America's Cup

While this is certainly not a wooden boat, I offer my congratulations to the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco for winning the 33rd America's Cup competition and returning the cup to American soil for the first time since 1995. This year's boat is a 113 ft. trimaran with a 223 ft. high monster wing in place of sail, which beat a Swiss catamaran with more conventional sails. I found the image above fascinating, particularly noting the man at the wheel on the port side, providing a sense of scale. The performance of this winged trimaran is amazing and to see it lifted on a single hull shows the incredible power of the wind.

Some might find it interesting that boats from Switzerland and the US would compete. Switzerland has no access to the sea. But what they and the US have in common are billionaires, and it takes millions of dollars (or Swiss francs) to compete at this level.