With the AC75s of Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia tucked in their sheds getting final nips and tucks ahead of this weekend’s start to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup all was quiet along the waterfront. And it would have been easy to miss the simmering excitement at Barcelona’s Port Olimpic if were not for the boisterous arrivals of the chase boats of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic, packed full of team members to spur the women of the Puig Women’s America’s Cup as they wait to dock out for one final day of qualification races.

Berthed in order of the rankings, at one end of the quay are the sailors, friends and families of INEOS Britannia’s Athena Pathway sailors in their pole-position parking spot. Next to them, the sailors of Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, then Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, Emirates Team New Zealand and Orient Express Racing Team. At pit row’s end is the AC40 of the New York YC’s American Magic.

Helena Scutt, a designer with New York YC challenge, darts past with a camera and a roll of tape, which she stows on the chase boat. She’s an alternate, and today will be watching and analyzing as the American women sail four races to dig themselves out of the basement and into the top three of the Group A fleet.

Group A are teams associated with the Cup teams and Group B are the “invited” teams. They’ve already completed their qualifying races for the Semi Final, with Swedish Challenge Women’s Team Powered by Artemis, Jajo Team Dutchsail, and the locals of SailTeam BCN making the cut after a few spectacularly breezy races.

Scutt’s adivce for the team today is simple: “Don’t worry too much about the points, if we sail the boat well it will show,” she says. “It’s about mastering our own boat before worrying about what other people are doing.”

Success will come, she assures me. It will be a matter of “heads out of the boat,” she says. “Keeping it simple and looking for pressure. You can’t worry about the shifts. It’s just about staying in the breeze and on the foils.”

While the team could have warmed up with a few laps on the simulator, today, Scutt says, starboard helmswoman Erika Reineke eschewed the additional screen time. “Erika didn’t want to sim this morning because she wanted to be head-out-of-the-boat,” Scutt says, “she just wanted to not get too locked in on the screen.”

When it comes to AC40 racing, there’s plenty the simulator can’t do and that includes acclimating one’s cranial settings to recent updates to the AC40’s autopilot software. Emirates Team New Zealand writes all the autopilot software, Scutt says, while the helms are adjusting the boat’s trim, its pitch, the depth of the foils and their cant angle. “Essentially, you input what you want and the autopilot achieves that,” Scutt says. The autopilot update came about a month ago, toward the end of their training period, so all the teams are still adapting to it.

“In order to keep the rudder immersed a certain amount to prevent losing it, if it detects that the rudder is—it used to be less than 300mm of immersion—it kicks the rudder and sinks the stern so you have more of a bow-up trim. If you have a combination of too much ride height and leeward heel it, the geometry changes and [the autopilot] kicks the rudder. They changed it to 500mm of immersion so the kicks are happening more often. Now you’re bow-up and it forces a reset, so you have to ease sails and get settled again.”

As Scutt explains the intricacies of the autopilot software, the chase boats arrive into the marina with a cacophony of horns and music, an impromptu postponement harbor parade of sorts. Onboard American Magic’s chase, rap music is booming. The Italians follow, waving the red-white-and green, which stirs the Italian camp into a flag-waving volley.

The American Magic sailors dash out to the bow of the AC40 to reciprocate the celebration. Port helmswoman Francesca Clapcich sprints out to the bow and dances on the foredeck to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” ba-bop-ba-da-bop…let’s go girls…” and then to Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman,” appropriate tunes, not just for the Magic sailors, but for the two dozen females whose skills, determination and patience have earned them a spotlight on sailing’s biggest stage.

While this gathering feels more like a side-stage gig to the Cup itself, the excitement is as palpable as it should be. This is historic stuff in a sport that’s long been skewed male, and as they peel off the dock and turn to the racecourse one at a time, each and everyone one of them knows it. Smiles and hand hearts say it all.  

 “It’s really cool, and hopefully they [America’s Cup organizers] keep it rolling next time,” says American Magic coach Charlie Ogletree. “I can’t see them going backward.”

We’re interrupted by the arrival of legendary hardware maven and sailing Hall of Famer Peter Harken who’s out wandering the scene. He agrees it’s very cool and he’s been enjoying watching it from the Barcelona beachside condo where he’s been posted up for a while.

Forty minutes or so later, these six Group A teams are on the America’s Cup racecourse, foiling into lumpy swells in winds just barely strong enough to get and keep the AC40s on their skinny foils. These boats are difficult enough to handle in marginal winds, but the big swells make every hard turn of the steering wheels a 50-50 proposition.

The women of American Magic are quick to follow the day’s plan: have a good start, get the first shift and go from there. It’s basic stuff, but to get out of the basement and make the Semi Final cut, requires at least one race win and a couple of top finishes. Beyond that, all they can do is let the fleet sort itself out.

With a well-timed approach, Reineke, the starboard helmswoman and Fort Lauderdale’s ILCA 6 Olympian, is cracking the line, on time and with plenty of pace. It’s a great start in the middle of the line. The women of Emirates Team New Zealand are a touch late to the line, but have a better speed build and are immediately advanced on the Americans, positioned to leeward.

