Anyone do the America's cup lately?

[jakedoc]

Haven't seen anything lately on anyone doing this. Is it still a good excursion?

[LidoBoy]

DW and I did this excursion a week and a half ago and had a great time. The guide met the group on the pier and led us to a tender pier where he explained some history of the race and the sailboats. He split us into two teams, assigned jobs and loaded the tender. This guide was very friendly and made this part fun. I don't remember his name, but I think he was from St. Louis. We were assigned to Stars & Stripes. You were then tendered out to the sailboats. The guide then left you in the capable hands of the sailboat crew. There were 3 crew all experienced and ready to show you a good time. They began by explaining each position or job and offered life jackets to those who wanted them. We had about 12 people on each of two sailboats. Then we were underway. The first job was to raise the sail. Three of us including myself volunteered to help raise the main sail. That was work! Three guys put all their strength into it and struggled a bit. We got the job done, though. I was assigned a job as main grinder, but once under sail I was moved to primary grinder because they needed help. I would not call it a job promotion. Both jobs are quite physical, although for only short spurts of time. Mainly when they tacked the sailboat or changed direction. Then the race was underway and everyone was caught up in the excitement. Before you knew it, the race was over and we were declared the winners. The race itself took maybe 20-30 minutes. It was hard to estimate the time because of the excitement of the race. Finally you were transfered back to the tender and brought back to shore for a celebration of rum punch and shopping at the America's Cup store. We bought the picture of us on the sailboat. The photo was $30.00 and quite worth it, IMO. The shot was taken from another boat trailing us early in the event while under sail . It was a great perspective.

 

All in all it was a great excursion. I'll answer any questions if you have any.

[breanne$5]

what time is the tour over?

[jakedoc]

Thanks for all the great info. Where in Wisconsin are you from?

[Eqty]

Tom & Janet - thanks for the information. Five of us are going to be on that tour next week. From all I've read, I think this will be the highlight of our cruise.

 

I like taking pictures, both still and video, and putting them together as DVD's after the cruise. Are the boats "camera friendly" or is it possible that I might lose one overboard? In other words, is there a lot of pitching and jerky motion?

[DocF]

If you have a neck strap on your camera, you should have no problems. The motion of the boat depends totally on the sea conditions for the day on which you are on board. These are winged fin keel yachts and are about the most ill-handling, cranky thing ever built. I know I was way too busy to fiddle with a camera. I was grinding a back stay winch but I also am an experienced sailor and I spent a lot of my time checking how the sails were drawing, watching the way the boat was sailing, etc. I'm sure the professional skipper really appreciated my advice.:p

 

You will have a great time; enjoy!

 

Doc:D

[gopgal]

What kind of clothes and shoes did you wear - bathing suits or shorts and t-shirts? Should I bring my keds or will water shoes work?

[DocF]

You need soft sole shoes. I wore deck shoes as I have them, DW wore tennis shoes. If you wish to go swimming after the race, it probably would be wise to wear a suit. :p I don't swim, so I wore shorts and shirt.

 

Doc

[LidoBoy]

what time is the tour over?

 

Breanne:

 

Our scheduled start time was (be on the pier by) 8:30. The excursion was complete by about 11:30, I believe. The strange thing is we did not have a choice of when our outing was scheduled. I ordered it online prior to the cruise and we found out the time when the tickets showed up in our stateroom. I know they had a second outing that day as well. We had plenty of time to spend lots of money shopping after the excursion. I bought a nice watch and a new digital camera. St. Martin is my favorite shopping stop.

 

Have a great time.

[LidoBoy]

Thanks for all the great info. Where in Wisconsin are you from?

 

We are from the Madison area. We had a great time on our cruise this year. It was two cruises in one (back2back) and got us out of the huge snow storm we had in southern Wisconsin that week. I don't know if GB got hit as much as we did. I was told my driveway had 16 inches of new snow after that storm. And it just doesn't seem to stop. What a year for snow. More snow that I can remember in a decade or more.

[LidoBoy]

Tom & Janet - thanks for the information. Five of us are going to be on that tour next week. From all I've read, I think this will be the highlight of our cruise.

 

I like taking pictures, both still and video, and putting them together as DVD's after the cruise. Are the boats "camera friendly" or is it possible that I might lose one overboard? In other words, is there a lot of pitching and jerky motion?

 

I would say it is possible to lose it overboard. I don't remember if anyone was taking pictures. If you want to take some pix, volunteer to be timekeeper and bartender. It's the least physical job and your hands are free. Although when the boat lists, you will want both hands to hang on to something. So a strap is a requirement. A neck strap would be best. The camera should also be water resistant. You do get spray. We had winds of about 10-20 knots. It was quite breezy. A great day for sailing.

