{"id":70064,"date":"2021-05-11T13:19:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T17:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=70064"},"modified":"2023-05-06T23:07:06","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T03:07:06","slug":"american-magics-brutal-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/american-magics-brutal-exit\/","title":{"rendered":"American Magic\u2019s Brutal Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Two <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n With only six races, the elimination of one challenger from the Prada Cup Series was bound to be swift. For the New York YC\u2019s American Magic challenge, the ending came too soon.<\/span>\n Sailing Energy\/American Magic<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

As American Magic towed its AC75 Patriot<\/i> to the racecourse on the afternoon of January 29, everyone with a hand and heart in the New York YC\u2019s 36th America\u2019s Cup campaign knew the situation was dire. They were already down two races to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the best-of-seven Prada Cup semifinal eliminations, their beloved Patriot<\/i> had been to hell and back, and the Italians were on a roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Cue the sporting cliches: chins high, game faces on, business as usual, one race at time. Win one and live to fight another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

But no amount of positive spin from within the organization could change the fact that the boat was not the finely tuned racing machine it was before it capsized and sank on January 17. Gremlins were lurking inside Patriot<\/i>\u2019s dark blue hull, and so it was no surprise when the boat started acting up during pre-race warmup laps for Race 3 of the series. The American Magic support RIB pulled alongside and sent technicians through a watertight hatch in the deck to troubleshoot the boat\u2019s foil-cant system. With the scheduled race start fast approaching, they emerged, sealed the hatch, and hoped for the best. Everyone on board knew the boat\u2019s mechatronics weren\u2019t right\u2014not as right as they needed to be when facing an aggressive and confident opponent. Indeed, before Patriot<\/i> even entered the starting box for Race 3 of the semis, fear of an FCS failure was very real. It would end the day, and the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all knew what the scorecard was,\u201d says American Magic CEO, skipper and tactician Terry Hutchinson, and from the recon they\u2019d done, they were confident Luna Rossa would be \u201cvery well-disciplined to their timings, and they were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"A <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n American Magic lost its first race to Ineos Team UK on the opening-day round robins and fell to Luna Rossa in a lottery-style race (said helmsman Dean Barker) the following afternoon before missing the time limit in its next race against Ineos. Patriot<\/i>\u2019s capsize in its fourth race halted the team\u2019s round-robin appearance. Luna Rossa would then deliver four straight losses in the two-day semifinals.<\/span>\n Luca Butto<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

The Italians, of course, were eager to put a swift end to the series and get on with the business of developing their boat for the Prada Cup finals against Ineos Team UK in mid-February, the last hurdle before the Cup Match. Race-management software hiccups that had been nagging Luna Rossa in earlier races were nonexistent. This time, they entered the starting box on port and on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a strong right-side call,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cPlan A was to start right. Plan B was to be as tight to leeward as we could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

With perfect timing and execution, however, the Italians denied Hutchinson Plan A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cStill, we got a good start to leeward, got to the boundary, tacked, and the breeze went 9 degrees to the right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"rescue <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The severity of American Magic\u2019s capsize on January 17 was clear once Patriot<\/i> righted and immediately sank. With prompt \u00adassistance from other teams and local authorities, the boat was kept afloat until it could be towed\u2014backward\u2014to the team\u2019s base.<\/span>\n Carlo Borlenghi<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Luna Rossa starboard helmsman Jimmy Spithill stuck a perfect leebow tack, and within seconds of powering their sails, the Italians were higher and faster. The moment Luna Rossa\u2019s port helmsman Francesco Bruni looked over his shoulder to see Patriot<\/i> tacking away, he knew he had control of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

And that was the end of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Both entered the next start, Race 4, on time, but in the final windup, American Magic turned back too early, and the Italians sailed over the top of them, blitzing the port end of the starting line. The Americans tacked across the line and set up an early split, but with stronger winds now on the left side of the course, the Italians streaked away to an early lead once again. Luna Rossa commanded the first cross, but the Americans were quick, eating into their lead and pushing them hard, fueled by a heart-racing cocktail of hope and dogged determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way the beat was setting up, we were going to go around the correct gate at the top and bear away into a strong spot,\u201d Hutchinson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"A <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team towed past American Magic\u2019s sailors after eliminating them from the Prada Cup.<\/span>\n Stefano Gattini<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

