Someone once said about Switzerland that William Tell is its only hero, and he’s a myth. That condition may change in the near future … but who knows when. Ernesto Bertarelli seems to be on his way to becoming a national hero by virtue of his sponsorship of Alinghi in the America’s Cup competition.
Trouble is, we can’t tell who is going to win if they don’t race. After Alinghi took a 3-0 lead over the host Team New Zealand in the best of nine series, Race Number 4 has been on hold.
Last week, we really thought the series probably would over by now. But the race was postponed a couple of times because the race committee felt that the wind was too light and/or not steady enough from one direction.
The race committee is from New Zealand, that’s one of the perquisites of having won the Cup and being the defender.
The last several postponements have been necessary because the wind was just too strong. Those delays certainly were necessary in the interest of safety.
It seems odd, though, that light, shifty wind should be dismissed as unsuitable. Team New Zealand did as well as Alinghi in light winds in Race 2. It would also seem that shifty winds would constitute a good test of the sailors on both boats.
One of the main reasons to conduct a competition over a nine-race series is to test the crews under varying conditions.
(It’s also the reason a CART championship should be more highly regarded than a NASCAR or IRL championship, but that’s another story.)
When conditions are marginal, both teams have to agree on whether or not to race. Alinghi has shown itself prepared and eager to race prior to the light wind cancellations while TNZ seems reluctant.
After Race 3, TNZ changed its tactician, but they haven’t tried him out yet.
Last week I suggested you would enjoy watching the America’s Cup racing. You would have, if they had any. Let’s hope we have better luck this week.
As long as we’re at sea, I’ll mention an article about the potential extinction of leatherback sea turtles. It seems, according to Larry Crowder of Duke University, that some real international action is needed to save the world’s most endangered sea turtle.
Crowder notes that the leatherbacks, which are nine feet long, six feet wide and weigh nearly a ton, survived climate change and asteroid impacts over a hundred million years but could disappear in the next ten to 20.
At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver this week, Crowder said that global industrial fishing for swordfish and tuna are the biggest threat to the leatherbacks at sea. On land, exploitation of eggs and destruction of habitat are working against them.
He points out that international cooperation helped save the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles by putting restrictions on U.S. And Mexican fishing trawlers and protecting their nesting areas. However, since the leatherbacks range farther the job will be tougher.
What can we do? Well, Crowder says that the leatherbacks are ten times more likely to be caught in nets designed for catching swordfish than in those set for tuna.
He said that simply by buying more tuna and less swordfish, we can reduce market demand. The fishermen would not be harmed; they could just net more tuna.
Sounds like a good idea, I never can find Swordfish Helper in the store anymore anyway.