I received several emails at work urging me to watch live coverage of the American contender for the America’s Cup. Being somewhat curmudgeonly by nature this didn’t sit well with me (“watch the live webcast of us spending your pay raise!”), but I think it’s actually the CEO’s money, so fair enough. I wouldn’t want to be around the blessed Larry this morning, however:
VALENCIA, Spain, May 20 — The United States’ quest for the America’s Cup ended Sunday in a humiliating defeat for BMW Oracle Racing. It lost to Luna Rossa of Italy, which won the sixth race of the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals to clinch the best-of-nine series, 5-1.
Aboard the USA-98 yacht was the software billionaire Larry Ellison, who backed the California-based team’s four-year quest for the trophy, a challenge that rivals said cost upward of $200 million. He stood grim and unsmiling in dark sunglasses as crew members of Luna Rossa celebrated their victory with bear hugs in front of a huge fleet of spectator boats on a day of brisk winds reaching up to 15 knots.
It was Ellison’s second failed attempt to bring the Cup back to the United States, which has not won the race since 1995. But he left it to Dickson to explain the team’s defeat.
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I think the NYT is just taking the opportunity to razz Ellison- it’s gratuitous to even suggest that the winners were some kind of hippy underdog compared to “corporate” BMW Oracle. Yacht racing is incredibly expensive – someone once said it was like standing in the shower while tearing up $100 bills (that was a long time ago!) so you’re not just going to throw together a winning boat with a weekender crew like in some daft Hollywood movie. As a side note, I caught an amateur regetta one evening this past week over on Lake Minnetonka (while on a corporate booze cruise) and would have jumped overboard and tried to join one of the crews if I could actually swim.
Claire and I were saying the same thing. Formula 1 motor racing is the same thing, lots of drama and panache on the track (well, used to be anyway), but behind the scenes it’s a garage and shipping company that does mechanical R&D.
The kids have their first swimming lesson tomorrow – perhaps you could join them?
Can you send me the powerpoint from the lesson?
Well it’ll probably be a bit soggy…