Approaching the left boundary, Reineke and her starboard trimmer, Olympic Mixed 470 sailor Louisa Nordstrom, drop the foil and turn the steering wheel, and then pass the responsibility to the port-side pair of Clapcich and Sara Stone. With their foiling tack complete, all looks perfect as they accelerate out of the tack and straight into the waves on port, flying up the course and momentarily into second place. 

“Our priority was the start,” Clapcich says when we meet outside the Media Mixed Zone after racing, “because we’ve been missing quite a lot, and I definitely can take that on me as I’m on port and responsible for getting all the pre-starts set up for the last tack. So, I didn’t deliver the first day of racing, and that was really high in my priority, to get back into our good pattern, getting out of the line fast.”

The New Zealanders, however, have a jump on the fleet, as do the Brits. The Kiwis are first through the windward gate and streak down the run with what could be—and should be—a runaway win. 

But a failed layline jibe at the bottom corner of the course has the Kiwis bobbing. The race is wide open.

INEOS’s Athena Pathway says, thank you very much as they temporarily snatch on final approach to the leeward gate. But in a blink the Brits are off the foils too and doing the displacement foredeck dance. Now streaking down the middle of the course with a straight shot and through the gate first is Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s squad.

Meanwhile, a few teams at the back of the fleet, including American Magic, are linking jibes and steaming down the racecourse too. American Magic sails past the Kiwis to round third through the gate, a position they will hold to the finish of a race that is eventually shortened to three legs. With a third, American Magic finally pockets valuable points, but they remain at the bottom of the Group A standings. Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s win makes it mathematically more difficult for the Americans.

“We never gave up,” Clapchic says. “Even before the start, we were really focused on it being us and the boat. We knew that it was a really open race and anybody could win so we stayed really focused on our own boat and tried to make smart decisions on maneuvers. It’s a bummer for us that Alinghi won, but we cannot control what other boats do.”

With this fifth qualifying race in the books, there’s a pause for the next but what wind there is fading fast. And then comes the wait. And more waiting until the race committee calls it quits for the day. The Swiss are content with a win.

“Today was one of the best days of my life,” Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s port helmswoman Alexandra Stalder says after racing. “Winning a race in the Cup is something special, so I’m super happy. But we’re not yet confirmed for the next round, so we have to fight for these last points. Tonight is an important night—we have to sleep well and be ready for tomorrow.”

There are only three remaining races to determine the final pecking order, and tomorrow morning at Port Olimpic will, no doubt, have a familiar feel to it. With a good night’s sleep and another raucous repeat send off from Port Olimpic the fleet will be straight into a race-packed day on Friday October 11 with races for both A and B groups. Should the wind cooperate, of course.

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The pre-event practice racing that has been held in Barcelona ahead of the first Preliminary Regatta in Vilanova i La Geltrú from the 14-17 September 2023, has given us an early look into the form and revealed much about the sailor’s approach to pure one-design AC40 fleet racing. The racing has been remarkably competitive with a huge premium on boat positioning with very few passing lanes. Downwind work has arguably seen the biggest gains amongst the front runners and the premium on constant flight is a given. The world’s best foiling sailors, the golden generation of foilers, are certainly not disappointing and we can expect fireworks when all six AC40s line up for eight fleet races that will decide the top two boats to proceed to the match-race final–winner-takes-all. The first Preliminary Regatta on the road to the 37th America’s Cup, begins in Vilanova i La Geltrú with practice racing on Thursday 14th September 2023 with the racing starting on Friday 15th and running through to the deciding match-race final on Sunday 17th September 2023. The America’s Cup media provide their insight into who is expected to do well in Vilanova i La Geltrú.

America’s Cup AC40 Lineup for Vilanova i la Geltrú

Emirates Team New Zealand The Kiwis have performed consistently in the Practice Racing in Barcelona with a tight-knit team that trust in their process. Seemingly preferring mid-line starts and then applying pressure on boats to windward with their high mode and low riding, Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge have proven to be excellent front-runners once ahead whilst being determined chasers when behind. As defenders of the America’s Cup and with a lot of time on the water, they are the team who always have a target on their back and there’s a sense that several teams are rapidly closing the gap. Will be interesting to see how they go in Vilanova.

INEOS Britannia Luke Parkinson told it straight when he said that the team hadn’t done enough racing and sailing in the AC40 and for the Challenger of Record it has been a tough few days of racing in the practice regattas. At times brilliant, Ben Ainslie’s starting has been world-class but poor execution of manuevers, particularly downwind, has cost them dearly. However, this is a team with superb coaches, who learn fast and there is no more dangerous a sight in world sailing than Ben Ainslie with his back to the wall. Giles Scott is a super-rapid sailor with a lot of experience at the top level of foiling whilst the team has plenty of experience to call up for Vilanova in terms of trimmers. Could be dark horses to show well.

