Billionaires foiling the majesty of America's Cup racing

QUOTE-UNQUOTE: "The whole concept of the 'new' America’s Cup offends me, but 22 minutes is just silliness. What kind of match race is that? A drag race around a reaching course? Heck, 7-year-old kids in Optimists sail longer races than that, and the America’s Cup is supposed to be the Everest of sailboat racing....The billionaires, in their quest to provide an 'entertainment event,' have tossed the baby out with the bathwater. There is nothing left of the original America’s Cup or its Deed of Gift except the name. And I, for one, have no problem simply giving the Auld Mug to Larry Ellison of Oracle and letting him call it Larry’s Cup. Then we can rebuild the America’s Cup into something that resembles real sailing." –Veteran yachting superscribe Chris Caswell, writing in the May issue of Sailing Magazine. And Chris makes many more pithy comments and observations in his MUST READ article for AC fans if not all racing sailors. Thanks to Andy Rose, our longtime friend, IT'S OK! shipmate, and match racing guru (tactician for AUSTRALIA in the 1977 America's Cup), who commended Chris' article to us, after the "Dean" of yachting journalists and SI contributor Bob Fisher had forwarded it to Andy. And even if you don't agree with Chris, you gotta like the article's hilariously clever headline.

Larry Ellison hoisting the Cup after ORACLE TEAM USA's win in AC34, San Francisco 2013. That's GGYC Commodore Norbert Bajurin applauding far left. To the Commodore's left is SF Protocol Chief Charlotte Shultz (white hat, wife of former Secretary of State George P. Shultz), and SF Mayor Ed Lee (blue hat).