Cup Spy Mar 30/31, Apr 1: American Magic does massive nosedive in a top end breeze
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 2 Apr 2023 14:06 BST
2 April 2023
American Magic - AC40 - Day 16 - April 1, 2023 © Paul Todd/America's Cup
Two teams - American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed in this three day period - all using their AC40 basic hull shell.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC40 in its one-design mode, while American Magic sails an AC40, but with a test wingfoil.
What happened in the Cup - March 30/31, April 1 2023:
- American Magic sailed off Pensacola for the third consecutive day in their AC40 One Design. They are testing a new wingfoil on their AC40/LEQ12, now test boat. Saturday's session ended a little ahead of time following a massive, high-speed nosedive.
- Luna Rossa did not sail their LEQ12, and last sailed on March 25.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail, and last ventured out on Wednesday March 29. Friday March 31 was a beautiful sailing day in Auckland, with a nice seabreeze and an accompanying sea state being on offer.
- INEOS Britannia did not sail, and last sailed their LEQ12 on Wednesday March 29.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed on Thursday March 30, in their AC40 OD
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
American Magic - AC40 One Design - Pensacola - April 1, 2023 - Day 16
American Magic headed out in top end conditions today, staying inshore in flatter water, instead of a more violent sea state outside in the Gulf of Mexico.
The US team are testing a new wingfoil. To our understanding, this takes the US AC40-5 boat out of one-design and into being classified as an LEQ12, as happened with Emirates Team NZ when they did exactly the same change to their first AC40. They are expected to receive a second AC40, which must stay in One Design mode.
In an interview with the AC37 Joint Recon team, skipper Paul Goodison confirmed that the team wanted to test the capability of the new foil in top end conditions.
"We wanted to push the new foil wing pretty hard and see how fast it could go. So we were chose to take it on today and seeing some pretty high gusts up there's, giving some really nice speeds, it was really good just to get a feel for the difference between the two boards, how they accelerate and their top speeds."
Goodison said they were sailing in over 20kts of breeze at the end, and hit boatspeeds of close to 50kts - the fastest the team has been in the AC40 to date.
Unfortunately the session ended prematurely, with a violent nosedive where Goodison had his goggles ripped from his helmet.
"Andrew [Campbell, Flight Controller] was doing a little bit more crew training and trying to push a bit harder with with the new foil. We just got a little bit out of whack on the turn up. And it was just a of loss control, " Goodison said in the post session interview. "I think I went under water, so deep that the goggles ripped off my head and over the back on the leeward side.
"It was pretty full on but everybody's okay. And the boat is fine, but it was kind of the end of the session anyway," he added.
In response to a question as to whether the team had more confidence on one board than the other, and what makes them successful, Goodison replied:
"Each board is slightly different in style. So you're gonna need different sections between the boards. One board obviously likes the cant slightly different, and the other one likes the pitch slightly different. So we were playing around just to basically learn the foils, and at the end to go around some marks and push a bit harder."
"You learn very quickly what works, what doesn't work. So it's been a great learning day for us."
Responding to questions about how far the team were away from the signoff on their new AC75 raceboat design, Goodison said "we haven't quite signed off on final designs for the 75. It's important at the moment, to get the hours in on the [LEQ12] boat so that we can really feed those final decisions and get the fastest 75 possible."
"In the next few months, we'll be we'll be signing off on some of the design decisions."
On that basis design sign-off will take place in May, followed by a start on construction, with a launch 10-12 months later. In the meantime the team can continued with design and development of various components that don't require a 10 month design and construction process.
Goodison concluded by saying that he thought the next America's Cup would be closer than the 2021 event, because being Version 2 boats, he did not expect to see the design variations that emerged from the first two iterations by the teams in that event.
"I think it [2024AC] will be much closer than the previous Cup. Obviously with it being the second generation of boats, everybody comes closer together. And when you look towards Barcelona been wavy, and lighter winds, I think the sailing is going to play a really big part of that."
Unfortunately no video or still images are available of the nosedive incident.
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
Sailing began at 10:50 in thick patchy fog. The team started with the J2 and MN1 in the familiar 8-10k of breeze.
America sailed long straight stints, in and out of thick fog, on one board for the first part of the day. The crew made a conscious effort to stay clear of the large fleet competing in the Sunfish Masters Regatta. Chase 2 was sent offshore to check the conditions as the team were contemplating sailing offshore, but the call was to stay in the bay.
The fog gradually lifted and the breeze filled in all day. Harden up's and bear away's looked increasingly nervous as the breeze increased. The batteries were changed at 13:00. The crew utilized marks left in the water from the Sunfish regatta to briefly practice some rounding's at 13:42.
Bow stuffs were observed at 13:51, 14:18, and the most dramatic at 14:33. A conclusion to sailing was called shortly after the final bow stuff with no damage noted to the yacht or it's equipment.
In all, America completed 58 maneuvers, 19 W/L's, sailed approximately 70nm, and had a total flying time of 143min. Top speeds were approximately 36k upwind and upwards of 50k downwind on the starboard foil (per interview "way faster than we've been before").
