NYYC American Magic called for all-hands on deck at the Barcelona base super-early Tuesday morning, ahead of rolling out their new AC75 at 5.45am.
The roll-out showed Boat 3 with the first set of slightly asymmetric race foils, rudder and rig all in place and revealing an interesting deck layout putting the helms and trimmers side by side and well forward.
Clare Harrington, the Vice-Commodore of the New York Yacht Club was in Barcelona to christen her, smashing the champagne bottle and revealing the name: ‘Patriot’.
Once the formalities had been completed just after 8am, a look around the boat revealed much about just how radical American Magic are going.
Building upon the legacy of its predecessors, American Magic’s new Patriot represents the culmination of US boat design and engineering excellence.
Notable advancements include:
- Enhanced hull design to optimize performance in varying wind and sea states.
- New lighter foils with an increase in span to 4.5m, facilitating lift out of the water.
- Upgraded electronics, hydraulics, and software systems for improved control and maneuverability.
- Reducing crew size from eleven to eight members utilizes innovative cyclors (replacing grinders) powering the yacht’s systems.
- The AC75 features a 26.5-meter mast, meticulously crafted by the American Magic team in the United States.
- The soft sail design comprises twin mainsails and a headsail (jib), resulting in a total sail area of approximately 230m².
- This configuration ensures maximum efficiency and performance.
Recumbent cyclors facing aft was the first thing that leapt out and it’s one of those moments in the America’s Cup where you have to see it to believe it and hope none of the cyclors suffer sea-sickness.
Interesting and will no doubt spark a thousand theories about increased wattage, sustained power and peak loadings.
On the foil design, American Magic have gone for very sculpted, almost harlequin-style foils blended into a sharp stubby bulb with an aggressive point.
The end-plates are a work of art, curving upwards and squared at the top whilst the aero package in the foil arms to meet minimum weight requirements are sculpted asymmetrically so clearly there’s further thought and evaluation that the team will need to complete before making any final decisions on race foil set-up.
On the foil arms themselves, up to the knuckle, can be seen three fences, two lower and one upper with very neatly integrated surface cameras.
The rudder, mounted right back, looks to be the legacy rudder that the old Patriot used in the 36th America’s Cup.
With technicians swarming the boat and sails loaded onto the chase boat, the dock-out was called at 1.30pm and the start of a whole new chapter in the American Magic history book was written.
A 7.5 nautical mile tow test was run at a variety of speeds and gave enough confidence to the team to call in the sails and complete the leg back to the base.
The team set the MN2-1 mainsail and initially opted for the J4 jib before deciding that in the conditions that would be too under-canvassed and the J3-1 was hoisted with the obligatory LiDar cameras capturing every small nuance and detail.
Patriot then sailed in displacement mode for just over 15 minutes, with crew inspecting main and jib systems. Tech crew jumped back on board for a quick check-over, before the team started their second sailing stint at 16:00.
The yacht was sailed upwind back to the port entrance, taking off at approximately 18kn boat speed. The team performed two tacks, one touch and go, the other just about fully foiling, as well as a bear away and round up.
Great first day for NYYC American Magic – the campaign with a real air of confidence and excellence around every facet. The coming weeks will be defining. (Magnus Wheatley)
