The America's Cup World Series in Newport, Rhode Island may be easiest compared to Grand Prix de Monaco. Except in the water. We spent yesterday watching the event.
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| Our host and captain was again our great friend and best man. |
We went over first to see the pre-race activity at Fort Adams, which was set up for the on-land spectators.
We talked about the history of the event. One of the guests had been an editor of
Sail Magazine for years and has a wealth of knowledge which he generously shared.
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| The Lawson History of the America's Cup: A Record of Fifty Years - Amazon Link |
We went briefly ashore at Fort Adams. And we quickly realized how very lucky we were to be watching from the water.
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| A Visual History of America's Cup |
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| The names of the wifi networks said much about the venue. |
It was starting to get crowded, so we went exploring before the racing started.
We headed out towards Mackerel Cove and the incomparable Horsehead (Marbella).
Another guest shared his culinary skills and we enjoyed his delicious crab and avocado salad.
As 2:00 came closer, we headed back to the activity. More boats were arriving.
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| Clingstone was a busy place. |
The time before the start gave us a perfect chance to see some of the people and outfits in the other boats.
The Coast Guard presence was impressive. For me, the most interesting part of the day was watching how they, along with the Environmental Police, controlled the water crowds with great authority and skill.
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| The constant din of helicopters hovering right above our heads combined with the sirens, whistles and megaphones of the Coast Guard gave one a bit of the sensation of being in Los Angeles. |
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| When you see and hear this right behind you, you move. |
The crowds were getting thicker, on land and on sea.
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| At times it seemed to capture the je ne sais quoi of a post-Apocalypse ragtag flotilla. It was amazing that we didn't see any boats hit, although we watched all on board rush to one side to push another boat away more than once. |
When in doubt, chase the chase boats.
Finally, the action began.
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| Oracle's boat went off course and into the crowds. |
At 4:00, most headed back to Newport Harbor.
We briefly went ashore in search of
Gifford's (of Maine) ice cream.
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| We made a quick stop at The Museum of Yachting where we were able to pull off of their library shelves some works of our fellow passenger... |
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| ...and I bought a new hat. |
I had seen many beautiful boats today but at the end of the day, Tigris was still my favorite.
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| A dead body? No, it was just our captain, swimming in the refreshing 62 degree water. |
And, back at the boatyard, the final great vehicle of the day was a Volvo 240 sedan, one of my favorite cars.
21 comments:
You appear to be having a terrific summer, Muffy! We're all having vicarious fun. One of my few regrets over having moved to Litchfield County, CT is the absence of sailing.
I love the shot of the bikini bunch taking pictures of you taking pictures of them taking pictures of you....
There was a really interesting article about Clingstone in the Sunday NYT a few years back. And what a great, accurate name!
I'm sure the catamarans are technologically spectacular, but they're jarringly unattractive. I can imagine there was palpable schadenfreude when Oracle floundered.
Must agree with WRJ about the catamarans. They certainly lack the graceful beauty of the older America's cup boats.
Amazing pictures! Would you mind if I linked to your blog from mine? I went to the races today, but you have many more {and better} pictures. Would love to share.
DOing business with ORACLE is like having teeth pulled without benefit od anesthesia. I was actually glad to see them go off-course because they make my life difficult when I have to deal with. That said, the pics of Newport harbor reminded me of my days there for Naval Officer's Candidate School and how much I liked the town.
I was one of the unlucky ones viewing from land. Your pictures are wonderful, my favorite being the 'dead body' shot! Too funny!
The Grand Prix analogy seems very appropriate! I suspect many readers including myself are more at home with with the earlier Newport-Bermuda entry. More importantly I like how many subtexts you were able to weave into this post, including the clothes of so many spectators. But my favorite subtext is the strength of the group of long time smart, accomplished, and loyal friends in your boat (I know I recognized everyone from previous posts). I suspect you could have gone anywhere with that group including those seen and unseen and had a great time. That is the "preppiest" part to me of the whole entry.
That is a beautiful crab and avocado salad.
So THAT's where you've been! ;) Must agree with Bitsy that the overgrown Hobie Cats with oversize logos lack something in grace, though I've no doubt they slice the water. We should lobby our Congressmen for gov't issue Topsiders for the poor Coasties--I'd sure hate to have to swim in those combat boots!
@Greenfield - I completely agree with you, Bitsy and WRJ. The whole scene was quite the spectacle. (I was wondering about those boots as well!)
@LCR - Of course!
All of your sailing posts reinforce what I think you said somewhere else. Clothes have to be tough. Flimsy versions of prep clothes are not prep clothes, even if they look like prep clothes. This message is confusing to the mall and cubicle people, but is just common sense for the people who like to actually do things.
Couple of beautiful Hinckleys in those photos..
Muffy,
America's Cup going catamarans?
No more 12 meter racers? Catamarans it's a New Zealand thing right:-)
@j.mosby- Sadly, yes. They will be racing even bigger boats, 72-foot catamarans, in San Francisco in 2013.
Thank you! My West Coast friends and family will love seeing more of the event!
I've got a feeling the skippers of the old 12 Meters would sell all their scrimshaw to get their hands on one of those modern high tech monsters. Curiosity, you know.
The Coasties are dressed like that since they are probably boarding officers. They can board and search any vessel they choose. They always send boarding officers in a crowd like that.
It's not too hard to stay afloat with the regulation pfd, even wearing boots - lol!
PS - they stopped racing 12s in the Cup in '87 and started racing AC class in '92.
There is so much win in these pictures.
Muffy... I see you have an iPod Touch. What's your smart phone of choice, if you have one? I have an iPhone 4... For that matter, what is the "prep" cell phone?
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