Letters: Giving the America’s Cup its due

Re “Team USA rides a comeback wave,” Sept. 26

Congratulations to The Times for finally getting coverage of the America’s Cup race on the front page. The only losers in this event are the people who didn’t watch it.

To see those 7-ton catamarans gliding over the water at 50 miles an hour like prehistoric pterodactyls, balanced on a single rudder tipped with a hydrofoil wing, was beyond belief. As an engineer whose highest achievement in sailing is getting a 14-foot Hobie Cat to fly a hull, I cannot imagine what had to go into the design of those creations, to say nothing of the skill of those who sail them.

It’s too bad one team had to lose. The Kiwis made a leap in sailboat racing when they installed hydrofoils on the keels of monohulls several years ago, and Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA took the sport to new heights this round.

Paul D. Wilson

Camarillo

Team USA’s capture of the America’s Cup, after being down eight races to one and winning eight consecutive contests, was phenomenal. What a true example of perseverance and teamwork.

The feat was challenging because Team USA was handed a two-race penalty by an international jury, meaning it had to win 11 races total instead of the usual nine required to win the America’s Cup.

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

The sailing event that brought San Francisco worldwide attention received little coverage in our provincial local paper. It was nice to see that The Times finally got on board for the last few days of the America’s Cup competition and even put it on the front page.

Larry Ellison and Team USA, along with Emirates Team New Zealand, put on a spectacular display of 50-mile-per-hour sailboats and teamwork in a spectator-friendly environment. Sport does not start and stop with baseball, football and basketball.

Pat Kinne

Lake Balboa

Excuse us, the 9-to-5 working class of America, if we take exception to the ludicrous caption on the front page calling Team USA’s victory “one of the greatest comebacks in American sports history.”

Ellison’s so-called yacht prevailing over the New Zealand behemoth had nothing to do with sports; it had everything to do with a billionaire’s hobby.

Jack Grimshaw

Dana Point

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