Or-A-Cle! Or-A-Cle!
Wednesday, 25 September 2013 21:10![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dr_phil_physicsAs I have mentioned before, I enjoy watching the Tour de France every July. But another race I have enjoyed on Outdoor Life/OLN Network/Versus/NBCsports has been the America's Cup yacht racing and the Louis Vuitton Challenger Cup series which precedes it. Haven't seen much of either series this year.
The first America-New Zealand match I saw for the America's Cup, the Kiwis needed just one more win. Amazingly, the US has battled back until today's sudden death match and damn if the Oracle boat beat the Emerites boat -- or black with a red nose versus all black... Still confused? America's boat won the 34th America's Cup in beautiful San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge blazing bright in the background.
Damn this new giant catamaran class is FAST. And since they're for the most part not hullborne on the water, it looks surreal to see these knife edges slicing through the water.
The America's Cup isn't every year. But every time they show this event, the technology for displaying who is actually ahead -- with taking different tracks and tacking and long telephoto lenses, it's hard to eyeball what the hell is going on -- has gotten superb, along with multiple onboard cameras. Sure it's a rich man's sport, but it is stunningly beautiful.
I would love to take my Nikon 200-600mm f9.5 AI-S Zoom-NIKKOR to one of these races and shoot from shore, but it probably won't happen. Hmmm... looks like an 82mm circular polarizer runs from $45-$100 on eBay. Unless I were to haul out the F3 and F4s to shoot film (to be scanned to digital) and use a regular polarizer... Hmmm... Just thinking about taking the Big lens to Lake Michigan to shoot the sailboats... Never mind. Just daydreaming while still stuck in my hospital bed -- and this summer I was supposed to get a new tripod and take the Big lens out to play.
One thing I know for sure, the next America's Cup defense will also be in America. Who will be the challenger? New Zealand? Italy? Australia? The UK?
I dunno. See you for the next Louis Vuitton Cup...
Dr. Phil
The first America-New Zealand match I saw for the America's Cup, the Kiwis needed just one more win. Amazingly, the US has battled back until today's sudden death match and damn if the Oracle boat beat the Emerites boat -- or black with a red nose versus all black... Still confused? America's boat won the 34th America's Cup in beautiful San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge blazing bright in the background.
Damn this new giant catamaran class is FAST. And since they're for the most part not hullborne on the water, it looks surreal to see these knife edges slicing through the water.
The America's Cup isn't every year. But every time they show this event, the technology for displaying who is actually ahead -- with taking different tracks and tacking and long telephoto lenses, it's hard to eyeball what the hell is going on -- has gotten superb, along with multiple onboard cameras. Sure it's a rich man's sport, but it is stunningly beautiful.
I would love to take my Nikon 200-600mm f9.5 AI-S Zoom-NIKKOR to one of these races and shoot from shore, but it probably won't happen. Hmmm... looks like an 82mm circular polarizer runs from $45-$100 on eBay. Unless I were to haul out the F3 and F4s to shoot film (to be scanned to digital) and use a regular polarizer... Hmmm... Just thinking about taking the Big lens to Lake Michigan to shoot the sailboats... Never mind. Just daydreaming while still stuck in my hospital bed -- and this summer I was supposed to get a new tripod and take the Big lens out to play.
One thing I know for sure, the next America's Cup defense will also be in America. Who will be the challenger? New Zealand? Italy? Australia? The UK?
I dunno. See you for the next Louis Vuitton Cup...
Dr. Phil
