{"id":79627,"date":"2024-10-10T13:02:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T17:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=79627"},"modified":"2024-10-21T09:55:34","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T13:55:34","slug":"one-tough-race-at-a-time-for-puig-womens-americas-cup-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/one-tough-race-at-a-time-for-puig-womens-americas-cup-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"One Tough Race At a Time for Puig Women\u2019s America\u2019s Cup Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
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\n American Magic’s Louisa Nordstrom, starboard trimmer for the Puig Women’s America’s Cup team during the Group A qualifying races in Barcelona.<\/span>\n Ian Roman\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

With the AC75s of Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia tucked in their sheds getting final nips and tucks ahead of this weekend\u2019s start to the Louis Vuitton 37th America\u2019s Cup <\/a>all was quiet along the waterfront. And it would have been easy to miss the simmering excitement at Barcelona\u2019s Port Olimpic if were not for the boisterous arrivals of the chase boats of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic, packed full of team members to spur the women of the Puig Women\u2019s America\u2019s Cup as they wait to dock out for one final day of qualification races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berthed in order of the rankings, at one end of the quay are the sailors, friends and families of INEOS Britannia\u2019s Athena Pathway sailors in their pole-position parking spot. Next to them, the sailors of Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, then Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Emirates Team New Zealand and Orient Express Racing Team. At pit row\u2019s end is the AC40 of the New York YC\u2019s American Magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helena Scutt, a designer with New York YC challenge, darts past with a camera and a roll of tape, which she stows on the chase boat. She\u2019s an alternate, and today will be watching and analyzing as the American women sail four races to dig themselves out of the basement and into the top three of the Group A fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group A are teams associated with the Cup teams and Group B are the \u201cinvited\u201d teams. They\u2019ve already completed their qualifying races for the Semi Final, with Swedish Challenge Women\u2019s Team Powered by Artemis, Jajo Team Dutchsail, and the locals of SailTeam BCN making the cut after a few spectacularly breezy races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scutt\u2019s adivce for the team today is simple: \u201cDon\u2019t worry too much about the points, if we sail the boat well it will show,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about mastering our own boat before worrying about what other people are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Success will come, she assures me. It will be a matter of \u201cheads out of the boat,\u201d she says. \u201cKeeping it simple and looking for pressure. You can\u2019t worry about the shifts. It\u2019s just about staying in the breeze and on the foils.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
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\n American Magic slingshots off the staring line in Race 5 of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup Group A qualifiers.<\/span>\n Ian Roman\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

While the team could have warmed up with a few laps on the simulator, today, Scutt says, starboard helmswoman Erika Reineke eschewed the additional screen time. \u201cErika didn\u2019t want to sim this morning because she wanted to be head-out-of-the-boat,\u201d Scutt says, \u201cshe just wanted to not get too locked in on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to AC40 racing, there\u2019s plenty the simulator can\u2019t do and that includes acclimating one\u2019s cranial settings to recent updates to the AC40\u2019s autopilot software. Emirates Team New Zealand writes all the autopilot software, Scutt says, while the helms are adjusting the boat\u2019s trim, its pitch, the depth of the foils and their cant angle. \u201cEssentially, you input what you want and the autopilot achieves that,\u201d Scutt says. The autopilot update came about a month ago, toward the end of their training period, so all the teams are still adapting to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn order to keep the rudder immersed a certain amount to prevent losing it, if it detects that the rudder is\u2014it used to be less than 300mm of immersion\u2014it kicks the rudder and sinks the stern so you have more of a bow-up trim. If you have a combination of too much ride height and leeward heel it, the geometry changes and [the autopilot] kicks the rudder. They changed it to 500mm of immersion so the kicks are happening more often. Now you\u2019re bow-up and it forces a reset, so you have to ease sails and get settled again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Scutt explains the intricacies of the autopilot software, the chase boats arrive into the marina with a cacophony of horns and music, an impromptu postponement harbor parade of sorts. Onboard American Magic\u2019s chase, rap music is booming. The Italians follow, waving the red-white-and green, which stirs the Italian camp into a flag-waving volley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Magic sailors dash out to the bow of the AC40 to reciprocate the celebration. Port helmswoman Francesca Clapcich sprints out to the bow and dances on the foredeck to Shania Twain\u2019s \u201cMan! I Feel Like a Woman!\u201d ba-bop-ba-da-bop\u2026let\u2019s go girls\u2026\u201d <\/em>and then to Lenny Kravitz\u2019s \u201cAmerican Woman,\u201d appropriate tunes, not just for the Magic sailors, but for the two dozen females whose skills, determination and patience have earned them a spotlight on sailing\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this gathering feels more like a side-stage gig to the Cup itself, the excitement is as palpable as it should be. This is historic stuff in a sport that\u2019s long been skewed male, and as they peel off the dock and turn to the racecourse one at a time, each and everyone one of them knows it. Smiles and hand hearts say it all.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Anja Von Allmen, Alinghi Red Bull Racing Womens Team at dock out ahead of racing in the PUIG Womens Americas Cup.<\/span>\n Samo Vidic \/ Alinghi Red Bull Racing<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