But then, it happened. Nearing the top of the course, less than 10 seconds from tacking on the port layline, helmsman Dean Barker counted down: \u201cTwo, one, board down\u2026board\u2019s not going here\u2026board won\u2019t go down\u2026ah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It did eventually go down after a few more frantic button pushes, but after threading their way back through the weather gate and forcing the foil down again in order to jibe, Hutchinson noted aloud over his headset: \u201cThe lights are flickering kinda funny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did have a backup system installed, and it was working properly because we had battery shutdowns earlier in the day,\u201d Hutchinson says. But this one final foil-\u00adcontrol-system misfire wasn\u2019t a battery issue, it was a command issue. \u201cIf you hit the button and it doesn\u2019t take the command, then there\u2019s a gremlin in the system. The gremlin gets sorted out only by having a technician hop on board to look at the data and solve the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"A <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n A gaping hole with collateral core damage in the portside bow area required a large hull panel to be cut away and rebuilt. The challenge of repairing the structure paled in comparison to replacing the boat\u2019s mechatronic systems, a job that would normally take more than a month.<\/span>\n Sailing Energy\/American Magic <\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

They completed the race in the distant shadow of Luna Rossa, which made for an agonizing end to a brutally short campaign. The sudden ending to an effort with so much potential\u2014a campaign cut short by one shocking and destructive sinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Hutchinson says it would be a gross simplification to point to the one final foil-control-system failure as the reason for the team\u2019s early exit from the Prada Cup. It\u2019s impossible, he says, not to connect it back to the capsize, and the obvious effects of putting the boat underwater for three hours. The brevity of the Prada Cup format is perhaps equally harsh. Three and a half years in the making, over and done in 10 races\u2014without a single point in the win column. The word most often heard in post-race interviews was \u201cpotential.\u201d American Magic, the top-ranked challenger going into the series, had plenty of it, and they were confident that they had a fast boat. But they never gave themselves the opportunity to prove it. They left more than just points on the racecourse\u2014they left a multimillion-dollar campaign unfulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Once Patriot <\/i>2.0 was relaunched following the capsize and rebuild two days before the semifinals, they only had roughly six hours of sea trials, squashing gremlins the entire time. \u201cWe weren\u2019t in the spot we wanted to be\u2014and not through lack of effort,\u201d Hutchinson says. For Race 1 of the semifinals, they had to shake off the capsize and get back into their race-day routine. They pulled off the dock on time, and it was blowing 24 to 28 knots when they got to the racecourse. \u201cWe sat there for an hour waiting to hoist because it was too windy. We couldn\u2019t risk any further damage to the boat because of a battery shut-off or any one of the other issues we were facing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

They\u2019d mapped out their race strategy in the simulator that morning and felt confident going into the day\u2019s first race. But that plan quickly unraveled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe entered in a 25-knot puff,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to turn the boat downwind when you\u2019re going 51 knots. There was a lot going on, and we quickly got out of position. Luna Rossa is too good to put ourselves in a bad spot and not have them take advantage of it. And that\u2019s what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

In the following start, Race 2 of the series, he says, Patriot<\/i> was in a good position in the first 20 seconds or so. \u201cWe came up behind them and went to tack to windward, but when we trimmed up, we couldn\u2019t get the windward board out of the water\u2026and that had an impact on the timing of the turn. When each position is mapped out almost to the second in the prestart, if there\u2019s something that doesn\u2019t go perfectly right, you end up late. We spotted them some distance, and they sailed away from us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Two <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n While American Magic repaired its boat, the Italians of Luna Rossa continued to develop their AC75 and their crew work.<\/span>\n Sailing Energy\/American Magic<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

