Done Wrong

After 4 days of postponements, and seeing countless photos of high-priced America’s Cup talent sitting all day under cockpit biminis, lounging in the stern cut out, or napping on the foredeck, it makes you wonder why it is done this way. How come these teams don’t side-tie to some sort of floating compound – like a sweet 100+ foot yacht – and wait there? Set-up some work stations, get indoors and away from the sun, maybe even a conference room with a projector.

SAIL scribe Kimball Livingston posed this question to Johan Barne, navigator for Sweden's Victory Challenge, who replied, "There's no rule that requires the crew to stay on the raceboats while we're waiting for wind, but that's how we do it. We're a team. We can't afford to stop thinking about what we're there for, and everybody wants to be ready to go in minutes if something happens." There’s got to be a better way. How about when the postponement flag drops, you have the back-ups on the boat, they raise the sails while the first string finishes their final debrief? Now that’s a team!