NYYC American Magic AC40-5 Day 35 Summary

A late call to switch boats from the one-design AC40 ‘Magic’ to the developmental LEQ12 AC40 ‘America’ led to a near-three hour delay for NYYC American Magic on Wednesday and rather scuppered their day as squally conditions blew through and left a nasty sea-state and winds around the 5 knot mark. No ideal for flying, the LEQ12 struggled for lift-off on starboard into the swell and in a session that lasted just over two hours, only managed half an hour of flying time. Paul Goodison put a positive spin on the day and spoke about learning new things every day but summed up the day as: “I think a lot of it is just down to their waves and how your surging. Obviously as you’re dropping down some waves, even if you're not going so fast, half the boat releases just naturally depending on if you’re in the peak or the troughs so you’re able to take off quite early at some wind angles and wave angles whereas when the breeze shifts around a little bit, then all of a sudden it gets a bit harder to release the boat so you’ve got to get a lot more speed to be able to get the thing out of the water.” Paul also reviewed the last two weeks of sailing adding: “I think we've been pretty fortunate the last two weeks we've been here sailing we've had some fantastic conditions and done a lot of great sailing and today is a little bit of a dark reality that maybe this is what's in store for us - a little bit bigger waves a little lighter wind and some really tricky sailing conditions.” Section 41. Reconnaissance a) As a campaign cost reduction measure, COR/D has mutually agreed to cooperatively implement a centralised reconnaissance programme for all teams for the reconnaissance of all Competitors’ AC75 Yachts, AC40 Yachts and LEQ12 yachts including both on-land and on-water imagery (the “Joint Recon Programme”). b) Each team is assigned a two-person Recon Unit to follow their every on-water move, but it's not that simple. The cameras are supplied and identical for all Recon Units. Drones are not allowed, and they can't get that close, plus following a boat and keeping a camera steady at 45 knots isn't that easy to begin with. c) A three minute interview follows each on water day, and teams must answer the Recon Unit's questions while trying not to give too much away. It's a raw, unedited view of the never before seen behind-the-scenes development of a team and their boat to win the oldest trophy in international sports. #AC37Recon #AmericasCup #Barcelona2024