Life: Idiotropic

Victory!!! 

And Valentine's, of course, but the theme of today was both.

For more than 30 months the courts have been involved with the America's Cup.  No matter what side you're on, all agree that the court is not the place to win - the water is. 

So, after a long time of ups and downs and suits and countersuits and "what ifs" and "where will it bes", a date was finally set in Valencia, the boats were shipped and helicoptered in, and the crowd gathered.

Last Monday, the 20 story wing went up on the Oracle.  I could see it from my balcony with the garrison sized American flag waving beside it.  School children were bussed in for the start of the historic race.  Clowns stood in front of the large screen entertaining them with balloons and tricks.  Fans, passersby, and the mildly curious came to the Veles a Vents building at the America's Cup Port in Valencia and waited. 

And waited.  Unfortunately, with sailing, there is this little thing you kind of need.  Wind.  And unfortunately for sailing, no one has quite figured out how to control it although I think if they can make a 20 story tall sail, they can probably make a giant fan and just use that.

So on Monday there was no wind, then too much wind and back and forth and after 6 long hours of finger crossing the race was canceled and rescheduled for Wednesday.  On Wednesday they let the kids stay in school.  Wise choice for it was another long day of waiting and weather watching and wondering if and when we'd see the boats on the water.  Too much wind and 2 meter waves?  The Oracle boat wanted to race.  Alinghi didn't in those conditions.  The committee boat sat on the start line and accessed the weather.  No start until 1300.  Then no start at all.  Race rescheduled for Friday.

Friday morning the port is empty.  All the media, operation, and hospitality boats are at the course.  The committee boat has set up.  They watch the wind and wait.  More than three hours of waiting and the race starts at 1435.

Sadly, the race itself was held 40 miles from shore too far to be seen unless you were on a boat near the coarse.  Now that would be incredible.  I was happy enough watching it from my computer which seems to be a trend these days.  My first sailing race, this was absolutely incredible.  Oracle's trimaran is just captivating.  Like the Eiffel tower, this is one of the those man-made structures and you can't take your eyes off of.  Especially on the water.  To see it lift off the water and fly seems more movie magic than real life, and yet it's absolutely real.  What makes it even more real is that the CEO of BMW/Oracle lives in my neighborhood, so I see his wife at my bus stop every day and chat. 

Friday the US team won with an over 3 kilometer and 15 minute lead over the Swiss team.

So Valentine's Day is also the day for race 2.  Kirk and I hoped to make it a family activity, but the girls opted to stay home and so we called it our Valentine's date and headed to the port, found parking amazingly close, and milled about.

The port is absolutely stunning.  The blue of the sky and sea sandwiching rows of yachts worth more than most will earn in a lifetime.  Over-the-top decadence.  Teams past have buildings along the port as well as the teams now.  It's all very clean and nicely done.  The Veles a Vents building at the end leads to grassy walkways along the water and a couple nice restaurants.

People lined up for free posters.  We did too.  They were handing out thick posterboard fans with the swiss flag printed on them.  Everyone had those.  We had to ask for the US one.  Oddly, the Europeans (and may be it's a EU solidarity thing), favor the Swiss team even though it was the US team that pushed to have the event in Valencia.  The Swiss team wanted it in a Middle Eastern country - I think the Emirates. 

In front of the big viewing screen, people mingled and waited.  Living room styled white plastic chairs and loveseats intermingled with bean bag cushions in different colors and sizes.  Some people brought dogs - mostly purse sized.  Some brought wine.  And people sat, relaxed as if they were in a giant living room, and waited.   A man did tricks with a ball at the front near the stage, and there were quite a few kids with their parents waiting.  It was cold though.  I'm sure my girls would have been bored.

There were 4 small food booths - carnival style.  The Swiss one sold very smelly cheese fondue.  The American sold hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries (the most popular item).   One sold paella and the other Spanish one sold tapas.  We didn't eat.  Just watched the repeating videos on the screen while I refreshed twitter on my iPhone repeatedly to get updates.  A beautiful day to be out, a beautiful port full of really interesting people from all over, it was nice just to relax and people watch.  Just before 4 we decided to go feeling bad about leaving the girls on Valentine's Day.  I was convinced that with little wind, the late hour, and after moving the triangle shaped course now a third time that it would be postponed until Tuesday.

When we reached the car, I checked twitter again.  Harold Bennett set a start time of 1615.  Ugh.  The drive home is along the coast, so we could see the boats on the horizon.  Hard to miss a wing that big.

So we stopped at the Puzol beach - the little beach in our town and from there, we watched the start of the race, saw the Oracle speed off and Alingi's slow start.   Then they were out of sight.

I cooked dinner downstairs and watched the race upstairs on the computer running back and forth like a lunatic, sliding across the tile floor.  And the US team won!!!  Press conferences, fireworks we could see from our balcony, rumors that the next match could be in San Francisco!  Now that would be amazing!

And sailing has two new fans.  Tiara and I are hooked.

MORE PHOTOS:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190250&id=674507268&l=420a44642f