Louis Vuitton Cup Day 4: American Magic Pushes New Zealand in Nail-Biting Race
by New York Yacht Club American Magic 1 Sep 11:34 PDT
September 1, 2024
New York Yacht Club American Magic on Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin 1 Day 4 © NYYC American Magic Team / Amalia
NYYC American Magic's opponent on the fourth day of racing at the Louis Vuitton Cup - the challenger elimination series for the 37th America's Cup - was the current holder of the America's Cup, Team New Zealand. This matchup marked the final race in the four-match schedule.
Racing in around 10 knots of northeasterly wind with an offset easterly running sea state, which complicated conditions for the AC75 crews, the two teams made fast entries into the start box. The American boat "Patriot" hurtled in at the port end at just over 40 knots while the Kiwis approached from the right at around 38 knots.
Having set up to lead their rivals back to the start line, the Americans had their work cut out for them, fending off the New Zealand crew, who were right on their stern, trying to pressure them into an early start. In the final second, New Zealand gave up the fight and tacked away to start on port, leaving NYYC American Magic to execute a fast start at the pin end.
When the boats converged in the middle of the course, having tacked at opposite boundaries, the Kiwis, on starboard, were ahead by no more than 80 meters and executed a covering tack in front of Patriot, forcing the Americans away to the left.
On the second convergence, the Americans gained on the left. When Team New Zealand attempted another covering tack slightly to leeward, the US crew was able to hold their lane and then roll over the top of the Kiwi boat to take the lead.
At the windward gate, NYYC American Magic rounded the left-hand marker 10 seconds ahead of the chasing New Zealanders. The US crew maintained their lead on the first downwind leg with smooth sailing and minimal maneuvers, rounding the left-hand leeward gate mark nine seconds ahead. The Patriot crew kept a close watch on their ever-threatening rivals while focusing on picking the shifts. Nevertheless, the margin at the second windward gate was down to five seconds after Patriot completed a narrow cross on port at the lay line to the right mark.
At the bottom of the second downwind leg, the US crew on port had to take the stern of the New Zealand boat on starboard, and at the final leeward gate, the Kiwis rounded first with an eight-second lead. The final upwind leg saw the American crew working hard to get out of phase with their opponent as they tried to close them down. They kept it close, but at the final windward gate, they had a wide rounding of the right mark after appearing to lose the rudder - a mistake that cost them several hundred meters and ended their hopes of a final downwind attack. At the finish, Team New Zealand won by a margin of 29 seconds.
With the first round-robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup now completed, NYYC American Magic sits third in the Challenger-only rankings. Racing in the second round-robin stage is scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 3, when the Americans will face the British Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia.
After the race, Terry Hutchinson highlighted, "If there's a time to be inconsistent, it's now because we have to keep looking forward, push forward, and ask ourselves hard questions. And we can't sweep anything under the rug. So all we're seeing right now are just areas that we can improve upon. And it's hard because we all want to win, yet we're seeing many good things from our team. So we must continue to be patient with that, knowing we have some great opportunities coming later this week in the second round-robin, to continue to measure ourselves against the other challengers and see where we're at."
Tom Slingsby, starboard helm on NYYC American Magic, said: "We had a really good first lap; we were behind on the first cross and then got back and got them at the top mark. We had a nice run and led them around the bottom mark, which was nice, and then, during the second beat, it felt like they were potentially maneuvering a bit better than us. We tried matching them a couple of times, and then they seemed to be closing in on us, and my hands are up; I decided to say: 'look, we're bleeding here; let's let them go and just concentrate on ourselves and try to pick the shifts' and I chose the wrong time to do that."