Cathy's 3 Day Walk- continues...: Playing chicken with an AC 72 on Labor Day

It was Labor Day and with tired muscles and all my walking clothes in the wash, it was a great idea to go for a sail. Glenn and I headed to the boat to meet up with Dana, his friend Arthur and Chuck. As you may have hear the America's Cup is happening in San Francisco Bay next week. It has been years in the making. True to Oracle founder Larry Ellison's style it is bigger than ever, faster than ever and more..... splashy than most. Big yachts are congregating in the bay for all the festivities and come on.... some of all of this comes down to.... check out my toys....

It was an unusual day in that the water was almost flat as we went under the bridge heading out toward Bonita Light house. If it would be predictable like that...I definitely could sail to Hawaii. Normally the swells off the ocean are 10-12 feet.

Then as we got back to the city front (well actually off Crissy Field) we could see the New Zealand AC 72 with its support craft sitting in the water. For a boat that moves so fast it is hard to imagine it can just sit, but it does. As we got closer they decided to take off. That boat goes from 0- literally 50 in about 1 min. It is as quiet as it can be, but the chase boat with it's huge engines roars just to catch up.

When the boat is going top speed it raises up out of the water on foils. It is not like any little sailboat you may be accustomed to. It is brand new technology. The sails are operated by hydraulics and it is made of composite material that has no similarity to a canvas sail. It is more like an airplane wing.

As we sailed along it because apparent that the boat had selected us as a kind of a marker. They would sail up to us and tact. So we got to see some pretty close up action. There is a rule in sailing that if you are the boat on the right you have right of way. So we all laughed saying they had to tact because we were on starboard.

Sailing has come a long way.

From the new crazy design of the original America's Cup winner "America" (in the rear) to the new technology heavy light as a feather AC 72... its a different ball game.

Walking is my thing, but you have to be impressed with the passion that had driven the world of sailing into this brave new world. Lucky for us we will be able to watch these races just about anywhere on the SF side or the Marin side of the bridge. You guys can watch on NBC who will be covering the races. If you want to be "in" you may want to consider purchasing a shirt. I have 2 that I would be willing to "sell" for a donation to my walk. They both cost $28... tax and shipping considered, I will sell either for $32. Let me know.

The first is size Men's Small. But it will fit all women who wear Mediums and some who wear larges. It will also fit boys... older boys. So consider it.