American Magic: Checking the boxes

Barcelona, Spain (April 24, 2024) – Each of the six America’s Cup teams have mapped out their training schedule, and for NYYC American Magic this was the final day of their two-boat race training program. Their AC40s will now move to Badalona where the Youth & Women’s teams will be based going forward.

Out on the water, the team had a high intensity training day full of very close races, interesting pre-start tactics including the displacement wait until about a minute before the start when both boats pop onto the foils and then fight like banshees for position.

“We’ve had a really productive two months,” noted Terry Hutchinson, the Director of Sailing operations. “This training block has been focused on racing development and our sailing team development and understanding moves and countermoves.

“It has also been about the choreography on the boat between the helmsman and the trimmers and flight control; it’s been about as productive a training session as we could have possibly had. Barcelona has delivered champagne sailing really since February…the conditions through the first quarter of the year have been spectacular.”

Shifting to the 8-crew for the AC75, aside from the two cyclors that will be on each side, Hutchinson shared how their lead AC40 has been sailing pretty consistently over the last eight weeks with Tom Slingsby and Michael Menninger on the starboard side and Paul Goodson and Andrew Campbell on the port side.

“They’re experienced sailors, they’re successful sailors, and so as we go forward I think we’re in a very good spot there,” he noted, “but we’ve also got great sailors like Lucas Calabrese, Harry Melges, and Riley Gibbs so those guys keep knocking on the door and the crew of America have to continue to race well to have that spot.”

Regarding the three teams who have launched so far, he gave very high marks for their execution and their efficiency from the time they took delivery of their boats to the time that they rolled out and they were sailing their boats.

“Emirates Team New Zealand as always set the standard,” he assessed. “As we go through our process, we have a process internally that we’ll work through with ‘Boat3’ and it will be what we’ve defined it to be, and each team has followed that process but all the teams here are very good and so what we’ve seen isn’t really unexpected.

“All three of those teams have great platforms and you can see straight away that they’re hitting their stride very quickly. As for American Magic, we have a couple days off here from a sailing side of the operation and let the sailors have a little downtime and a little chill and then when ‘Boat3’ comes out of the shed and we will get back into it.”

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period opened December 1, 2021 and runs until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup may be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the venue reveal, confirming it would be Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Challenger Selection Series
August 29-September 8: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-21: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For more schedule details, click here.
Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the 2024 Youth & Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Additional details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE