What can an AI bot teach the world's best sailors?

Forget opposable thumbs--our greatest evolutionary advantage has been a capacity to deal with variability, adapting to the prevailing conditions and finding opportunity in the unpredictable. Elite yacht-racing is a fine and fearsome showcase for those human qualities. And it doesn't get more elite than the America's Cup: 11 top-of-their-game sailors in a highly-engineered boat pitched against inconstant waves and another similarly sized, crewed and engineered yacht. All things being equal, the race would be a simple case of best crew wins. But all things are not equal.