Patriot caught in the early morning light - American Magic - AC75 - Day 62 - Barcelona - December 19, 2023 © Ugo Fonolla / America's Cup
Orient Express Racing Team - No report, however they competed in the SailGP Dubai in the first week of December, placing 4th overall.
Cup Spy apologizes for the delay in publishing these America's Cup team updates due to undergoing a two hour surgery mid-last week. We have the information gathered, and it will be presented grouped by team or date, and published over the next day or so.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
American Magic - AC75 - Day 62 - December 19, 2023 - Barcelona
For its last sailing day of 2023 the NYYC American Magic syndicate repeated its pre-dawn roll out strategy to take advantage of the same offshore 10 - 12 kt north westerly conditions as yesterday (Monday December 18).
The team's legacy AC75 Patriot was rolled out in the dark and cold at 0715hrs and was rigged and launched by 0747hrs ready for an on time dock out at 0930hrs.
Just as yesterday the team foil towed the boat out to a spot just past the Sierra shipping buoy offshore from the Barcelona airport. There, in an already 10-12kt breeze from 300 degrees, the crew hoisted the MN9 mainsail before choosing the J3-6 over the J2-5 headsail that had originally been brought aboard.
The boat was up and foiling in a light chop at 1010hrs for a twenty minute flight around a virtual windward / leeward course that ended with a spin out touch down gybe at 1030hrs.
It was not clear what caused the spin out but when we got close to the yacht with the chase boat alongside there seemed to be some attention being given to the mainsheet and main traveller systems - but whether there had been a repeat of the lock up issue previously experienced was impossible to determine.
There then followed a series of three short (<3-minute) flights before a longer stop at 1100hrs to change to the J1.5 headsail.
A 20-minute flight followed - sailed in 11kts of wind - followed immediately after by another flight of roughly the same length.
By midday the breeze was beginning to ease back to the 8-10kts range and the team opted to switch to the J1 headsail to compensate.
The final 20-minute flight of the day saw the team sail upwind towards the harbour entrance as far as the breeze would take them.
With the breeze inshore virtually non-existent time was called at around 1310hrs with the boat docking in for the final time this year at 1340.
Crew: Paul Goodison, Lucas Calabrese, Riley Gibbs, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell, John Croom, Madison Molitar, Colten Hall, Tim Hornsby, James Wright, Ashton Lambie, Trevor Burd
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 - Day 62 - December 19, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Cloudy 10-14 degrees C
- Wind Strength: 8-12kts
- Wind Direction: 290 degrees-300 degrees
- Sea State: Light chop
- Crane In: 0740hrs Dock Out: 0925hrs
- Dock In: 1340hrs Crane out: 1415hrs
- Total Tacks: 25 - Fully foiling: 22; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 22 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 3
American Magic - AC75 - Day 61 - December 18, 2023 - Barcelona
NYYC American Magic's weather team proved their worth today with a pinpoint prediction of the only wind band for many miles around - a localised 7 - 12 knot stream off Barcelona's international airport blowing from 300 early this morning.
With the best of the breeze expected to last only until midday, the American team rolled out their last-generation AC75 Patriot at 0715 and in pre-dawn darkness had it rigged and launched before 0800 ready for an on-time dockout at 0930.
Prior to dock out, some strategic body positioning by the shore crew hid the configuration of Patriot's hydraulic mainsheet system.
The boat left the harbour on foils for a 15 minute tow on flat seas to find the early signs of the predicted north-westerly wind. Having hoisted the MN9 mainsail and J1.5-2 headsail by 1010, the boat set off five minutes later and was soon up and foiling around what appeared to be a virtual racecourse.
Aside from an initial touchdown tack this first flight lasted 30 minutes and included five foiling tacks and four foiling gybes. A was made at 1040 for what looked to be a battery swap with the boat off again at 1048 for 30 more minutes of windward leeward laps. Tacks looked assured but on the entry to the gybes the crew often looked - from our vantagepoint, at least - precariously close to losing the rudder.
With the breeze slowly starting to ease down in strength a stop was made at 1130 to change to the J1-5 headsail. After 15 minutes of trying to take off the boat was put on a bow tow at 1205 for a very brief flight that ended in a touchdown tack.
With the breeze evaporating quickly now the call was made for a foiling tow back to the harbour where sails were dropped by 1230 with dock in taking place at 1240.
Crew: Paul Goodison, Lucas Calabrese, Riley Gibbs, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell, John Croom, Madison Molitar, Colten Hall, Tim Hornsby, James Wright, Ashton Lambie, Trevor Burd
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 - Day 61 - December 18, 2023 - Auckland
- Weather: Cloudy 21 degrees C
- Wind Strength: 14-18kts
- Wind Direction: 210 degrees-230 degrees
- Sea State: 0.2mtrs Flat
- Crane In: 1150hrs Dock Out: 1300hrs
- Dock In: 1600hrs Crane out: 1640hrs
- Total Tacks: 7 - Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 1 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
American Magic - AC75 - Day 60 - December 15, 2023 - Barcelona
American Magic's third and final sailing session of the week had to be cancelled today after an issue was discovered with the team's AC75 shortly after launching this morning. The team had an on time pre-dawn 0715hrs roll out and the boat was rigged and launched by 0745hrs when the regular team of technicians clambered aboard to conduct the normal pre-sailing checks and configuration.
Just as the MN7 mainsail was being prepped to crane on to the boat we were told that 'an issue' had been encountered with the boat which would prevent the team going sailing. The boat was hauled at 0855hrs.
American Magic has two more potential sailing days - Monday / Tuesday December 18 / 19 - before the team shuts down for the Christmas and New Year holidays - December 20 to January 4.
Report from Sebastian Peri Brusa - AC37 Joint Recon Team
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 - Day 60 - December 15, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Clear 7 degrees C
- Crane In: 0745hrs Dock Out:
Additional Images:
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. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snapshot of all teams' progress on a given day or period.