Eager to get stuck into their new blocks of winter training, NYYC American Magic waited until the afternoon for a building southerly to filter in up and across the Balearic Sea whilst still bearing the westerly rollers that build up off the La Barceloneta beachfront and make foiling sailing so tricky.
Operating quite different strategies – NYYC American Magic starting their two-boat training whilst Alinghi Red Bull Racing go for development at full scale with their AC75 ‘BoatZero’ – this was an engrossing afternoon of watching the very best in the world ply their trade at what’s becoming the business end of both fascinating campaigns.
For the Americans it was the day that they were looking forward to with both of the AC40’s ‘America’ and ‘Magic’ converted over the weekend into LEQ12’s with the addition of upgraded starboard foils that they tested so solidly and extensively throughout the summer in Barcelona. Perhaps more for validation than anything else, the team were looking again at decisions that had been derived but in the 12-15 knots of breeze when the racing commenced, it was perhaps outright skill and racecraft that won the day. Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison sailed ‘America’ like they stole it and were that ‘click’ ahead in all races, able to eke out strong positions and then defend like crazy with the added advantage of dirty air aiding their cause.
Flight Control and wave management was the name of the game today – oh how they probably wish they had the extra length of the AC75 – and the numerous splashdowns amidst clouds of cold winter spray were par for the course. Lucas Calabrese and Harry Melges took the wheels of ‘Magic’ today and ended up calling it a day as the breeze came to its peak.
Tough day on the water and as Riley Gibbs alluded to in interview afterwards there was a lot going on: “The majority of it came down to stability around the track. We kind of saw that it was a pretty asymmetric day as far as the breeze direction and the sea state and yeah just stability and starting…fortunately we likely won’t have a mistral hopefully at least during the summer you know kind of developing these long westerly swells that come in, they’re pretty challenging, it poses quite an issue for the flight controllers to tackle tack to tack, very asymmetric in set up possibly but yeah difficult.”
Talking about the asymmetric set up on the foils, with America running the silver Wing 03 and Magic running the all-black Wing 04 (we think), Riley responded: “We’re coming into the tail end of foil design and always trying to eke out the most in our performance so we’re just looking back and confirming our suspicions on what we learned over the summer.”
Whilst American Magic blasted around short upwind/downwind tracks on the America’s Cup course, the magnificent sight of Alinghi Red Bull Racing at full bore, joined them having docked out just behind and plied their early session out towards the airport waiting for the breeze to fill in. As it came in from the south west, the Swiss came down with it towards the racecourse and out further east towards the Forum district.
On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: NYYC American Magic Had to be patient early in today’s two boat session to allow the Barcelona southerly sea breeze to make an appearance, but once it did it quickly established itself and soon developed into a solid system that ranged from 11 to 15 knots.
The team’s two AC40s – both in LEQ12 mode with custom foils on the starboard side – were rigged and launched by 1045. A new stubby antenna was observed on top of Magic’s mast.
The two boats docked out together at 1200 but then had to wait at the harbour entrance with mainsails up for an hour to allow the sea breeze to build from sub-five knots to around 7 knots by 1315.
After some separate free warm up and free sailing, the two boats – both sailing with J1 headsails – rendezvoused at the leeward gate of the earlier-set windward / leeward racecourse in front of the W Hotel. America arrived and rounded the left-hand mark but appeared to lose control mid-rounding and did a little hobby-horsing before coming to a stop.
With the breeze now touching 11-12 knots both boats swapped headsails – America to a J2 C3 and Magic to a J2 C4. One practice race was sailed in which America won the start and sailed away to an easy victory while Magic appeared to struggle a little with maintaining steady flight and suffered a splashdown on the first downwind run. Both crews were obviously pushing hard all around the course and with the sea state building quickly throughout the afternoon there were plenty of touchdowns and boat handling challenges.
By 1500 the breeze was in the 12-15 knot range, necessitating a second headsail change: America to a J3 C1 and Magic to a J3-5 (OD). Two more races were sailed in which – despite some super close prestart / start action – America won both. By the second race the breeze was up to 15 knots and after Magic splashed down on the first upwind the race was stopped at the first leeward gate. Similarly, the third race was stopped at the end of the first beat after Magic splashed down and stopped upwind.
After a 30-minute delay Magic sailed to the harbour entrance and dropped sails. Meanwhile America sailed a free windward leeward lap before a thunderstorm started to roll in from the north. America entered the harbour at 1630. Both boats were back on the dock by 1650. Another sailing session is scheduled for tomorrow Wednesday February 28.
