sounds really, really good to me!
As a final aside, the next iteration of the Volvo looms ever closer. Clearly there are still a few boats left in the shed, so let’s hope that some custodians can be found, and more importantly, announced very soon, for we would hate for there to be tears about that one. Would just not be right.
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