NYYC American Magic AC40-5 Day 5 Summary

Cautious of thunderstorms brewing out to the west of Pensacola Bay, the NYYC American Magic team held ashore on Thursday in the AC40 waiting for a curious weather pattern to yield some breeze to get sailing. Eventually the call was made just after lunch to tow out onto billiard-table flat waters whilst the Chase Boats blasted offshore to assess the weather situation where an improving pattern was emerging. This was always going to be a long afternoon… One interesting technique that we’ve seen American Magic do in the AC75 was again apparent in the very early part of sailing today with the team surfing waves in displacement to promote flight. Michael Menninger, the very affable 2017 World Etchells Champion, offered a brilliant and insightful interview after sailing today and talking about the surf-to-fly technique when he said: “When you get any wave angle that's a little bit different than the true wind angle or true wind direction it's possible (to surf) so on port tack today at 90 true or 100 true we were able to do a bit of surfing and take-off. Unfortunately, starboard is the flipside of that, and the waves are a bit more bow-on, so I think it's going to be a feature of just figuring out what the wave angle is relative to the wind direction and then trying to use the waves to your advantage.” 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