NYYC American Magic AC40-5 Day 9 Summary

The speed at which New York Yacht Club American Magic went from one-design to LEQ12 mode on their AC40 perhaps gives a clue to just how advanced the American programme is after a brilliant winter of testing in Pensacola Bay. Today called for a mid-morning dock-out to catch a decent early morning breeze that was always set to die off into the afternoon, but these are the days that count. Grabbing even a few hours on a shifty, fading northerly breeze is of the utmost value with the design office keen to validate their thinking and calibrate what they see on the computer with what happens on the water in real-time. It’s an intense period for the Americans who continue to take big steps forward after de-commissioning Patriot, the team’s AC75 from AC36 where systems were honed at full-scale before the foil design race started in earnest with the AC40 at the weekend. Today, the team were in full test mode, keen to examine take-offs, cant sweeps, pitch and speed through a whole host of manoeuvres and straight-lines. The new starboard foil was very much the focus and the recon unit recorded that at times: “America seemed to struggle to self-foil on port tack in particular.” Michael Menninger, always brilliant in interview and one of the first names on the crew-list for the team as Flight Controller, summed up the noted issue saying: “Honestly, I don't think it’s a foil thing at all. I think it was just the way the breeze was, it was really up and down, and we had a J3 on for a lot of the morning and for the dying breeze, so it was just hard to get up.” 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