Welcome to the second of our 20 year anniversary editions of Southern Cross Yachting Enews.
As I have mused many times before, the wonders of the Interweb never cease to amaze. And this week has been no exception with the brilliant coverage of the 35th Americas Cup available on the Web. When I was a young, AC obsessed lad, we might get a few seconds of footage on the news and then wait a month for the sailing magazines to come out, and re-read them a thousand times.
Now we can, in real time, be watching the race while sitting on Ben Ainslie’s shoulder or Jimmy Spithill’s head. We can hear everything they say, and are given endless vital sailing data like the crews’ heartbeats and blood pressure. Then they zoom out to the drone shots to show how they have dyed the water off Bermuda to show logos, start and finish lines and boundaries. It must have cost a fortune! The sight of these spacesuit clad warriors on their foiling weapons at 45 knots, appearing to be going upwind no matter what leg they are on, shows just how far the sport has come. It is like watching a cross between Star Wars and Mad Max, and it’s all free on the Interweb.
Best of all, once you have watched the race “as it happens”, you are then able to re-watch them over and over again on YouTube. But beware, YouTube is where those scary ‘analytics thingos’ hide out watching your every click. Suddenly you find yourself sucked into the YouTube vortex, as they sneakily put up other vids you might like, until you look up and realise you have been watching old beer commercials for the last 2 hours. Those pop up ‘click bait’ things can be great time wasters as well. Just the other day, as I was scrolling through ’25 celebrities that you won’t believe were fat as kids!’, I was distracted by a pop up asking if I suffered from a certain ailment and was invited to answer a few questions to diagnose my condition. After filling in the questions and pressing ‘diagnose’, you can imagine my surprise to discover I have an incompetent ovarian vein. I was not at all placated by the news that it is ‘not uncommon in women of my age, particularly women that have had multiple children like me’. So much for Doctor Google! I was wondering how the number of children I had impacted upon how many times I went to the toilet at night. I just thought it was the cooler weather.
And speaking of cooler weather, the analytic I want to imprint on your brains is just how beautiful it is to go sailing at this time of year. Speaking to my colleagues in the sailing industry around the world, the weather we enjoy here in winter is what the rest of the world calls a glorious summer’s day. This is by far the best time of year to be out on Moreton Bay, and to help you do just that, we are offering our great 20th anniversary winter sale. Book and pay for any weekend or one day practical sailing course by the end of July and you receive a 10% discount. Yes unbelievable but true. So jump on to our website and book now. Also, please note our Yeppoon to Brisbane offshore trip departing Roslyn Bay on 8th of August is filling fast, so those looking for offshore mile builders need to secure their position soon.
The America’s Cup will be decided over the next few weeks, and it is looking increasingly like the Kiwis will face off against the Aussies sailing the American boat. Confused? You should try understanding it with an incompetent ovarian vein. That’s all for this edition, until next time – let’s tense those pelvic floors.
Cheers
Mike Job.