America's Cup: Kiwis test sail against the Brits off Barcelona. Brits also sail against French
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 1 Aug 2024 11:12 AEST
Emirates Team New Zealand, INEOS Britannia and American Magic - AC75 - July 19 , 2024 - Barcelona © James Somerset/ Emirates Team NZ
A new 30 minute video has been posted, shot in Barcelona recently, showing America's Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, sailing "against" the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia in a fresh breeze. It is believed to be part of an "Official Practice" session.
It is believed that the hookup video is staged for camera crews, in accordance with a period of Official Practice designated by the Regatta Director.
The note appended to the video says "the broadcast team were on the water with cameras rigged to the helicopter and catamaran, preparing for action with just 23 days left to the start of the 37th America's Cup."
As expected, the video shows an even performance between the two teams.
Outside of Official Practice sessions, the rules of engagement for the teams who awkwardly find themselves on the same patch of water as another (within 400 metres), are only permitted to sail on the same heading for a maximum period of 20sec.
However an exception is made under Protocol Article 24.2 for teams "participating in official pre-regatta TV testing sessions as requested by AC Media;"
No AC37 Joint Recon program video or images have been shot since June 22, when the program was disbanded in accordance with the Protocol. Emirates Team New Zealand did not start sailing their AC75 race boat until after that date.
In a note posted on the Official Noticeboard for the event, Regatta Director, Iain Murray has specified that there will be six slots of 30 minutes have been designated as Official Practice on August 1. The time slots have been allocated by a "random draw" allowing a competitor to sail in two of the slots.
There is no other video posted of other teams participating, however in part of this sequence American Magic can be seen lowering their mainsail, as INEOS Britannia and ETNZ sail past in the background..
Yachts participating are required to be running RMS (Race Management System) software, and the Official Practice is assumed to be a test of RMS.
The Official Practice will be umpired by the Chief Umpire, from a shore booth. No Umpire boats are visible in the unofficial footage.
At the bottom end of his note, Iain Murray states: "I am informed that all practice races (including the Umpire program) will be made publicly available at the end of the day."
Presumably this will be done as part of the ongoing controlled media narrative that has been running for a few weeks, from AC Media, with the objective of attempting to build fan interest ahead of the third Preliminary Regatta, which runs from August 22 -25, and in which all teams will race their AC75 race boats.
Racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup to determine the Challenger to contest the America's Cup Match starts on August 29, and runs to October 7, 2024.