Did you watch the Americas Cup Sailing races in San Francisco Bay Saturday and Sunday? Spectacular technology!
By GPS measurements, the on-screen displays superposed on live photographs numerical values of distances in meters and separation closing times in seconds. The two catamarans (one from New Zealand and "Oracle" from the US) reached speeds approaching 20 meters per second (about three times the wind speed) while arising above the water on their carbon-fiber plaining foils. Replays can be viewed on YouTube. The only flaws in the presentations were the digital displays of wind speeds in knots and commentary in miles per hour rather than in meters per second. I am virtually certain that the original GPS data provided speeds in meters per second! Eugene Mechtly
