Doug Cornelius .com

With all of the non-traditional sport focus on the Olympics, I nearly missed the news that the America’s Cup sailing competition was happening in Valencia Spain. The BMW Oracle team triumphed over the Alinghi team. That means the US boat beat the Swiss boat.

Part of my family comes from Newport, Rhode Island, so I’ve had an interest in the America’s Cup. The sailing race was based in Newport starting in 1851. Then in 1983, an Australian boat won the cup and took it down under.

In 1983 the Australians won by using a radical design in the hull of their boat. The Australia II used a winged keel. They also made extensive use of kevlar and carbon fiber.

The BMW Oracle Racing boat, USA 17, was also a radical design. It is a tirmaran that is nearly 90 feet across. It also uses a rigid sail wing instead of a sail. The wing is almost twice as big as the wing of a 747.

Congratulations to Larry Ellison and BMW Oracle Racing.

There is no news on where the next America’s Cup race will be held.

Sources:

• U.S. Yacht BMW Oracle takes back America’s Cup with 2-race sweep
• BMW Oracle Racing website
• USA 17 in Wikipedia
• Australia II in Wikipedia
• No Oracle announcement amid gaiety
• America’s Cup in Wikipedia

I don’t have Olympic fever because I’m not that interested in the headline events. My tastes are a bit quirkier.

I hate ice skating. The downhill events are boring, except for the crashes. The snowboard halfpipe is fun, but I can’t tell when one person is doing better than the other.

These are the events I want to see:

	Women’s Biathalon 7.5km Sprint	Sat, Feb 13
	Men’s Biathalon 10km Sprint	Sun, Feb 14
	Snowboard Cross Men’s Qualifier	Mon, Feb 15
	Snowboard Cross Men’s Medal Round	Mon, Feb 15
	Snowboard Cross Women’s Qualifier	Tue, Feb 16
	Snowboard Cross Women’s Medal Round	Tue, Feb 16
	Women’s Biathalon 10km Pursuit	Tue, Feb 16
	Men’s Biathalon 12.5km Pursuit	Tue, Feb 16
	Women’s Biathalon 4 x 6km Relay	Tue, Feb 23
	Men’s Biathalon 4 x 7.5km Relay	Fri, Feb 26
	Women’s Curling Bronze Medal Game	Fri, Feb 26
	Women’s Curling Gold Medal Game	Fri, Feb 26
	Men’s Curling Bronze Medal Game	Sat, Feb 27
	Men’s Curling Gold Medal Game	Sat, Feb 27

All images are blatantly stolen from the NBC Olympics webpage.

They got feet of snow in Washington, D.C. with no mountains to go snowboarding. Who needs a mountain?

With that much snow on the ground and limited plowing, all you need is a Subaru.

During an April storm in 1934, a wind gust of 231 miles per hour (372 kilometers per hour) threw itself across the summit of Mount Washington. That stood as a record for the all-time surface wind speed observed by man.

Until two weeks ago.

On January 22, 2010, the World Meteorological Organization released a report stating that a new world record wind speed was recorded on April 10, 1996 in Barrow Island, Australia during Typhoon Olivia. The new record stands at 253 mph.

Mount Washington can still call itself the home of the windiest place in the Northern Hemisphere.

It can still claim its title for the all-time surface wind speed observed by man. The 1996 speed was recorded by a machine.

Sources:

• Record blown away, but pride stays put By David Filipov for the Boston Globe
• The Story of the World Record Wind from the Mount Washington Observatory
• Mount Washington gust record gone with the wind By David Brooks for the Nashua Telegraph
• World: Maximum Surface Wind Gust (3-Second)
• Mount Washington’s World Record Wind Speed Toppled from the Mount Washington Observatory
• The New World Record Wind Speed: Initial Thoughts by Brian Clark for the Mt. Washington Blog
• World Meteorological Organization Press Release

It’s always tough when your playoff season ends with a loss. It’s really tough when the team lays an egg like the Patriots did today in their playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

That means enjoying the playoffs for the thrill of the competition and thinking ahead to next year. Because there is always next year.

Always hoping that the next year is better than the past year.

Bela Fleck playing The First Noel, Oh Come Let Us Adore Him, Jesus Joy of Man’s Desiring, Joy to the World during a banjo Jam at the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Music Festival at The Congress Theater on December 12, 2009.

One of my favorite shows on television was HBO’s The Wire. An enterprising soul put together the video below of some of the best quotes from the series.

Since the quotes are from The Wire there is lots of language that you don’t want your kids (or your boss to hear).

Of course, there are spoilers. So if you have not watched the entire series and are planning to watch it, you may only want to watch the first few minutes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaclibrary/3798757956

The American Alpine Club just published a set of pictures from Richard Cassin’s ascent of Mount McKinley. His route, to become known as Cassin Ridge, was the most technical route climbed on the mountain at that time.

Seeing the equipment they used 50 years ago makes me appreciate Gore-Tex and synthetic fabrics.