American Magic’s Defiant Unveiled

by Dave Reed, Sailing World
American Magic’s 75-footer sits high in its cradle, on public display for the first time at the team’s base in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, on a crisp and blustery mid-September morning. From certain angles, and especially without its mast stepped, this vessel looks nothing like a sailboat.

It’s more akin to a giant fuselage, a scow with a nosecone and an intricate blend of chines and hull rounds that curve around the foil-arm barrels before running straight for the wide, open transom.

As I step back and try to makes sense of its unique lines, I wonder about the deep technical debates that must have waged between the team’s primary designers, Marcelino Botin and Adolfo Carrau, and the Airbus wizards working alongside them. As a sailboat that’s essentially meant to fly, it stands to reason, it should look more like a plane than a yacht.

“It’s ugly when it’s out of the water,” one team member confides, “but it starts to look better once it’s in the water. When it’s sailing, it’s a thing of beauty.”

The parallels to flight are visible throughout the boat: from the complex contours of the foil arms themselves, to the razor-sharp trailing-edge flaps on the foils, and especially the rudder elevator, sculpted with amazing curved precision, into the shape of what looks like an albatross in flight.

It’s not a boat. It’s a three-dimensional work of modern art. – Full story

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, but they still must complete the entry fee payment process before they will be eligible to race. They have already paid their initial payment but as a late entry challenger under the Protocol they also have a liability to pay a US$1million late entry fee due in installments by October 1, 2019. This deadline coincides with the venue schedule which has the construction of their team base beginning in late 2019, which we assume was done in the event the team is unable to fulfill their payment deadline.

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
February 1, 2020: Boat 2 can be launched
April 23-26, 2020: First America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari, Sardinia.
During 2020: 3 x America’s Cup World Series events
December 10-20, 2020: America’s Cup Christmas Race
January and February 2021: The PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series
March 2021: The America’s Cup Match

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

Details: www.americascup.com