Was watching a sailing race yesterday of a Kiwi vs British boat. These are the fast America's Cup sailing boats that basically sit out of the water, but I noticed 2 bicycles in the New Zealand boat - you could literally see saddles - so I gathered the Kiwis were pedaling to raise / lower the sails (?) whereas the other teams use the traditional furious arm crank method.

Anyone know any more about this? I'm still getting my head around boats gliding above water but when I noticed 2 crew members pedaling stationery bicycles on board during the race I thought this is absolutely nuts.

The following race pitted a Japanese versus Swedish boat but neither used bicycles on board.

One minor gripe: I found the 7 leg courses to be really sloppy like how the boats navigate around what appears to be a relatively small parcel of water. Isn't there a better way to lay out courses? As a casual fan watching yesterday I have to say the illogical course was a turn off. Why don't they just race out and back in a straight line? Is the turning and navigating the whole point? i.e. judging wind speed, direction, etc? I just didn't think the race was beautiful to watch when the boats and crews were.