Update
Crossing from side to side in the cockpit of Defiant looks marginally easier than on Team New Zealand’s Te Aihe – but that is largely irrelevant since crew weight is trivial in terms of righting moment compared with the power of the T-foils. It did not go unnoticed in rival camps that American Magic’s early call to go with a half-scale mule had given them the experience to fly Defiant from day one
SWITCHING FOCUS – Terry Hutchinson For the past 10 days Hap Fauth’s Bella Mente has competed in the Mini Maxi class at the 30th anniversary event at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo. Champagne conditions greeted the fleet. Aboard Bella Mente success meant improving upon our weak- nesses at Copa del Rey: more consistent starting, improved moding to hold our lane and consistent boathandling. All mandatory as the four other teams –Cannonball, Vesper (the former Momo purchased by Jim Schwartz), Jethou and Sorcha – are high-level programmes. Sitting here I can look easily at where the regatta was won and
lost. Onboard the Bellawe achieved our areas of improvement from Copa del Rey and yet we relearned too that winning takes time. The one big area we have lacked this year is race training. Copa
del Rey was good for our racing time but we experienced a variety of conditions in Porto Cervo, big waves and chop for a coastal day, top end 22-28kt for an inshore day, each highlighting a new experience for our still new Marcelo Botín design. Yet no excuses either. The eventual winner, Cannonball, sailed
a great series. Their preparation started 12 months ago and it showed. As we had seen earlier in the year, they showed no real weaknesses in Palma and, under the supervision of Federico Michetti, Ed Baird and Michele Ivaldi in Porto Cervo, they did not put a foot wrong. When they got a bad start at Bella Mente’s hand things just went their way and, well, sometimes that is just what happens. Without question Cannonball was the deserved winner. Interesting fact as well with the development of this generation
of Maxi72s: Bella Mente 2015/2016 world champion, Momo 2017/2018 world champion, Cannonball 2019 world champion. Each boat reached its potential in its third and fourth season. With age comes a certain amount of maturity in the development of the boat, along with each team following a change in direction both underneath the water with appendages and in aero world with evolv- ing sail programmes and new rigs. The development may be coin- cidental and yet, at the level these boats are raced and pushed, you can see the performance gain through work in all three areas. For Bella Mente 2020 will take on new challenges with lessons
learnt from 2019. We will continue to focus on race training with an eye towards peaking at the next Maxi Worlds in Porto Cervo. The
14 SEAHORSE
lack of reliability that we showed this year is a great reminder that to win we need consistency in all areas and occasionally a couple of good things to go our way. Congratulations to Dario Ferrari and the Cannonball team for their successful 2019 season. We look forward to crossing tacks in 2020... America’s Cup. As I write Emirates TNZ have just christened
boat 1. From an outsider’s perspective, with perhaps a little knowl- edge, what you can see is an already highly refined piece of equip- ment. The team are once again well down the development process before their first boat goes afloat, which shows their confidence in simulation and design tools honed on their way to winning AC35 in Bermuda. ETNZ won the last Match for a reason and again it is on display. A well thought-out cockpit layout, clean line runs for windage and a classic Verdier hull which is both aggressive in con- cept for foiling and exceptionally low windage. What the world saw on 6 September is a defender who is already well prepared. As a challenger I can only say our radar is up! For American Magic’s part, my Mom christened our boat Defiant
on my parents’ 58th wedding anniversary on 14 September. As you can imagine it was a very special moment. What is never widely realised is the amount of effort that goes
into an AC operation. Nowhere is that more visible than when you see so many families walking around the base. At a team level the focus it takes to execute is monumental yet there has to be a singular focus by each team member. And this commitment covers the entire team, which includes our families and spouses – and yet there is never enough acknowledgement and thanks. From here we will be back at the sailing and developing. Exciting
times ahead as we learn the idiosyncrasies of Defiant. Standing by, Pope Street, Newport, RI!
BOXING AND THE VENDEE GLOBE – Giancarlo Pedote On the other end of the phone line the Tuscan accent of Giancarlo Pedote (he was born in Florence in 1975) is mixed with the screech of the seagulls of Lorient, where the Italian sailor has lived with his family for the past eight years. His CV is already impressive: in 2015, on the Multi 50 FenetreA-Prysmian racing with Erwan Le Roux, he won the Transat Jacques Vabre and all the other races
AMORY ROSS
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