American Magic leads the way with the launch of a racing boat

America’s Cup: American Magic leads the way with the launch of a racing boat

by Will Ricketson / American Magic 16 Oct 02:43 UTC
October 16, 2020

The New York Yacht Club American Magic, the US Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, launched the AC75 Patriot into Auckland’s Waitemata Harbor during a ceremony Friday morning. Patriot is the first of the second generation AC75 racing yachts to be launched by a team competing to win the 36th America’s Cup.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring Patriot to the water after all the hard work it has gone into designing, building, transporting and outfitting it to sail,” said Terry Hutchinson, skipper and CEO of American Magic. “When you think about the entire course of the program and what the team has accomplished with the Mule, Defiant, and now Patriot, it’s quite remarkable. I think what Patriot represents is an incredible display of teamwork, design, production and all. our team represents. It is a moment of great pride for us. ”

“I think this is an amazing day for the team,” said American Magic helmsman Dean Barker. “We have done a great job at Defiant [our first AC75] and it has been a true journey through three different sailing locations. Launching Patriot now, here in Auckland, and knowing that we are in the final race until the start of the races is exciting. ”

“Without any regattas yet, we still don’t really know where we are sitting in the whole pecking order. We have to trust that we have followed our process to the end, and I think the final product that we are putting on the water today is very special.”

US Consul General Katelyn Choe christened the yacht and shared a few words with the team before smashing a bottle of champagne on the bow. “I am so grateful to each of you for bringing us the spirit of American magic, which feels even more moving during these uncertain times. We can’t control the wind, but we can steer the sails,” said Choe. “It is a true honor and privilege to be with you today to honor the name of the new ship and celebrate all the patriots in our lives.”

In terms of resuming sailing operations, the team is looking to push hard on the new ship after initial tests of the systems are completed. Barker said the schedule will be aggressive over the next several weeks before the first preliminary races during the America’s Cup World Series Auckland (December 17-20, 2020).

“We have to get started right away (at Patriot) because every day is valuable in terms of being ready for the races. Given the time frames of the necessary design work and everything else, it forces you to have a reasonable amount of time lag. [for the campaign], and we know we have a lot of work to do to get us ready. ”

In terms of how the new boat differs from the Defiant, Barker said that every new boat launch involves a familiarization process. “The most noticeable difference is the position of the rudder, so it will be quite a different perspective [for the helmsman] and it’s much more advanced on the ship compared to Defiant. We are going to adapt quickly and we are very aware of the changes we have to make. Each boat has its different tendencies and different traits and we hope that the most important trait of Patriot is that it will be much faster. ”

American Magic lead designer Marcelino Botin said he couldn’t help but reflect on the campaign as a whole as he watched the ship lowered into Waitemata harbor.

“This team did not exist three years ago, and now we have three boats built [including the AM38] and two AC75s dropped, “said Botín.” The first thing we need to focus on next is making sure the new ship sails the way we want it to be sailed. We have some predictions of how it should be [done] and we want to make sure we help the guys on the ship follow through on our plan. Obviously after that [initial phase] there are evolutions and changes, but the first thing is to do a performance analysis. We are all interested in how the boat performs compared to our predictions and to our previous boat. ”