First Auckland sail for American Magic

Auckland, New Zealand (July 27, 2020) – New York Yacht Club American Magic, U.S. Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, completed a milestone five-hour sailing session on Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour today. The team’s AC75 racing yacht, DEFIANT, had been dormant since concluding its final training day at the team’s winter base in Pensacola, Florida in early March.

A combination of cancelled America’s Cup World Series events in Europe, the team’s COVID-19 safety precautions in Pensacola and a 9,000+ mile ocean journey to New Zealand kept the team on shore for nearly five months. While logistics, design work, the production of American Magic’s second AC75 and other projects kept the 145+ person Challenger busy, a return to sailing was welcome.

“It’s just nice to be back to doing what we’re meant to be doing,” said Terry Hutchinson, Skipper and Executive Director of American Magic. “[Today we had] perfect conditions to be out in the harbor, and out in the Hauraki Gulf. It wasn’t too windy, perfectly flat water. Reminds you a lot of Pensacola.”

In terms of the team’s overall plan, Hutchinson said that despite all of the unexpected challenges brought on by COVID-19, the campaign for the America’s Cup was on track. “When we started our planning prior to COVID-19, it always had us sailing in early August here in New Zealand,” said Hutchinson after a valuable day of testing equipment and systems.

“Reliability and performance and racing are all completely linked together. And with the boat [today], it was great to see everything working reasonably well. To bring it together as a team is a great effort by everybody involved. There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle.”

A theme throughout the world of high performance sailing, from junior events, to the Olympic Games and to the America’s Cup, is that time spent at the racing venue correlates to racing success. Even when competing on a boat as advanced as an AC75, knowledge of the venue remains a key part of any Cup-winning equation.

“There is a high priority of sailing at the venue, of getting our team settled at the venue, and of learning,” said Hutchinson. “A lot of us have raced on what is probably the main [race] course, and we’re going to use that. But some of us haven’t sailed on the other courses. I’m a big believer in being settled as a team and having us focus day in and day out on the sailing. Moving to Auckland at this stage has allowed us to do that.”

Source: Will Ricketson, Communications Director, American Magic

Details: www.americascup.com

36th America’s Cup
In addition to Challenges from Italy, USA, and Great Britain that were accepted during the initial entry period (January 1 to June 30, 2018), eight additional Notices of Challenge were received by the late entry deadline on November 30, 2018. Of those eight submittals, entries from Malta, USA, and the Netherlands were also accepted. Here’s the list:

Defender:
• Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)

Challengers:
• Luna Rossa (ITA) – Challenger of Record
• American Magic (USA)
• INEOS Team UK (GBR)
• Malta Altus Challenge (MLT) – WITHDRAW
• Stars + Stripes Team USA (USA)
• DutchSail (NED) – WITHDRAW

Of the three late entries, only Stars+Stripes USA remains committed, however, it is unclear what entry payments have been made, nor is there knowledge of a boat being actively built or sailing team assembled.

Key America’s Cup dates:
✔ September 28, 2017: 36th America’s Cup Protocol released
✔ November 30, 2017: AC75 Class concepts released to key stakeholders
✔ January 1, 2018: Entries for Challengers open
✔ March 31, 2018: AC75 Class Rule published
✔ June 30, 2018: Entries for Challengers close
✔ August 31, 2018: Location of the America’s Cup Match and The PRADA Cup confirmed
✔ August 31, 2018: Specific race course area confirmed
✔ November 30, 2018: Late entries deadline
✔ March 31, 2019: Boat 1 can be launched (DELAYED)
✔ 2nd half of 2019: 2 x America’s Cup World Series events (CANCELLED)
✔ October 1, 2019: US$1million late entry fee deadline (NOT KNOWN)
✔ February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched (DELAYED)
✔ April 23-26, 2020: First (1/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari, Sardinia (CANCELLED)
✔ June 4-7, 2020: Second (2/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Portsmouth, England (CANCELLED)
• December 17-20, 2020: Third (3/3) America’s Cup World Series event in Auckland, New Zealand
• January 15-February 22, 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
• March 6-15, 2021: The America’s Cup Match

Youth America’s Cup Competition
• February 18-23, 2021
• March 1-5, 2021
• March 8-12, 2021

AC75 launch dates:
September 6 – Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Boat 1
September 10 – American Magic (USA), Boat 1; actual launch date earlier but not released
October 2 – Luna Rossa (ITA), Boat 1
October 4 – INEOS Team UK (GBR), Boat 1

Details: www.americascup.com