Cup Spy Feb 3 : American Magic smashes 50kt mark
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-world.com/nz 5 Feb 02:26 NZDT
3 February 2023
American Magic - AC75 - February 3, 2023 - Pensacola © Paul Todd/America's Cup
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola - February 3, 2023 - Day 43
Arguably the fastest AC75 yet, American Magic's Patriot proved the point again today in Pensacola when she consistently broke the 50kt barrier sailing in winds of up to 25kts. The AC75 set the top speed mark during racing in the 2021 America's Cup, hitting 53.31kts moments before spinning out of control in Race 1 of the Semi-Finals for the Prada Cup.
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
Patriot sailed inshore today, covered approximately 57 nm, comprised of 14 up and downwind legs. Three headsails were loaded into the support RIB, 1 was used.
Sailing began at 12:11, completed 34 maneuvers and ended sailing at 14:40.
Patriot had a total flying time of 76 Minutes. Top speeds were approximately 42k upwind (measured by GPS aboard RIB) and 50k downwind (according to interview).
Patriot started the day by getting a tow to the south end of the bay to have an upwind start in top end wind conditions. The yacht looked stable for the majority of the day with only a couple of unplanned touch downs.
The bear aways and harden up's looked a bit nervous.
The day consisted mainly of short foiling runs with a fewer than average number of maneuvers, with five to fifteen minute breaks/meetings in between foiling sessions. Frequent adjustments were made inside the mainsail skins in the leech/foot area.
After the session, the AC37 Joint Recon team spoke with one of the cyclists on board, Colton Hall.
“It was definitely pretty chunky out there," he said, clearly still buzzing. "Definitely top end range for us as part of the power group, and we were fully torqued. It was it was definitely a good one out there. A good rip for the boys. A lot of fun. A lot to learn, too. Overall, just a good day on the water.”
Although they recorded less on the Recon boat, Hall said they were seeing 24kts of breeze on the AC75.
“It was the top end of the wind range, we're probably looking at around 24 knots."
“It's kind of funny. We kept looking down and seeing 50 knots [boatspeed] consistently. So it was It was wild to be on that. It was just so fast, we just had our heads down fully grinding."
And what's it like doing fifty knots?
“It doesn't really even feel like 50 knots when you're when you're on a bike pedalling as hard as you can - your head's not in the wind or anything. So just we’re looking at the little monitor and just keep hammering," Hall replied.
Like many in the power teams aboard the AC75's Hall doesn't have a lot of background in sailing?
"The only other boat I've sailed besides the AC 75 was my grandmother's Sunfish," he said
He explains how he came to be part of the American Magic team:
"I had joined a cycling club and one of the coaches reached out and said:, 'Hey, I think you should check out this opportunity with American Magic'. And I knew nothing about sailing. I said: 'Well, I don't know what bikes have to do with boating. But sounds kind of cool.' My parents are on Cape Cod. So combining sailing with biking was kind of a really cool combination of the two."
Of his role on the AC75, Hall says "I try to keep it keep up the pressure on the boat, make sure the guys that are in charge of all the functions have enough power to be able to move them accordingly and adjust them properly with the conditions out there."
While there is some substitution the three hour or more sessions on the water, take it out of the power team - much more than a 30 minute race.
"When the guys are definitely a little bit weaker, we turn on the batteries just to give us a little bit more of a rest," Hall explains.
Hall recently broke an two power cycling record - something he says he was unaware of at the time, but he says the American Magic Power Team will give it a serious crack one day.
It is not clear if Patriot will roll out tomorrow, Saturday February 4.
Session Statistics - Pensacola - February 3, 2023 - American Magic - AC75 V1.5 - Day 42
- Weather: Sunny 55°F
- Wind Strength 14-25kts(PM)
- Wind Direction: N (PM)
- Sea State: 1-3ft chop (PM)
- Roll out: 1000hrs Dock Out: 1130hrs
- Dock In: 1501hrs Crane out: 1530hrs
- Total Tacks: 27 - Fully foiling: 25; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 7 - Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Riley Gibbs, Lucas Calabrese, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell, John Croom/ Madison Molitar/ Colten Hall/ Trevor Burd/ James Wright/ Cooper Dressler