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A pretty cool concept for a fast and maneuverable boat.Video

It is Tuesday evening, September 24, 2013, and earlier today the United States representative, Oracle Team USA, tied the New Zealand team in the America’s Cup to create a tiebreaker scenario for whomever will be the 35th victor in the ultimate sailing competition. And one aspect of this cup series has become glaringly evident: members of the United States sports media should be ashamed of themselves due to their lack of coverage of this event (and I am speaking directly to the major players in that profession such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN—both electronic and print, AP, and Yahoo). If weather...

SAN FRANCISCO – A sailor has died after a boat practicing for the upcoming America's Cup races capsized in San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge says two people were seriously injured Thursday when the Artemis Racing catamaran capsized at about 1 p.m. near Treasure Island, a former naval station in the bay. Talmadge says both were brought to shore and taken to the St. Francis Yacht Club, where paramedics performed CPR. One person was pronounced dead a short time later.

To keep the big America's Cup contest afloat, San Francisco has agreed to spend $150,000 to study whether the racing boats - and their towering sails - will scare birds on the bay. The study, which will be conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, is part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by a group that included former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin. "It's not that we're trying to head-shrink the birds," said Mike Lynes of the Golden Gate Audubon Society. "But when they take off because they are frightened, they expend energy, and that can affect their...

NBC is banking that many sports fans will pull away from pro football and baseball on a September weekend in 2013 to watch a sailing race. With a host of technological innovations, the NBC Sports Group will broadcast the 34th America's Cup from San Francisco Bay beginning Sept. 7, 2013, it was announced Thursday. The first two days of Team USA/Oracle Racing's Cup defense will be broadcast on NBC. It will be the first time since 1992 that the Cup Finals will be shown on broadcast TV. The rest of the races, which end Sept. 22, will be carried on...

And speaking of the America's Cup, just when the city's political factions were playing nice and putting up a unified front, Supervisor Chris Daly announced late Thursday he was opposed to the proposal "just on general principle -- G.P., they call it on the street." . . . "They'll just sweep the homeless people out of the streets and out of sight while the regatta is going," Daly said. "Instead of raising $270 million to hand over to a billionaire, why don't we try to house some people . . . "

SAN DIEGO -- Mayor Jerry Sanders made a personal pitch Sunday to software mogul Larry Ellison to hold the 34th America's Cup in San Diego. The two men met privately before a public ceremony aboard the USS Midway museum on San Diego Bay featuring the oldest trophy in international sports.

The oldest trophy in sports is coming to San Francisco. After fighting in the courts for years, and spending hundreds of millions of dollars, billionaire Larry Ellison won the America's Cup on Sunday with a technological marvel of a sailing yacht. Ellison's syndicate, BMW Oracle Racing, won the second race in the best-of-three series by five minutes, 26 seconds over cup defender Alinghi, which is owned by Ellison's archrival, Swiss biotech magnate Ernesto Bertarelli. Two days earlier, Ellison's trimaran, USA-17, won the first race by 15 1/2 minutes. "It feels spectacular," said a jubilant Ellison, holding the tall, silver ewer...

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) - Challengers BMW Oracle, within one victory of landing the 33rd America's Cup, and Swiss holders Alinghi fine-tuned their giant, hi-tech boats on Saturday. The Americans hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series going into Sunday's second race, which will begin two hours later than scheduled at around noon local time (6 a.m. EST). Light winds are forecast but, with the series delayed twice this week by unsuitable weather, cold and grey skies again looked forbidding in Valencia Saturday. Software mogul Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle has proved a technological breakthrough, its unique wing-shaped mast and mainsail...

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) - Challengers BMW Oracle, within one victory of landing the 33rd America's Cup, and Swiss holders Alinghi fine-tuned their giant, hi-tech boats on Saturday. The Americans hold a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series going into Sunday's second race, which will begin two hours later than scheduled at around noon local time (6 a.m. EST).

Race 1 of the 33rd America’s Cup Match has been postponed until Friday. Today’s attempt to commence the best-of-three Deed of Gift Match between Defender Alinghi and Challenger BMW Oracle Racing was postponed due to rough sea conditions on the Mediterranean outside Valencia. “The waves were the biggest problem. I think they were about 1.3m average size in the start area,” said Alinghi strategist Murray Jones. “That means we could’ve had a peak of 1.8m and that’s the biggest issue. “There was a swell coming from one direction and waves from an offset of 90 degrees to that. We’ve been...

Outlook: Wednesday, Feb 10: Start time no earlier than 11:54 am (warning signal) Race 1: 20 nautical miles to Windward and Return BMW Oracle (starboard tack), enters from right Alinghi (port tack) enters from the left Preview: Preview? There's been 33 months of back and forth, asking a court to decide who is the rightful challenger of record, what boats may race, and where they can or can't race, and every permutation of rule has been twisted and examined. Sides have been chosen around the America's Cup world, and this may be the least friendly competition among nations for yachting's...

You can drive yourself mad at the America's Cup trying to evaluate who will have the upper hand. As the big day looms, the non-stop round of team press conferences, private briefings and general speculation among expert commentators can send your mind spinning with facts, figures and theories. The outcome is frequently that you end up more confused and less the wiser. With two days to go until the scheduled start of the 33rd America's Cup that's precisely what has happened. Since BMW Oracle unveiled its giant wingmast it's been difficult not to be drawn by the potential advantages that...

Jan 28: Fred Meyer, Vice-Commodore of the America's Cup Defending yacht club Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), issued a strongly worded response to the latest round of legal and public relations documents published by the challenger. Calling the latest statements issued by Golden Gate YC a "tirade", SNG threatened to forfeit the America's Cup Thursday if SNG does not prevail in court. Excerpt from SNG Statement: "We have been clear: if BMW Oracle succeeds in disqualifying the Defender’s sails then there will be no Match, Russell Coutts will have won the America’s Cup for Larry Ellison without sailing." Meyer also...

Legal Motions Filed to Enforce Deed Requirements Russell Coutts, CEO of BMW Oracle Racing: Can the Swiss defender race with sails made in the USA? This is the question Golden Gate Yacht Club put to the New York Supreme Court today. GGYC has asked the Court to resolve this following the breakdown of two days of talks in Singapore with the America’s Cup defender Société Nautique de Genève at which mutual agreement was being finalized when negotiations ended. The Singapore meeting followed one last week in Valencia where a previous good faith effort was also made to settle the matter....

MADRID — A New York court Thursday backed the staging of the next America's Cup in the Spanish port of Valencia in February, but doubt still remains over the venue for the duel between defender Alinghi and US challenger Oracle.The Supreme Court of the State of New York reached its decision after experts advised that the event can be "safely managed" at the site in mid-winter, when weather conditions can be unpredictable, according to a copy of the ruling.Both Alinghi and Oracle have stated they are ready to hold their best-of-three multihull showdown in February in Valencia, where the Swiss...

If there was a regret about today's events for the BMW ORACLE Racing team, it came from knowing that a good chunk of the squad was scattered in Valencia, Nice and Anacortes and couldn't be here in San Diego, in person, to see the team reach this incredible milestone with its wing sail. Fortunately, many had a chance to follow along via a local, live webcam that was streaming video of the day's events, taken from the roof of a shoreside hotel. We know many of you were able, in fact, to tune in, which is fantastic. And I can...

<p>This really is going to be the most radical America's Cup in the regatta's 158-year history.</p>

Team New Zealand clawed its way back into the America's Cup in Valencia winning race two of the regatta by 28 seconds. Swiss holder Alinghi, as it did in Auckland in 2003, threatened to sail away with the Cup yesterday by winning race one and then dominated much of this morning's re-match. But Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker conjured a gritty fight-back on the final upwind beat after trailing by 100 metres on the previous run. By doing so he answered his critics here in Spain who have questioned his mental strength when under pressure. And victory also banished...

Fighting Jihad: Strategic Thinking Needed -Full Story- The United States of America has some of the smartest leaders in government, military, and business in the world. Yet the American government has failed to collectively use this formidable brain-power 5+ years after the attack by Jihadists on the American homeland to develop a truly strategic plan to fight the global threat of Jihad and Islamist extremism. In one of the most complex wars in American history, rather than starting with holistic, big-picture thinking towards the challenges and prioritizing resources and actions accordingly, America has spent much of the past five...