Sailing is a complicated kind of competition. This obviously translates to poor media coverage because it’s difficult to follow. Hell, I grew up sailing and spent the majority of my time racing sailboats in college and I don’t understand a lot (LIKE TONS). Interestingly, this America’s Cup has sparked an audience beyond the usual circles in part because of BMW Oracle’s crazy fast high tech winged multi-hull.

We knew before The Cup that the boats were machines, but none of us were sure what to expect when they got out on the water. I questioned whether the streaming of the races was going to be the most awesome thing ever or totally boring. And you know, I quite enjoyed the streaming of the races and the press conferences. But, beyond the official Cup coverage were independent sailor/journalists filling in the rest of the blanks and this is what I find most exciting.

Thankfully, the sailing community is finally picking up on and utilizing these internety tools (Livestream, YouTube, Justin.tv) to share on an immediate level what’s what. I know for a lot of people this is old news, but sailing moves slowly on a lot of levels, especially on the media side of things.

To this, I really have to hand it to Sailing Anarchy for their coverage of the 33rd America’s Cup. With the help from a bunch of sponsors* they had a great team in Valencia who tracked down and interviewed a substantial number of the players (BOR leaning) in the event. The interviews are long. Unedited and unpolished. BUT TOTALLY AWESOME and unprecedented.

All of Sailing Anarchy’s live streaming interviews and whatnot can be found [here]. Non streaming interviews and whatnot can be seen on their YouTube channel [here].

My few of my favorite highlights:

• Interview with BMW Oracle Skipper Jimmy Spithill (I want to know when he went from being James to “Jimmy”), who tickles me every time he refers to boats being “tools.” For being the youngest skipper, at the age of 30, to win The Cup he’s enormously humble. He even gives props to his sister’s sailing skills. [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]
• Herold Bennett the AC33 PRO (the guy who runs the race) talks about being impartial and who is making the decisions about whether or not and where to race. He clarifies why it’s been so difficult for spectators and media to watch the races from the water and about how New Zealand sailors dominate competitive sailing. [Here]
• The On The Water Anarchy (OTWA) Cocktail hour long discussion with the guys who designed and built BOR’s wing (and I have to admit I spaced out a few times - some of this is totally over my head!) is pretty fascinating. They don’t answer all the questions in the depth that nerds may yearn for, but they cover a lot of basis. [Here]

Now if only Sailing Anarchy would revamp their butt ugly website and maybe add an rss feed, I’d be really psyched.

(image from BMW Oracle)

*Layline, Gill, Gunboat, McDougall Design, Oman Sail, Internet For Boats and Mascalzone Latino