NYYC American Magic The Americans chose to sit out the first few days of the recent practice regatta, preferring to complete their aero and foil testing schedule, but when they came to the racecourse, they were sensational. This is, no doubt, the team to beat with Tom Slingsby, Olympic Gold medalist and Paul Goodison, a three-time International Moth World Champion, looking for all the world like the best pairing in this America’s Cup cycle. Able to sail high upwind with a super low-ride, their brilliance is mirrored downwind with relentless pace and superb trim. American Magic very much look the real deal with so many hours of practice under their belt two-boat tuning in the AC40, and their technique in all conditions is impressive. Many people’s pick to win in Vilanova, the Americans are looking tasty.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are the one team that everyone is watching closely and carefully. Unafraid to ride very different modes to the others, the Italians have a playbook for every scenario and at times have shown unbelievable boatspeed. Their starting has been hit or miss and when they make a mistake, they are quick to bail and try another tactic. Francesco Bruni is a perfect foil for the mercurial genius and downright competitiveness of Jimmy Spithill whilst their Flight Control team of Vittorio Bissaro and Andrea Tesei are arguably the best in the business. If the Italians can string together some consistent results early on, they could easily make the match-race final.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing The bull is charging. Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin have formed a dynamic partnership, rooted in steady progression, and Alinghi Red Bull Racing have surprised to the upside in the practice regattas. The Swiss are getting more and more comfortable with front-running when ahead whilst their tenacity to fight back when behind is impressive. Boathandling is still a work in progress, but the team have made big gains downwind to compete with and beat the established teams. Starting has been generally on the money and they are a team that everyone is watching on the racecourse. Can the Swiss make it to the final? That’s the big question and early results in Vilanova will be crucial to their overall regatta chances.

Orient Express Racing Team Having taken delivery of their AC40 just last month, the French are methodically approaching the Preliminary Regatta with ‘humility’ according to their coach Thierry Douillard, but they have shown early signs of being more than capable of taking race wins and collecting scalps. The French are brilliant sailors, of which there is no doubt, and Quentin Delapierre and Kevin Pepponet are forming a formidable afterguard. Whether they can challenge for the title in Vilanova is a tall ask with so little time in the AC40 compared to the more established teams, but they will acquit themselves well and could easily score memorable and morale-boosting race wins. The team to watch and cheer on.

Coverage Specifics can be found here.

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The first AC40 off the production line was unloaded from its ship and transported into the Emirates Team New Zealand base last week. The boat represents a number of things for the Team and the Event. It will be center stage for the Women and Youth America’s Cups in 2024, but prior to that it will be the first boat that Emirates Team New Zealand has sailed since Race 9 of the 36th America’s Cup in March 2021. It also represents the beginning of the vitally important on-water testing and development program, the results of which will evolve into the team’s new AC75 that will be raced to defend the 37th America’s Cup in October 2024.

Standing by to receive the custom-built flat rack securing the AC40 from the ship at Northport in Whangarei was Operations and Reliability Manager Nick Burridge. “This is a massively exciting day for us, it’s been a huge effort by the team at Emirates Team New Zealand, but also the team at McConaghy Boats who have presented us an immaculate looking boat and now we’ve got a pretty compressed sort of 10 to 12 days of QA (Quality Assurance) checks we’re going to carry out on the boat,” he said.

Structural testing of a new boat is always tense for the engineers of the team as the platform is flipped upside down and rigged up to apply the predicted load cases the AC40 will experience while racing.

“We rigged up the boat with numerous sensors just to measure strains going through the hull for the tests,” explained Mechatronics Engineer Kelly Hartzell. “And then we’ve got a bunch of load cells that we hooked up and to start pulling on things, to make sure everything’s kind of behaving the way that we expect it to.”

But as loads were increasingly applied to the inverted AC40 it is as much a listening exercise as it is of data collection. “We all have to be really quiet, so we can listen for anything going on structurally—little tings or pings, but everyone’s put a lot of hard work in so we’re quietly confident but you have always got to be prepared for the unexpected and to be a bit nimble to what happens during the test.” explained Structural Engineer Chris Hickey.

“The purpose here is to make sure the boat is structurally sound from a design and build point of view so that when we go sailing on the first day we can have confidence that the boat is as strong as designed, everyone will be safe and it will perform as it should.”

Emirates Team New Zealand are not the only team that will get assurances from the AC40 structural test and commissioning process. The results will also go a long way to verify the overall design of the AC40 class fleet and their readiness to go sailing for all of the America’s Cup teams and ultimately the Women and Youth America’s Cup regattas explained Emirates Team New Zealand Principal Naval Architect Bobby Kleinschmit: “The AC40 is an important boat for us and for all the teams because it’s a boat that most of our development is going to happen on. It’s great to be able to take all the work that we’ve done, everything that we’ve learned in designing the AC75 and put that all together into a package. It’s not just for us, it’s for the other teams and the Women and Youth AC.”

With successful structural tests complete, the shore-based commissioning continues this week with a complete series of hydraulic, electronic and PLC tests of sailing systems and manuevers of over 100 tacks and jibes inside the base.

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