July 27, 2013

I could not be happier while watching the travesty of sailboat racing currently unfolding in San Francisco Bay. The unfortunate death of one sailor should have been enough to end this fantasy quest by a bored billionaire (Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp.) to prove that money is the only important ingredient in racing: Not sail handling or navigation skills, not teamwork or the ability to read wind and currents. The boats don’t even sit in the water; they fly above it on fiberglass fins.

Original and true sailors who competed in the days of 12-meter boats watch in disbelief from the shore, while the originators of the race are turning over in their graves.

Whoever has the best computer software will win. Let’s hear it for team Dubai!