They had no plans to fly their new 60-footer the first day they went sailing, but then we heard the same story from the AC75 crews in New Zealand who likewise ‘couldn’t help themselves’. What was more significant about the first trials of Roberto Lacorte’s Flying Nikka was the success of combining the AC75 foil concept with a fixed keel to give the boat enough static stability and ensure it can meet relevant special regs for longer races… essential if bigger foilers are to have any short-term future beyond the America’s Cup
should be well entertained with all manner of close-up photos, as well as videos of each team training in their AC75 and AC40.
The AC40 The AC40 has two roles – as a test platform for foil, rig and sail designs, and as a one-design yacht for racing. Each competitor must buy one AC40, at a target price of $1.85million. For cost containment teams may only test a limited number of components on their AC40 yacht – four foil wings, four foil flaps, one rudder, eight mainsail skins and 10 jibs. These quantities do not include the original one-design AC40 components. A team must bring its AC40 back into compliance with the AC40
Class Rule for racing. The AC40s will be raced in the first two Preliminary Regattas and in the Youth America’s Cup and the Women’s America’s Cup. Once each competitor has their AC40 other buyers will be welcome. The Youth America’s Cup and Women’s America’s Cup regattas are not limited to AC37 teams. Before Covid put paid to the 2021 youth event there were reports of as many as 20 youth teams planning to compete in Auckland. The AC40 was conceived as a scaled-down AC75 Version 2. Four
sailors will be onboard, including dual helms but no grinders – all power comes from batteries. Team New Zealand expect the AC40 in 12kt true wind speed to go upwind at 31kt and downwind at 38kt. The AC40 will have an ultrasonic ride-height sensor feeding into
a programmable logic-controller flight control autopilot. The mast will be a D-spar with a twin-skin mainsail, as on the AC75. Its forestay attaches closer to the bow than the forestay on an AC75, which has its forestay over 3m aft of the stem. The AC40 is designed to ship on its side with its two-part mast in a 40ft open container or on a 40ft flat rack. The AC40s will begin racing in the first two Preliminary Regattas.
While we’re waiting to find out when and where those regattas will be held we’ll dig out some more details about these new little speedsters.
CupExperience.com
14 SEAHORSE
SOME RACING EVEN! – Terry Hutchinson The month has been filled with some great J/70 racing and exciting news for New York Yacht Club American Magic. NYYC American Magic. On 3 May American Magic announced
the addition of Tom Slingsby to the sailing team roster. Tom’s credentials speak for themselves: gold medal winner in 2012, America’s Cup win in 2013, SailGP Champion, Moth World Champion, 2021 World Sailor of the Year (obvious pick!). Tom will complement Paul Goodison, Riley Gibbs, Andrew
Campbell, Lucas Calabrese and our developing sailing team. It is exciting to consider our potential and yet we know the task is not small. A faster boat is required: the Defender, CoR, Alinghi and Luna Rossa are top-notch competitors and matching them will be tough enough. But great to be in the battle! AC37 is slowly shaping up. There is a mountain of work that
needs to be done when one considers that the venue was only recently announced. From bases in Barcelona to AC40s and every- thing in between, each team will face logistical challenges. For American Magic a lot of our challenges will continue to be moving around. The state of shipping worldwide is presently a nightmare. Given the move from New Zealand to Pensacola has been
extended by six weeks because of a Covid-delayed ship, you can only imagine what will happen when you start shipping AC40s from China to the United States. Best of luck! On to the racecourse. The last month has been filled with cross-
training in the J/70; Quantum Charleston Race Week and Annapolis Offshore One-design Regatta (NOOD) both delivered tough courses. Charleston is a hard spot to race consistently well. It rewards
time on the racecourse and a good understanding of the current. We lacked a bit of both yet gave it a good fight. USA-419’s team consisted of Quantum sail designer Mario Trindade on bow, tactician Lucas Calabrese and trimmer Patrick Wilson… three J/70 World Champions and, as you guessed, I was the weak link on the helm. We did a lot of things well, started well, fast enough – but, as we
FABIO TACCOLA
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