“One dream, one soul…one prize, one goal,” – the apt opening lyrics of Queen’s ‘A Kind of Magic’ and today in Barcelona it was NYYC American Magic that unveiled their third AC75 boat but keeping much mystery and intrigue to themselves. And rightly so, the boat is a beauty – a sculpted form whose almost scow-bow detailing would not look out of place at New York’s Guggenheim Museum setting off a super-powerful hull form with detailing aplenty.
Back in the deep, classy navy blue, this is Patriot 2.0, a logical but radical step-on from the boat that many believed had way more potential than was realised in 2021. The almost retro graphic detailing with white, grey and blue overlaid speed streaks, trick the eye at deck level and certainly onto the bow form whilst the blue marrs any meaningful interpretation at this stage of dilets and mouldings down the hull form. The flaring at the bow underbelly off the fine entry skeg and bustle is extreme – arguably more extreme than we’ve seen elsewhere. This is the boat that the New York Yacht Club is pinning all of its hopes on to return the America’s Cup back to its West 44th Street clubhouse in Manhattan and on first limited sight, it certainly looks potent.
Arguably in the same stable as the muscle-boats of Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, its form is all built off an aggressive bustle and keel chine that runs aft and then kicks up to the stern with depth and sharpness – not dissimilar to the scalpel shape we saw on Patriot but far more nuanced for Barcelona. The T-section aft run off, now standard for Barcelona-designed boats and rather International Moth in its treatment, is there as seen in the cradling arrangements but we will have to wait to see the deck detailing around the pods and the stern run-off as that was covered by a sheeting today and could well reveal much about the direction of this thrilling and no-stone-unturned challenge.
Same too for the foils, the boat was rolled out of the shed and lain at 90 degrees across the apron on a low cradle with the foil arms raised and no foils hung. Missing too was the rudder, an area of much conjecture but there does appear to be a smaller gantry at the stern indicating some kind of in-build for the rudder mechanics in the bustle.
The cockpit area itself is tapered back to the stern, housing the crew and cyclor pods and looks similar albeit lower perhaps than Emirates Team New Zealand. The gantry size at the stern indicates that some of the rudder mechanism at least will be in the small bustle that leads right to the transom.
The team’s technicians rolled out today, took their measurements and then ‘Boat3’ was rolled back in on her mechanised cradle. It won’t be long before she’s there in full view and a proper analysis and assessment can be made but if first impressions count, this one was a good one. (Magnus Wheatley)
© AMALIA INFANTE
© JOB VERMEULEN/ AMERICA’S CUP
