NYYC American Magic, today bringing both of their AC40’s out for huge windward/leeward long run sail shape testing. Clearly the team are on to something with this relentless drive for sail perfection which perhaps should come as no surprise with Terry Hutchinson, a sail-maker at heart, leading the campaign.
Speaking afterwards, Terry commented: “First day we went out in that really tough offshore breeze, we did a bit of damage to Boat 1’s rig which was why we didn’t get to two boat yesterday…today we got out there and met the breeze and did what we needed to do, cycling through the sail stuff and flight control, all the things that go into racing the boat well.”
“There are so many variables, we’re trying really hard to probably keep as much of the stuff locked-in so each adjustment is a quantifiable one, be that a cant angle, sheet tension or ride height, so every single time that we make an adjustment we can justify it in the performance of the boat – but mother nature is mother nature. The thing that’s awesome about these boat is you sail in half a knot more windspeed and it’s exponentially better, it’s not just half a knot of boatspeed, the boats accelerate, they go faster, it’s fun to see and it’s fun to watch…I think our last week we did over 250 miles in three days in only like three and a half hours of sailing a day, so it’s not like you’re doing a lot hours but you’re doing a lot of miles, so it’s good.”
With light winds expected tomorrow (Thursday) in Barcelona, NYYC American Magic have called it early and will have a maintenance day ashore. Still no word from the team on a possible launch date for their AC75.
On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: NYYC American Magic returned to two-boat testing today after two days of sailing with just one boat. The day saw lightish winds that started below five knots and peaked at around 10 knots in the afternoon. The two American AC40s – America and Magic were rolled out, rigged, and launched by 1015 ahead of an 1130 dock out. Sails were hoisted outside the harbour entrance by 1205: America MC 5 mainsail and J1.5 C2 headsail / Magic MC 4 mainsail and J1.5 C? headsail.
After a wait for the southerly sea breeze to establish itself the two boats were up and foiling by 1240 and headed off on a long close formation downwind run that saw the two boats each complete 18 foiling gybes, before the crews turned upwind for a long starboard tack session followed by a tack and a long port stint, before the boats turned downwind again for a long run with just one gybe before a stop at 1340. As well as a battery change, with the breeze now at 8-9 knots, the crews also switched headsails: America to the J2 C4 and Magic to the J2 C3.
The boats set off again at 1402 for an hour and 10-minute session that saw them complete several gigantic windward / leeward loops with just one or two tacks upwind and typically just one gybe downwind. On the upwind legs on port tack heading in towards the land it was noticeable that the leeward boat was on several occasions able to claw its way up to the windward boat without any apparent loss of speed. (see 04.48 highlights video and the interview with Terry Hutchinson who explains it away as a local wind effect).
After a stop at 1510 when the sailors were rotated between the boats, the crews were off again at 1530 for another hour-long session of multiple windward / leeward loops. A brief stop at 1630 was followed by a final upwind multiple tack match race back to the harbour where the boats arrived at 1640. With light airs forecast, no sailing is planned for tomorrow – Thursday February 15.
