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SAN DIEGO -- Always eager for a challenge, two-time Americas Cup champion skipper Jimmy Spithill and his crew of five on a high-performance, 46-foot catamaran hooked into a strong breeze off New York and headed toward Bermuda, hoping to ride above the waves on hydrofoils for all 662 nautical miles.The weather turned nasty about halfway there, forcing them at one point to drop their sails and switch from performance mode to survival mode.Team Falcon made it to Bermuda in one piece, leaving Spithill excited about the future of offshore foiling while respecting Mother Nature.It got pretty bad, the Australian said in a phone interview from Japan, where hell lead Oracle Team USA in the final stop of the Americas Cup World Series this weekend. The first 24 hours were awesome. We put down some awesome miles and got to the Gulf Stream pretty quickly. Then it started to turn for the worse.Waves that had been 6 1/2 feet grew as big as 20 to 25 feet as the wind rose from 20 knots up to 40 to 45 knots.Anytime you have to go offshore, you have to be prepared for the worst, Spithill said. Its like mountain climbing. Anyone who goes up Everest or any other decent mountain, you have to be prepared for the weather to change and you have to have a plan. We were always prepared for the worst. In that situation you usually learn something about yourself and the team around you. It was impressive to see how everyone responded and got through it.The boat sailed at more than 30 knots a few times during the 66-hour trip, Spithill said.Down to bare poles at one point in strong wind, the cat was still going 20 knots down waves. We had a hard time slowing the boat up, Spithill said. Thats what youve got to be able to face when youre on the ocean, especially the Gulf Stream, which can be pretty notorious water. It was pretty crazy.It was some of the best sailing Ive done of my life offshore. It proves this is the next step in the offshore world, Spithill said.The trip was the idea of Shannon Falcone of Antigua, a former Oracle Team USA crewmember, and backed by Red Bull, which sponsors both OTUSA and the Red Bull Youth Americas Cup. The F4, built in the Netherlands, is the first foiling catamaran specifically built for the open ocean.Foiling has become the rage in sailing. While the concept has been around for years, it went mainstream during the 2013 Americas Cup on San Francisco Bay in a duel between 72-foot catamarans. Its continued to develop leading up to the 2017 Americas Cup, which will be contested in 50-foot foiling cats in Bermuda.When the Americas Cup catamarans reach a certain speed, they rise up on foils, lifting the hulls out of the water and allowing faster speeds.Its just pure performance, said Spithill, who steered Oracles giant trimaran to victory in the 2010 Americas Cup and then helped rally the American-backed team to victory over Emirates Team New Zealand in 2013. Once you can sort of get that drag gone and get that boat out of the water, its like a turbo boost.One challenge of offshore foiling will be at night. Spithill said foiling requires the crew to anticipate and look around, and the crew had to rely only on instruments during three moonless nights.While Spithill said he got a real test, physically and mentally, from the trip, the worst offshore conditions hed been in were in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race, when six sailors died and five yachts sank during a fierce storm.Spithill also was at the wheel of Oracles 72-foot catamaran when it capsized in rough conditions on San Francisco Bay in October 2012.Joining Spithill and Falcone on Team Falcon were Oracle Team USAs Rome Kirby of Newport, Rhode Island; Tommy Loughborough of Singapore; Olympic sailor Cy Thompson of the Virgin Islands and Emily Nagel, a member of Team Bermuda in the Red Bull Youth Americas Cup.Matt Knighton, who won the Onboard Reporter Award for the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race, was the onboard cameraman, even using a drone to capture video footage during daylight hours.The voyage proved that foiling is the next step in offshore performance, Spithill said.But theres a limit. No matter what, Mother Nature will decide at what level you will operate. And Mother Nature made that decision for us.---Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson Sonny Collins . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Chris Peace . -- Charline Labonte couldnt have asked for a better homecoming. https://www.cheapnfljerseyschina.co/butch-byrd-jersey-for-sale/ .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Cheap NFL Jerseys China Free Shipping . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. Cheap NFL Jerseys China For Sale . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. All through Monday, weather experts in lands surrounding the Caribbean Sea tracked a low-pressure trough moving westwards across the Atlantic, anxious to see if it would develop into a tropical cyclone, with a wind speed ranging from 63kph to 119kph. If it met those conditions, they could officially call it a tropical storm. They already had a name ready for it - Earl.All through Monday, even as blue skies gave way to grey over Sabina Park, the occupants of Indias dressing room were not worried about the weather. There was no point worrying, because it was not in their control.Eventually, 43 overs of day three were lost to rain, and more showers are expected on days four and five of the Test match. Nonetheless, Ajinkya Rahane, who scored an unbeaten 108 to lift India to a declaration with a lead of 304, believed there was still more than enough time left for his team to force a win. India only made 142 runs in the 46.1 overs played on day three, and Rahane credited West Indies bowlers for keeping Indias scoring rate down, particularly their captain Jason Holder, who bowled a spell of 11 overs spread across the first two sessions, nine of them before lunch.We were not thinking about the weather, Rahane said. Initially, in the morning, we wanted to play normal cricket. Unfortunately, Wriddhiman [Saha] got out just before lunch. That partnership was really important for us. The plan was to bat once and bat long, and I think we did that. Theres still some help for the fast bowlers in the wicket, and I thought Holder bowled a very good spell before lunch. He bowled pretty well. After lunch, the plan was to play positive and try and get a 300-plus lead. Unfortunately, the rain came in, thats not something we can control.Later, asked the same question in Hindi, Rahane said the timing of Sahas dismissal might have prevented India from accelerating immediately after lunch.On the islandss, it rains, but clears quickly also, he said.dddddddddddd You cant be thinking about the weather and playing. The important thing was how much of a lead we could get and how quickly we can get it. We wanted to play normal cricket till lunch, and then, if we played positively, our lead would have grown. Anyway, there is plenty of time left in the Test match.India lost two quick wickets - of Amit Mishra and Mohammed Shami - after the days first rain interruption, which lasted 52 minutes. Between resumption and Indias declaration, Rahane moved to his seventh Test century. He had a hundred in the West Indies to go with tons in New Zealand, England, Australia, Sri Lanka and India, and 90-plus scores in South Africa and Bangladesh.Rahane seemed to quieten in the 80s, and for a time, farmed the strike, with No. 10 Umesh Yadav at the other end, before soaring into the 90s with an inside-out six off the offspinner Roston Chase.Frankly speaking, I was not thinking about my hundred, Rahane said. When Mishra and Shami got out, I told Umesh to play normal cricket. Just give your 100% whether defending or playing a shot. When I was 84-85, I wanted to play normal cricket, but the offie brought his long-off in and I wanted to clear the fielder. When I was on 95, [I told Umesh] just play normal cricket, and once I get my hundred, well play some shots.Despite the help still available from the pitch, Rahane said Indias bowlers would need to be patient to bowl West Indies out in the second innings.There is something for the fast bowlers, but its important for us to bowl a decent line and length tomorrow, he said. We have to bowl patiently. In the first Test match, we bowled in good areas and we bowled consistently. If we do that, we will be in a good position tomorrow. ' ' '