Cup Spy: American Magic sails with cyclors for the first time
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 20 Oct 2022 12:45 AEDT
19 October 2022
Patriot - American Magic - AC75 - October 19, 2022 - Pensacola, Fl © Paul Todd/America's Cup
Today, American Magic became the first America's Cup team to test the use of cyclors on an AC75.
Key points October 19, 2022:
- American Magic tests out cyclors for the first time by any team on an AC75 during a test sail today, on Pensacola Bay, FL
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed at Barcelona doing a spectacular nosedive after the rudder came completely clear of the water, and subsequently blew the clew out of a jib.
- Emirates Team NZ did a short sailing session, on Wednesday, in winds of around 25kts on the outer Waitemata Harbour, without incident and hitting speeds of over 45kts again.
- Luna Rossa yet to sail their LEQ12, surrogate yacht, launched a week ago.
- Brits yet to reveal their LEQ12, surrogate yacht or update on the delivery of their AC40 which has been shipped from China.
American Magic writes another page in Cup history:
Cyclors reappeared for the first time in an America's Cup since 2017, when American Magic gave a practical demonstration of their just announced partnership with SRAM, claimed to be the world's most innovative bicycle component manufacturer.
The use of cyclors by the New York Yacht Club's team, is not a surprise given their announcement of the partnership two days ago. However using the bikes to provide onboard power for the hydraulic control systems, just three days after re-launching the AC75 shows the team have been working hard over the last six months.
After the training session Kirk Jordan, a structural engineer on the American Magic design team did a dockside interview, with a member of the AC37 Joint Recon team assigned to American Magic.
Jordan explained that the cycles were just one "of the features that we're experimenting with now. We put them on for the first time today. We're just at the beginning of that learning curve."
He was unable to say whether the cyclors met the power requirements of the AC75, which is the first to have been near-converted to the Version 2 of the AC75 Class rule - which incorporates many changes that will apply to boats sailed in the next America's Cup.
"I don't think we have enough data yet," Jordan said in response to a question as to whether the cyclists were able to contribute enough power. "It was a little bit of an odd day you know, we're kind of trying to tune the systems, and and unfortunately, the weather wasn't as good as we thought. It was just spotty. So we were in and out and of foiling, and messing around with the systems a lot of the day. It wasn't nearly as interesting as we were hoping," he added.
He made it clear that the team had not decided on whether cyclors would be a permanent fixture on the test boat. "SRAM are a world class cycling component company, and, if we head down this path with cyclists, having their technical expertise will be fantastic. Anybody would want it," he added.
Cyclors, aside the weather subverted a lot of today's test checklist.
"We had a lot of boxes to tick and the weather didn't allow us to do that. But you know that that's pretty common in this game," he philosophically.
The team tested the sail geometry on three jibs today. The sails were from the 2021 America's Cup, but had been modified with new strops and similar to accommodate changes made by the new AC75 class rule. The jibs were not ones that would normally be used in the conditions, but were hoisted using a portable electric winch, to test strop lengths and similar.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing has best day yet, but ends with a splash and a dry gybe.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing started slowly, after being delayed in leaving the dock due to light winds. Winds were too light for foiling in the initial sailing areas and Boat Zero was towed south to the area off the airport which did have better breeze. The Swiss had their best foiling session yet, despite a lazy swell. They executed their first dry gybe, just after blowing the clew out of the J1 in a spectacular, rudder out of the water nosedive. Given the rest of their foiling performance on the day, which was easily the best yet, one can only assume that the nosedive was caused by operator error.
Emirates Team NZ blasts away in a top end breeze.
Emirates Team New Zealand got underway early on Tuesday morning, with the SW breeze predicted to freshen during the day.
The Recon team reported the "breeze" as being 8kts increasing to 25kts, when the session was cut short. The AC40 in One Design mode experienced a variety of sea states encountering wind against tide in some areas of the inner Hauraki Gulf.
Session Statistics - Pensacola October 19, 2022 - American Magic - AC75 Version 1.75
- Wind Strength (AM) 10-14kts (PM): 5kts
- Wind Direction: NNE (AM) - NE (PM)
- Sea State: 2ft in the morning, but decreased over the day.
- Crane in: 0918 Dock Out: 1033
- Dock In: 1512 Crane out: 1544
- Total Tacks: 3 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 2 - Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Session Statistics - Barcelona - October 19, 2022 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 Version 1
- Wind Strength (AM) 3kts (PM): 7kts
- Wind Direction: E (AM) - SSW (PM)
- Sea State: 2 in the morning, but decreased over the day.
- Crane in: 0910 Dock Out: 1215
- Dock In: 1755 Crane out: 1825
- Total Tacks: 14 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 5
- Total Gybes: 13 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 4
Session Statistics - Auckland - October 19, 2022 - Emirates Team NZ - AC40 One Design
- Wind Strength (AM) 8-25kts (PM):
- Wind Direction: SW (AM) - (PM)
- Sea State: Slight - Moderate
- Crane in: 0730 Dock Out: 0800
- Dock In: 1020 Crane out: 1040
- Total Tacks: 24 - Fully foiling: 22; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 8 - Fully foiling: 8; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
GPS Tracks:
American Magic - Pensacola, Fl.:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - Barcelona
Emirates Team NZ - Auckland
Image Gallery:
This commentary was written and compiled from video, still images and statistical content extracted from the AC37 Joint Recon program and other material available to Sail-World NZ including photo files, and other on the water coverage from the 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021 America's Cups.