America's Cup | San Fransisco

Emirates Team New Zealand, San Fransisco Bay

Mrs Jones and I have just returned from a very sunny San Francisco, currently home to The America's Cup regatta. I'm not the boating type or particularly interested in watching sailing, that was until I saw these gigantic boats quite literally flying across the San Francisco bay reaching speeds of 50 or 60 mph. It is a sight to behold and I instantly became a fan. 

The powers involved have spent a lot of time and money making sailing a more accessible spectator sport. Racing sailboats is a very complicated undertaking, which puts most people off watching it. A lot of amazing technology has been employed to help show exactly what's going on in the races. You can now see wind speed/direction, boat speed/direction, gain lines, race border lines and an array of incredible camera angles (including seven on board live stream cameras) which help to make it a fun sport to watch.

 We spent a lot of time watching America defend the cup against the Kiwi team. The above shot was taken from a vantage point overlooking the finish line as Emirates  Team NZ crossed the finish line to win the 6th race.