 \u201cIt\u2019s really cool, and hopefully they [America\u2019s Cup organizers] keep it rolling next time,\u201d says American Magic coach Charlie Ogletree. \u201cI can\u2019t see them going backward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re interrupted by the arrival of legendary hardware maven and sailing Hall of Famer Peter Harken who\u2019s out wandering the scene. He agrees it\u2019s very cool and he\u2019s been enjoying watching it from the Barcelona beachside condo where he\u2019s been posted up for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty minutes or so later, these six Group A teams are on the America\u2019s Cup racecourse, foiling into lumpy swells in winds just barely strong enough to get and keep the AC40s on their skinny foils. These boats are difficult enough to handle in marginal winds, but the big swells make every hard turn of the steering wheels a 50-50 proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women of American Magic are quick to follow the day\u2019s plan: have a good start, get the first shift and go from there. It\u2019s basic stuff, but to get out of the basement and make the Semi Final cut, requires at least one race win and a couple of top finishes. Beyond that, all they can do is let the fleet sort itself out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
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\n American Magic whips around the weather mark to stage its downwind comeback.<\/span>\n Ian Roman\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

With a well-timed approach, Reineke, the starboard helmswoman and Fort Lauderdale\u2019s ILCA 6 Olympian, is cracking the line, on time and with plenty of pace. It’s a great start in the middle of the line. The women of Emirates Team New Zealand are a touch late to the line, but have a better speed build and are immediately advanced on the Americans, positioned to leeward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approaching the left boundary, Reineke and her starboard trimmer, Olympic Mixed 470 sailor Louisa Nordstrom, drop the foil and turn the steering wheel, and then pass the responsibility to the port-side pair of Clapcich and Sara Stone. With their foiling tack complete, all looks perfect as they accelerate out of the tack and straight into the waves on port, flying up the course and momentarily into second place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur priority was the start,\u201d Clapcich says when we meet outside the Media Mixed Zone after racing, \u201cbecause we\u2019ve been missing quite a lot, and I definitely can take that on me as I\u2019m on port and responsible for getting all the pre-starts set up for the last tack. So, I didn\u2019t deliver the first day of racing, and that was really high in my priority, to get back into our good pattern, getting out of the line fast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New Zealanders, however, have a jump on the fleet, as do the Brits. The Kiwis are first through the windward gate and streak down the run with what could be\u2014and should be\u2014a runaway win.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Emirates Team New Zealand had the lead of Race 5 in hand, but one touchdown did them in.<\/span>\n Ricardo Pinto\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

But a failed layline jibe at the bottom corner of the course has the Kiwis bobbing. The race is wide open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INEOS\u2019s Athena Pathway says, thank you very much<\/em> as they temporarily snatch on final approach to the leeward gate. But in a blink the Brits are off the foils too and doing the displacement foredeck dance. Now streaking down the middle of the course with a straight shot and through the gate first is Alinghi Red Bull Racing\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a few teams at the back of the fleet, including American Magic, are linking jibes and steaming down the racecourse too. American Magic sails past the Kiwis to round third through the gate, a position they will hold to the finish of a race that is eventually shortened to three legs. With a third, American Magic finally pockets valuable points, but they remain at the bottom of the Group A standings. Alinghi Red Bull Racing\u2019s win makes it mathematically more difficult for the Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe never gave up,\u201d Clapchic says. \u201cEven before the start, we were really focused on it being us and the boat. We knew that it was a really open race and anybody could win so we stayed really focused on our own boat and tried to make smart decisions on maneuvers. It\u2019s a bummer for us that Alinghi won, but we cannot control what other boats do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
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\n Alinghi Red Bull Racing won Race 5 of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup to collect critical points on a shortened day.<\/span>\n Ricardo Pinto\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

With this fifth qualifying race in the books, there\u2019s a pause for the next but what wind there is fading fast. And then comes the wait. And more waiting until the race committee calls it quits for the day. The Swiss are content with a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday was one of the best days of my life,\u201d Alinghi Red Bull Racing\u2019s port helmswoman Alexandra Stalder says after racing. \u201cWinning a race in the Cup is something special, so I’m super happy. But we\u2019re not yet confirmed for the next round, so we have to fight for these last points. Tonight is an important night\u2014we have to sleep well and be ready for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are only three remaining races to determine the final pecking order, and tomorrow morning at Port Olimpic will, no doubt, have a familiar feel to it. With a good night\u2019s sleep and another raucous repeat send off from Port Olimpic the fleet will be straight into a race-packed day on Friday October 11 with races for both A and B groups. Should the wind cooperate, of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second day of racing for the Puig America’s Cup Group A teams was a battle of a different sort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":79628,"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":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"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":true,"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":"","ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[2871,170,2857,171,2958,177,178],"class_list":["post-79627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-ac40","tag-americas-cup","tag-americas-cup-37","tag-american-magic","tag-puig-womens-americas-cup","tag-racing","tag-sailboat-racing"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79627","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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}