[LidoBoy]

What kind of clothes and shoes did you wear - bathing suits or shorts and t-shirts? Should I bring my keds or will water shoes work?

 

You don't get that wet. They warned us beforehand that we would get wet. That wasn't true. It was mainly spray from the waves. But I suppose it can depend on where you are in the boat. I was close to the center and got sprayed alittle. Footwear is important. Rubber soles is the key. Sneakers/Tennis shoes are fine. The deck is not slippery, but you will want shoes that will grip. I did not have a bathing suit on. Just shorts and a light shirt.

 

It was a great time. Have fun.

[breanne$5]

Thank you LidoBoy, I hope we can find out which one. Did you book through the cruiseline? I plan on booking directly, wonderful if that will have a difference.

[mckinna]

Of all our excursions on all our cruises, this still remains our favorite of all! Great time and lots of fun.

 

One word of caution- there were a couple of people who got extremely seasick- actually vomitted off the side of the boat. It didn't bother me that much, and I do occasionally get seasick. They both said that they don't usually get sick like that, but they did that day. It might be that I was wearing a patch, which I usually do as a precaution.

[gtaylor]

The Toronto Star has an interesting story about the 12 Metre / Americas Cup excursion.

 

gary

[Len3]

We just returned from the new GEM and did the America's Cup on the Stars and Strips. It was the best excursion that we did on this cruise. We raced against 3 other 12 meter ships on a 7 leg course and won the race. It took about 4 hours from beginning to end and we had plenty of time left in St. Martin for shopping, beach, etc. Don't miss this one - it's with every penny.

[vickiw0318]

We were on Canada II when Tom and Janet were on the Stars and Stripes. Ditto to all they said. It was a fantastic excursion.

 

By the way, Stars and Stripes won, but they cheated. I don't know how they cheated, but they cheated!

[DocF]

Hmphh. The rules of match racing are highly codified and every situation is covered. One cannot cheat. We were over 2 minutes behind True North IV, which is probably the fastest 12 meter afloat, as we rounded the last mark. The skipper decided to chase wind. He said we would with win or lose by 10 minutes. I've sailed, and sailed in 12s, and I agreed. We found wind, went around the competition and covered them, forcing them to either follow us across the line of pass outside the mark. Start and Stripes (US55, they have two S&Ss) looked proud on that day.

 

I'm sure the losers think we cheated in some way:D .

 

After the race many of the excursion folk will be given the opportunity to helm their boat. If you have the chance, take it. These modern 12 meter hulls are real pigs. They go were they want, not like the full keel boats like Mitena and Bacchant that I sailed.

 

Doc

[vickiw0318]

Oh, I know they didn't cheat. They edged us out fair and square. Still ....

 

The captains at the outset of the excursion were urging their crews to try to psych out those on the other ship and we had fun yelling good natured insults at each other.

[micki69]

We did this excurision a few years ago. First time I ever paid somebody for me to work my buns off. I was a grinder and my arms felt it the next day. We had a blast and yes bought the picture that still hangs on our wall reminding us of a good days workout. If you just want to enjoy the sail volunteer to be a wench(that's for the ladies). We had that boat almost on it's side gliding through the ocean. Great time had by all.

 

Joe

[jakedoc]

We had a great time on this excursion-just got back on 10 March. Best excursion in 13 cruises! We had a great day to sail-pretty windy, which made the boat fly. We were on Canada ll and kicked butt (Not really, just inched out Stars and Stripes). If you decide to be an active crew member you will be sore the next day. I was a Main grinder and had a workout-I'm in fairly good shape. So busy we barely had time for beer. We'd definitly do this again.

[John&JulieH]

We did the America's Cup tour last August and it was the highlight of the trip. That day they split us into two teams of 12 ... one group went on the True North IV and one on the Stars & Stripes. Most of the participants received assignments ... from main sail grinder to winch wench (lol). I kept my digital camera in my pocket and was able to take action shots from time to time. It was not as wet as I thought and running shoes were just fine. The three 'skippers' were all excellent sailors and I could not believe how close the two boats came together sometimes ... at quite high speeds no less. We got to sail 5 races and then they let some of the passengers steer the boat back into port. Combining this morning excursion with an afternoon trip on the Golden Eagle Catamaran ... it was one of the best days we've ever had. I highly recommend it.

[LidoBoy]

We had a great time on this excursion-just got back on 10 March. Best excursion in 13 cruises! We had a great day to sail-pretty windy, which made the boat fly. We were on Canada ll and kicked butt (Not really, just inched out Stars and Stripes). If you decide to be an active crew member you will be sore the next day. I was a Main grinder and had a workout-I'm in fairly good shape. So busy we barely had time for beer. We'd definitly do this again.

 

Glad you had a great time! I agree, you get a workout as a grinder.