Session Statistics - Pensacola - April 1, 2023 - American Magic - AC40 - Day 16
- Weather: Fog 70° F
- Wind Strength 12kts-19kts
- Wind Direction: SW
- Sea State: 1ft chop
- Roll out: 0905hrs Dock Out: 11015hrs
- Dock In: 1500hrs Crane out: 1510hrs
- Total Tacks: 41 - Fully foiling: 39; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 17 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Lucas Calabrese, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell
American Magic - AC40 One Design - Pensacola - March 31, 2023 - Day 15
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
America had an afternoon sail today, in their AC40 One Design docking out at 1330hrs.
The breeze was up early in the session and the team opted for the LEQ M1 and J3, and began sailing at 1406. The mode today seemed to be mostly straight line testing with notable windward heel up and down wind. Immediately after the fourth take off of the day America had a moderate bow stuff, but was up and foiling again two minutes later.
The recon crew were asked to retrieve the Mayor of Pensacola at 1435 and drop him off on Chase 2.
At 1516, the crew changed batteries and briefly brought aboard two orange objects appearing to be battery operated fans. The breeze steadily declined throughout the day and the J3 was swapped for the J1 at 1555hrs.
Crew substitutions occurred at 1704hrs allowing for Riley Gibbs and Trevor Burd to get some time in. Sailing ended at 1740. In all, America completed 53 maneuvers, 12 W/L's, sailed approximately 52nm, and had a total flying time of 93min. Top speeds were approximately 33kt upwind and 38kts downwind.
Session Statistics - Pensacola - March 31, 2023 - American Magic - AC40 - Day 15
- Weather: Cloudy 70° F
- Wind Strength 12kts-18kts
- Wind Direction: s (PM)
- Sea State: 1ft chop
- Roll out: 1230hrs Dock Out: 1330hrs
- Dock In: 1751hrs Crane out: 18155hrs
- Total Tacks: 31 - Fully foiling: 23; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 22 - Fully foiling: 21; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Riley Gibbs, Tom Slingsby, Lucas Calabrese, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell, Trevor Burd
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American Magic - AC40 - One Design - Pensacola - March 30, 2023 - Day 14
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
American Magic rolled out their AC40 One Design at 0745 with a new addition to the starboard foil arm (new piece covering outboard side inspection cover). Dock out was 0930hrs. America was towed offshore.
Pete Melvin and Richard Bouzaid were observed on Chase 2. The main went up at 1000hrs and work was performed in the tack area for about 30 minutes. The J2 went up at 1035hrs and sailing began at 1042hrs.
The sailing mostly consisted of long stints on one board. The recon rib struggled to keep pace due to the sea state. The team took a break at 1216 and performed work on the tack area of the main, appearing to replace the bottom batten.
Attention was also given to the jib tack during this time. The final stint of the day included back to back tacks and gybes. The crew called an end to sailing at 1425hrs.
In all, America completed 28 maneuvers, five up and downwind legs were sailed covering approximately 65nm, and had a total flying time of 104min. Top speeds could not accurately be measured today.
Session Statistics - Pensacola - March 30, 2023 - American Magic - AC40 One Design - Day 14
- Weather: Sunny 60° F
- Wind Strength 10kts-13kts
- Wind Direction: E (PM)
- Sea State: 2-4ft on top of swell
- Roll out: 0820hrs Dock Out: 0930hrs
- Dock In: 1506hrs Crane out: 1540hrs
- Total Tacks: 18 - Fully foiling: 8; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 5
- Total Gybes: 10 - Fully foiling: 9; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down:
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Lucas Calabrese, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 One Design - Barcelona - March 30, 2023 - Day 13
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40 One Design at 08:45hrs, anticipating the better breeze earlier in the day, which was forecast to drop later in the afternoon. The team hoisted the M1 mainsail and J3 jib in the port and towed the yacht out, releasing the towline at the port entrance. The wind at the start of the sailing day was 11 knots, gusting 13 knots, and relatively flat sea.
Sailing commenced at 11:25hrs, with a few gybes downwind to the course to warm up. As Pietro Sibello explained in the interview, start practice is the focus of the week. The team spent the day drilling time and distance runs to the start line, continuing up to a windward mark every second/third start. While the wind was strong enough, the sailors practiced sailing with both boards down, which helps with stability and manoeuvring in a tight box. As the wind strength decreased, they trained balancing speed and lift by alternating between one and two boards in the water. By 14:00hrs, the sailing area grew patchier, with holes in the wind measured at 3 knots.
A short break of 30 minutes was spent dropping the main to replace a broken batten. The AC40 caught the pin end anchor line on one occasion, though fortunately this was not a major issue. It was not possible to see any damage to the leading edge of the foil when the yacht was craned out as the yacht was stern to the recon viewing point.
Today the recon vessel was back to a fully operational standard, after the block of the Mercury Verado 250 was replaced. This was caused by water entering through the exhaust, an issue seen before on the same engine model, as explained by the shore crew.
The team covered over 30 Nautical miles in four hours on the water, performing 61 manoeuvres.
Session Statistics - Barcelona - March 30, 2023 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 One Design - Day 13
- Wind Strength: 11-13kts
- Wind Direction: S
- Weather: Sunny 15°C
- Sea State: Beaufort 2
- Roll out: 0920hrs Dock Out: 1100hrs
- Dock In: 1505hrs Crane out: 1530hrs
- Total Tacks: 32; Fully foiling: 25; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 29; Fully foiling: 23; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis , Maxime Bachelin, Nicolas Charbonnier, Lucien Cujean, Yves Detrey , Bryan Mettraux, Nicolas Rolaz
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.
Additional Images: