Work has now started on the scaled down 45 foot catamarans that are the “training” boats for the next America’s cup. The boats will all be built to the same design by the same team – this is for the introductory races (called the Youth Americas Cup) and will pro0vide some cat experience for the teams (although one has to wonder why they didnt just merge with the Extreme 40 series).
Here is a video of the boats being put together in New Zealand.
So it looks like the insane decision to drop the multihull from the olympics could be reversed. I will be one of many sailing fans around the world that applaud this re-emergence of common sense in the ISAF.
In fact the decision is not yet made – it has to be finalised at the ISAF md year meeting in May next year – but the indications are that there will be a “Mixed Multihull” class – effectively this means one male one female on the boat. It is unlikely that it will be a Tornado – there are more modern and faster potential boats – but it will be a fast cat around 18 foot long. The full list of events proposed for the 2016 games are:
Men’s Board or kite board – evaluation
Women’s board or kite board – evaluation
Men’s one person dinghy – Laser
Women’s one person dinghy – Laser Radial
Men’s skiff – 49er
Women’s skiff – evaluation
Mixed multihull – evaluation
Mixed two person dinghy (spinnaker) – 470
Women’s keelboat – Elliott 6m (format of racing TBC)
Men’s 2nd one person dinghy – Finn
The video above shows the Tornado in action – surely a better spectacle for those all-important TV viewers than many of the slower classes. With the emergence of the Extreme sailing series on 40 foot catamarans, and of course the recent announcement that the next Americas Cup will be fought in multihulls, there is no doubt that multihull sailing provides a fantastic spectator experience and is at the pinnacle of the sport in so many respects.
It was shere lunacy that caused the Tornado to be dropped from the 2012 games and there are many regretting the decision. Bring it on!
Online money transfer firm Money Bookers (note how the name actually pretty much tells what it does) is to rebrand itselff as Skrill. This has to be the dumbest rebrand ever!
Read the story here – for some fresh quotes from some PR hack who must be on some sort of wonderful weird substance :
“Payments have changed as well. It’s not all about shops or even money. It’s about life online and how it’s extended to so many areas. Being safe while you do exactly what you want to do. Freedom from worrying. Being able to give and receive more without having to try harder. Meeting needs in a new way. A way that does more than just meet them. A way that can only be called Skrill.”
Err …. I wonder.
In my life payments pretty much remain about shops and money
All the cute bits about not worrying etc are what you expect in a wallet – whether its paypal, moneybookers, click and buy or any other one – hardly a reason to name yourself after a rare antartic tern
And no – its not really a rare bird – its apparently the only name they could think of for this online wallet
Britain went through some monumentally silly name changes, from British Steel to the Royal Mail, but I really think this one takes the cake. And the irony of it all is, in these troubled times, some idiot management consultant/branding expert got paid loads of money to produce this result!
If Moneybookers wants to become cool perhaps they should rather focus on what they do as apposed to what they are called. If they are so cool then why is there no facebook app (such as Coin jars)?
A simple rebrand doesn’t cut the mustard. And, no, there will not become a new term “skrilling” for moving money, like googling for searching. Nice try, but it aint gonna happen.
Footnote:
Thanks to Bob Rains who points out that Skrilla is urban slang for money. Too bad the wise guys forgot the extra A at the end. I still think it sucks as a name.
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