Louis Vuitton Cup Day 2: NYYC American Magic Claims Victory in Light Air Battle
by New York Yacht Club American Magic 30 Aug 12:26 PDT
August 30, 2024
New York Yacht Club American Magic on Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin 1 Day 2 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
NYYC American Magic's second match in the Louis Vuitton Cup saw the US team face the Swiss squad, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, in the first match of the second day of the first round-robin stage of the challenger selection series.
With a forecast of easterly winds in the 6-8 knot range, the American crew—helmsmen Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison, along with trimmers Andrew Campbell and Michael Menninger—prepared themselves for a challenging race, where staying on the foils would likely be a knife-edge affair.
The race committee pushed the start back three times due to the wind being below the 6.5-knot lower limit, but the start sequence finally began at 14:23 CET. Despite the light breeze peaking at no more than seven knots, the American crew executed a fast and on-time entry to the start box from the port end, crossing comfortably ahead of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who entered from the right.
The Swiss team gybed to follow American Magic towards the right-hand side of the box but fell off the foils due to the disturbed air swirling off the trailing edge of the towering US sail plan. This left American Magic unchallenged as they made a clean start at the gun.
Although Alinghi Red Bull Racing managed to get back on their foils shortly before Patriot rounded the windward gate, the light and patchy wind conditions across the course meant the American sailors couldn't take anything for granted. They needed to remain fully focused to coax Patriot around the course without splashing down.
While the Swiss dropped off their foils at the first windward gate, the Americans, through intense concentration and instinctive boat handling, stayed in the air for three full legs. On the second downwind leg, which turned out to be the final leg after the race committee shortened the course to two laps, Patriot dropped into displacement mode twice but quickly recovered each time.
There was a third splashdown on the final approach to the finish line, but despite the Swiss finally getting back on their foils and closing the distance quickly, the American crew remained calm. They guided Patriot across the line in displacement mode, securing NYYC American Magic's first point in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Reflecting on the victory over Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Tom Slingsby, helm for American Magic, commented: "It wasn't pretty at all, but it's just tough conditions. You get a nice gust of eight and a half knots, and then it comes down to five and a half, and it's a real battle to stay on the foils. So look, we got the win, but there's plenty we can do to improve too."
Analyzing the day's racing, Paul Goodison said, "It's great to get the first win on the board for American Magic here in the Louis Vuitton series. It's quite a stressful day, to be honest, with very marginal sailing on the wind limits; we'd execute a great start and position ourselves well. We made it tough for Alinghi to drop off the foils in the pre-start, and then we were able to sail away. What should have been a reasonably stress free day ended up being a pretty stressful day, sailing with a breeze, dropping at times below five knots. The team did a fantastic job of keeping the boat in the air. The cyclors did some incredible amounts of power at times. Hats off to those guys for keeping us in the air at moments. Then, it was tricky to decide whether you wanted to foil or displacement towards the finish. So it was never easy, but it was a great relief when we crossed the line and finally took the first win."