It was a perfect day for sailing–blustering, fits of sun breaking through, cool enough for fleece or even parka. We joined the hundreds (not thousands) of people at the Americas Cup Pavilion on the Embarcadero to check out the two sailboats in today’s race: the New Zealand boat sponsored by Fly Emirates and the Italian boat sponsored by Prada. True to American marketing practices, the sponsors names shout from the sails, readable without binoculars even when far from shore.

Thus far, the Americas Cup has been somewhat of a non-event in San Francisco, generating fewer crowds, jobs and revenue than hoped for. But it’s early. July and August are qualifying races. The big event is in September, so the participation and revenue stream should improve.

San Francisco Bay is the perfect place for racing, with the stiff and steady breezes creating the kind of wind that can send a sailboat with the right equipment shooting through the water up to 45 knots (like 50 mph.) These boats are equipped with the latest technology in sailing gear that make them worth millions. They’re big enough to require a crew of 16 who they look like high-tech Spider-Me n as they scramble all over the boat when it’s in flight.

And they do fly! At full speed, they rise out of the water, only attached to the water by a thin hydrofoil; see the picture below.

As we were traveling with an Italian, we were rooting for the Prada, but unfortunately it was having a bad day and trailed the Emirates by several miles to the finish line. That didn’t stop us from at least celebrating afterwards with fish we bought from the most remarkable market I’ve ever seen. The New May Wah Market is a classic Asian market where fish eyeballs stare at you from the all the fish piled on mounds of ice, where crabs skitter in boxes on the ground, and sea urchins sit with their bristles drooping in death. Chicken carcasses and chicken feet were in the row with the eels and (I think) the snakes. And the rows of greens wrapped in rubber-banded stalks that filled several aisles were as green and robust as if they were still in the field. Everything was incredibly fresh.