They also had a case of the slows. In that evening\u2019s debrief, Hutchinson says, they identified that they were sailing the boat at only 85 percent of what they normally would. \u201cWe should have been able to get the boat going properly, but the releases were going off on the hydraulics on the mainsheet and the cunningham. Everything is tuned to a certain pressure, and when you exceed that pressure, it releases so you don\u2019t break anything. We kept running into releases on the mainsheet and certain things. We\u2019ve sailed enough to know that when the boat is locked in, nothing is overloaded. And here it was overloading. [The boat] was cranky, and it was hard to sail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Patriot<\/i> never behaved in this way before the capsize, an incident that has since been thoroughly dissected by the team and armchair experts around the world. American Magic mainsail trimmer Paul Goodison acknowledges that he would\u2019ve preferred a different maneuver at the time but told reporter Ed Gorman that there\u2019s no reason to second-guess what happens in the heat of the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess I felt that we had a big enough lead just to make things easy and get around the course. Dean obviously thought it was the right thing to do (tack\/bear away) to keep racing and keep pushing and go the other way. If we had pulled off that maneuver, nothing would have ever been said about this. It\u2019s just one of those things. Whether the campaign changed or moved because of those actions\u2026\u201d\u2014Goodison pauses\u2014\u201dIt is what it is, and that\u2019s the past. There was no apportioning blame at one individual or a group of individuals, and what impressed me about all the sailing team is that nobody really mentioned it again. We had the debrief, we aired our thoughts, and then we just focused on getting back into racing and how we would get the boat around the course [in the semifinal].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the day of the capsize, Hutchinson says, everyone inside the team was feeling the disappointment of being 0-3, but they were excited to race against Luna Rossa in a real breeze. \u201cWe did exactly what we thought we would do,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cWe sailed away from them\u2014because Patriot<\/i> is a great boat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

When American Magic rounded the \u00adleeward mark to start the final upwind leg of the race that fateful day, there was only 9 knots of wind blowing across the racecourse. A \u00adthunderstorm over the city was touching the bottom of the course, Hutchinson says, creating a big hole of no wind. \u201c[Because of previous races,] we were pretty nervous about sailing into no wind and the associated risk of being in light air while the other guy is sailing at 18 knots. By the time we got about halfway up, it was up to 13 knots, and at about 20 seconds out from the mark, the breeze spiked to 18 and went really hard left. Ripping into the top mark at 45 knots\u2026there\u2019s a reasonable amount of hair on fire in those types of situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Even after rewatching video of the maneuver ad nauseam, Hutchinson remains firm that the right maneuver was the same one they\u2019d done on the previous leg: a tack and bear away. That one went smoothly in 16 knots of wind\u2014just like they\u2019d practiced\u2014but as they turned past the mark and toward the finish, the wind spiked from 18 to 24 knots, and over she went after soaring through the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did a good job turning down, \u00adgetting the board out of the water to create maximum stability, and committing to the turn\u2014and that\u2019s what you have to do,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cThe one thing we didn\u2019t expect was for the breeze to go to 24 knots in a three-second window.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The team\u2019s coach, James Lyne, watched the capsize from a chase boat. \u201cThe big thing with these boats is heel angle,\u201d Lyne says. \u201cYou get to a certain heel angle, and you\u2019re pretty much toast. If you come out of a maneuver relatively slow, the heel comes on, and it\u2019s hard to control because the heel reduces your effective cant, and your righting moment goes away. When the rudder starts to ventilate, you get into a bow-up attitude, and the angle of the main foil wants to launch the boat straight out of the water. It\u2019s never a pretty moment when you get to a sort of heel criticality coming out of any maneuver. These boats have quite a bit of inertia when they\u2019re accelerating. There\u2019s a point when there\u2019s brace-brace-brace rather than trying to save it. There is a point where you\u2019re along for the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Hutchinson says they\u2019d sailed their first AC75, Defiant<\/i>, in 29 knots of wind, in conditions well above the racing wind range, so this was not new territory. \u201cWe needed to do that to give ourselves confidence we could do it when we needed to in a race,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen we do a maneuver like we did, we\u2019re not doing it without confidence. The timing of the breeze going from 18 to 24 knots through the maneuver\u2014that\u2019s a reasonably big deal, but we were racing and reacting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t necessarily the capsize itself that drove a stake through the heart of the boat. The AC75 is designed to survive a tip\u2011over and to be expeditiously righted. What they are not engineered for is the explosive and destructive forces of a crash landing the likes that Patriot<\/i> experienced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWas the capsize the ending?\u201d Hutchinson asks. \u201cNope. I would say it wasn\u2019t the fact that we capsized. It was that we blew a hole in the boat. The knock-on effect was of massive consequence. But the line of accountability comes back to those of us racing the boat, and in these situations, we have to keep pressing the boat hard and keep racing. People who criticize and think they are experts need to understand there are only 72 sailors on the planet who have an understanding of what an AC75 can and cannot do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Francesco <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Luna Rossa co-skipper Francesco Bruni stated they were 10 percent faster in their semifinal races than they were in the round robins.<\/span>\n Stefano Gattini<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

