SANTA’S SLEIGH
They had their Santa hats on at the crew briefing this morning before the New York Yacht Club American Magic Team docked-out early and took to the water for a Saturday blast around a blustery Pensacola Bay. And it was one heck of a sail with the team covering some 54 nautical miles and throwing in a total of 65 manoeuvres. No Christmas break for the rotating cyclors today.
With the forecast showing the breeze gradually dropping off in the afternoon, the Americans made the best of the morning, and it was clear that this was a serious crew training session. Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison had company today in the helming team with Terry Hutchinson, President of Sailing Operations, onboard, even taking a turn on the wheels, and the team pushed the boat at what looked like race pace all morning. For the first hour, the small J4 was the call on the headsail with the wind gusting in at 15 knots but as it faded, the team changed up to the J2 and had the boat on rails and very much “in control” as the recon team reported afterwards.
It was an impressive performance on the manoeuvres with a notable 100% success rate on the 29 gybes the team completed whilst upwind, the team completed 36 tacks with 24 foil-to-foil – a 66% success rate. At one point in the session, the team stopped the boat dead in the water, raised a foil arm, and a crewmember could be seen climbing out to inspect the wing. After the low-speed, roll-over capsize earlier in the week when a plastic bag wrapped itself around the rudder elevator, the team are taking a more cautious and hyper-aware approach, so any feel of debris is immediately called, and the boat stopped.
Once up and flying again, the Americans completed some 20 windward / leeward legs and recorded a total flight time of some 113 minutes which is a considerable marker on their impressive journey to Barcelona 2024. The team that has everyone talking at the moment just keeps on banging in the miles and the time-on-the-water and simply look better and better with every session. The team looks galvanised and co-ordinated whilst genuinely enjoying the process and the camaraderie that is building up – body language doesn’t lie – and the shore team are operating at the very highest levels.
No Sunday session for the team tomorrow but American Magic are scheduled to be out on Monday and Tuesday next week, hopefully in Santa hats again, before their break for the holiday season. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Patriot sailed approximately 54nm, comprised of 20 W/L legs. Patriot began sailing at 10:05, completed 65 manoeuvres, and ended sailing at 12:42. Patriot self-foiled 12 times. The longest flying time was 29min. Total flight time was 113min. Top Boat speeds were approximately 33k upwind/ 42k downwind according to the onboard GPS. The wind in the early part of the day was gusting upwards of 15k, while there were lighter holes in several areas near the middle of the bay. The later part of the day the breeze was more consistent at 9k. Patriot looked to be in control most of the day especially in the last hour after switching to the J2. No sailing is expected for tomorrow.
Total Tacks: 36 – 24 foil-to-foil, 9 touch & go, 3 touchdowns
Total Gybes: 29 – 29 foil-to-foil
Notes: Patriot was on foil a combined total of 113 minutes. Flight times ranged from 5 minutes to 29 minutes (10, 20, 12, 4, 18, 6, 9, 29, 5 minutes respectively). Five headsails were loaded into the support rib today.
Take off speed: 17 knots at 80 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle)
Onboard Today:
Helms: Tom Slingsby / Paul Goodison / Terry Hutchinson
Trimmer: Dan Morris
Flight Control: Andrew Campbell
Power Group: John Croom / Ethan / Tim
Conditions: (AM) 8-15 knots (PM) 8 knots – Cloudy 53 degrees: Windspeed was measured using a handheld anemometer approximately 8 feet above sea level. 09:38 N 8-15k gusty/ 10:56 N 9-13k gusty/ 11:27 N 9k
Sails Used:
M1 (AM-MN8): 3 hours 20 minutes
J3 (J3-6): 1 hours 38 minutes
J4 (J2-4): 58 minutes
Dock-Out: 9.23am Dock-In: 13.06