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Comment by telesilla | Hacker News Reader

I grew up watching racing thanks to my grandad's interest but all with all the tech involved in these high end machines it's like watching jetplanes or something mechanical, maybe it's because I can't connect anymore to what's happening on a human level. I love the thrill of a fast boat but it's lost me on the accessibility that I remember from the 80s and 90s. I remember how crews and captains would be celebrities, now it seems it's a tech game?

Edit: it's a beautiful machine, regardless. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ruh3hASFyGw

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Basically every contest tends to lose interest, for me, either as a spectator or participant, the more “refined” the play. From board games to sports.

I’d love to be able to go back and watch some of the goofy stuff that went on in, say, early baseball, among the best players of the time. And the slower play, et cetera.

I’d take up golf if the equipment and course sizes were more like they were in the early 20th century. (Yes, there are organizations and a handful of courses that support this, but they’re rare enough not to be something a person can really do unless they live close to the right place, are comfortably retired, or are the idle rich). Ultra-engineered balls and clubs so you can hit the ball farther than you can even see… what? Why? How is that improving the game?

The underlying dynamic is always the same: competition kills the game / fun ...

The golf one’s especially weird to me. The overall effect of the fancy gear is that courses doubled in acreage and… you hit the ball over most of that new land on your first stroke anyway (at least, that’s the idea, lol). Like, the advantage is gone as soon as courses adjust, and you’re back to about the same thing, just way bigger (and all-around more expensive). It almost seems like we’d have been better off if ultra-long-range targeted drives had become a separate sport, and golf stayed smaller with “bad” clubs.

There's also Moth-class sailing or windfoiling for mere mortals.

And they aren’t slow either!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/lste7qSyWlw

Have you watched sail gp or the recent America's cups. The racing is as incredibly exciting to watch and the skills of the sailors is a huge part of it. I'd argue that technology was always a huge part of sailing, but compare that to many of the "old" America's cups and now you'll see the racing is so much more exciting (largely because while technology is at the forefront, the rules make boats technologically advanced, but also comparable enough to each other).

I'd also argue that sailors (and particularly skippers) are still celebrities (within the sailing community). Now where you're right, is that that these boats are not accessible to the average sailors anymore, but it is because they require so much skill to sail.

> Now where you're right, is that that these boats are not accessible to the average sailors anymore, but it is because they require so much skill to sail.

I'd argue the money is a much larger factor than it was in the past, but in the past it was quite expensive as well.

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