And only those who witnessed the miracles that occurred inside the American Magic compound in Auckland after the sinking can truly appreciate the Herculean task that followed. \u201cFrom the moment we capsized and incurred the damage that we did, there was a switch in the program,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cWhat became apparent to the outside world was the strength of American Magic. What they\u2014the shore team, design team and production team\u2014achieved over that eight-day window to get us out on the water was nothing short of miraculous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Everything had to be stripped from inside the boat, Lyne says. \u201cThese things take 12 months to build and so many man-hours, and we replaced a sizable percentage of the hull shell\u2014all the internal structure forward of the mast, and then the system guys rewired and replumbed the entire boat. What might take six weeks they did in 10 days in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Given the extent of Patriot<\/i>\u2019s rebuild, it\u2019s another miracle the boat actually weighed and measured for its semifinal races, further testament to the effort that went on 24\/7 inside the American Magic boat shed. To be able to sail again was truly remarkable, and that, Hutchinson says, is what still stings the most. He can\u2019t shake the remorse he feels for letting down his builders and technicians with a winless scorecard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

While the whole of the American Magic team fought to \u201crestart the heart\u201d of Patriot<\/i>, the Italians focused intensely on developing themselves and their boat into a faster and more cohesive sailing unit, to which the Americans would have no answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe key component we gave to our \u00adcompetition at the most critical moment was time on the water,\u201d Hutchinson says. \u201cIt could not have happened at a worse time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest thing in this game is how quickly development happens,\u201d Lyne says. \u201cEven though you think you\u2019re going forward, other teams might be moving forward at a faster rate. You don\u2019t know when the leapfrogs will happen because yours might be coming in the next iteration in systems, how you sail the boat, or a physical piece of gear. There is no doubt we were moving forward. In the race against Luna Rossa with the capsize, the boat was pretty slippery in uprange conditions. We had a speed \u00adadvantage upwind and downwind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Although Hutchinson refuses to do so, he could take solace in the old saying that you\u2019re only as good as your last race. In those seconds before the capsize, Patriot<\/i> was the quickest AC75 of the fleet, and there was supposed to be much more racing and development to come. So much potential. Eliminated so soon. So brutally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am sure we will be unfairly scored in the score book in terms of our race wins,\u201d Lyne says. \u201cBut in terms of what we did that day and in the days that followed, and what the other teams did through the rescue and rebuild, is one of the biggest things for the sport. Probably, in some ways, it could be transformational for the yacht club. That\u2019s American Magic\u2019s biggest story\u2014not giving in, and showing resilience. The legacy we have after this Cup is quite a big one versus the scoreboard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Hutchinson, of course, would love to have another crack at the Cup, and so too would enough brass at the New York YC to make it a possibility. \u201cWhen it comes to a screeching halt in the manner it did for us…\u201d Hutchinson says before pausing to compose himself. \u201cWe were prepared for a lot of things, but we were never prepared for the manner in which it ended.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s brutal, he says again. But no one ever said the America\u2019s Cup was anything else.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York YC\u2019s American Magic Challenge was eliminated swiftly from the regatta with a heap of potential left on the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20210511","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"159","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"A story about the American Magic team's early elimination from America's Cup competition in 2021.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"QBI64VH6XFBMHLDVZEQNMVF6WA","arc_website_url":"story\/racing\/american-magics-brutal-exit-prada-cup\/","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":0,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[170,1447,177],"class_list":["post-70064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-americas-cup","tag-prada-cup","tag-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}