In Barcelona, NYYC American Magic conducted a one-boat test with Lucas Calabrese and Paul Goodison taking the helm in marginal conditions that required Chase Boat assistance at times to get flying – and one tow-up got hairy with a near-capsize owing to a mainsheet ram issue onboard. Once airborne, the team conducted two 25-minute flights over a virtual racecourse at race pace and got in some 36 manoeuvres at an 88% success rate foil-to-foil in a dying breeze and flat water.
Speaking afterwards Lucas Calabrese seemed pleased with the short session saying: “Everybody is pretty busy on this boat with only four people doing a lot of the work so everybody has a lot on and it was great to get a couple of good laps in with good flight time and obviously we didn’t have the breeze we wanted but we got the most out of it…obviously you’re trying to push the limits as much as you can, it was very down range today we had between six and a half and seven and a half knots so that was the biggest challenge really, but again this is all in preparation to when we start racing both boats against each other so we’re just looking forward to that.”
More to come from NYYC American Magic this week as they will continue with just the one boat with Tom Slingsby away elsewhere and ‘Magic’ undergoing some maintenance ready for two-boat racing next week. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: NYYC American Magic squeezed in a short single-boat training session aboard the AC40 America which was sailed in winds ranging from 6 knots up to 11 knots and on a flat sea.
America was rolled out at 0924 and launched an hour later after the shore crew had setup/calibrated the mast previously used on the team’s second AC40 Magic. More technical work went on once the boat was in the water as technicians with laptops spent some considerable time raising and lowering the starboard foil arm.
The boat docked out at 1326 and left the harbour mouth at 1335. The MN4 mainsail was hoisted by 1345 – with a small camera observed attached to the centre of the top edge of the starboard skin –with the wind below 5 knots at this point it was not until 1410 that the J1 C1 headsail was hoisted. The boat was released from its chase boat side tow at 1420 but it was until 1445 that enough breeze arrived to get it up and foiling. As well as a short stop to allow for a reset of the rooftop camera on the main chase boat and a sudden unexpected splashdown while sailing upwind this flight lasted 25 minutes in winds which peaked at 11 knots.
Next up was a 25-minute two lap ‘practice race’ which started in 8 knots of breeze that faded slowly to 6.5 knots by the end. Three failed tow ups followed – one which ended in a spectacular wipe-out and near capsize – before the boat got flying again for a few minutes before ultimately running out of breeze.
Time was called at 1632 with the boat arriving back on the dock at 1658. Another sailing day is planned for tomorrow Tuesday February 20.
