KING NEPTUNE CALLING
It was an offshore call today for New York Yacht Club American Magic that had Patriot sailing so far away from land that the joke on the chase-boat was that they’ll be crossing the equator soon and King Neptune will be paying a visit.
But the search for breeze and wave forms similar to Barcelona was real and with the new dual mainsheet traveller system installed, the team were keen to get flying and play with sail shapes. Lengthy, straight-line runs were at a premium for this near four hour afternoon session with the Magic crew preferring the data gathering option over throwing the boat around. Astonishing foiling runs were recorded by the recon unit of 32 minutes, 27 minutes and 16 minutes respectively, giving the trimmers plenty of time to get used to the new set-up with the mainsail, thoroughly testing out the twist and flattening options that the new system affords.
Speaking afterwards, Sean Clarkson one of the key sail coaches on the team, played down the new system and simply offered that: “It’s a continual evolution of systems and we have to try to develop what we have on the new race boat, looking at different ideas and concepts and chipping away at how we can produce the best narrow shapes using the least energy and keep evolving.”
Certainly, from the footage and recon unit observations, the lower third of the mainsail is an area of huge activity with battens and control systems able to radically change the profile to either power or de-power as the boat is in flight. It was noticeable today in relatively light conditions that topped out at 12 knots that the new system appeared to mean less aggressive movements on the aft traveller and more refined tweaking being used on the forward traveller.
Overall, in conditions like today, the mainsail looked far more settled than we are used to seeing on this modified 2021 generation of AC75’s but we wait to see Patriot sailing in big breezes to really assess how the dual traveller arrangement will work. Mid-session, after a heavy splashdown, the chase boat was called in to remove the lower battens on both skins of the mainsail and Patriot sailed for the rest of the session without the lower battens. The team were naturally tight-lipped about the cause of the batten breakage and whether it was damage caused by the force of the splashdown or the increased loadings induced by the dual traveller arrangement. As the battens were extracted, no noticeable sign of breakage appeared evident so the assumption is some batten pocket damage or a control issue.
Paul Goodison and Riley Gibbs were on the helm today and for Gibbs, he is impressing all round. The Nacra 17 representative for the USA (alongside Anna Weis) at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, this former Formula Kite ace is considered to be a rapid helmsman in the foiling classes and has taken to sailing the AC75 with real professionalism and class.
As his time on the helm increases, Gibbs certainly looks more confident, and he provides a very good option alongside the established helms of Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison. With the team’s AC40 loaded onto a container ship and on its way (as confirmed by Sean Clarkson), Gibbs will be vital to the training programme going forward and is very much the coming star of American foiling.
Patriot completed an outrageous 71 nautical miles today over six windward / leeward blasts and recorded a total flight time of some 113 minutes, giving the data teams cause for continual celebration.
The Magic team are flying in more ways than one. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Patriot sailed offshore today, covered approximately 71 nm, comprised of 6 W/L legs. Five headsails were loaded into the support RIB, 3 of them were used. Sailing began at 11:21, completed 19 manoeuvres and ended sailing at 15:20. Patriot had a total flying time of 113 Minutes. Top speeds were approximately 32k upwind/ 38k downwind according to the RIB GPS. Today's sailing consisted mostly of long foiling runs with few manoeuvres. The sea state was 2-3m swell with varying duration, especially near the pass where the current made it closer and more steep. Patriot is not expected to roll out tomorrow Thursday 1/12.
Total Tacks: 11 – 5 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go, 3 touchdowns
Total Gybes: 8 – 7 foil-to-foil, 1 touch & go
Notes: Patriot was on foil a combined total of 113 minutes. Flight times ranged from 2 minutes to 32 minutes (2, 5, 2, 2, 4, 16, 32, 12, 3, 27, and 8 minutes respectively).
Take off speed: 16 knots at 90 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle)
Initial take off was tow, 9 self-take-offs / 2 additional tow ups.
Onboard Today:
Helms: Paul Goodison / Riley Gibbs
Trimmer: Dan Morris / Lucas Calabrese
Flight Control: Andrew Campbell / Michael Menninger
Power Group: Trevor Burd
Conditions: Sunny 58 (AM) – Cloudy 70 degrees (PM): 10:58 SW 7k/ 12:05 SW 6k/ 12:40 SW 10k/ 13:26 SW 12k/ 15:03 SW 6k. Wind speed measured 8ft above sea level using a handheld anemometer. Sea State: 2-3m swells
Sails Used:
M1 (AM-MN9): 4 hours 40 minutes
J1 (J1-5): 2 hours
J2 (J1-6): 18 minutes
J4 (J2-5): 1 hour 27 minutes
Dock-Out: 1030 Dock-In: 1615