New York must replace moans with magic in Prada minefield
The favourites are 0-3 and not helping themselves as the challenger series takes on more twists.
You could almost see the steam coming out of the gentlemen in blazers from the New York Yacht Club yesterday as the Prada Cup got the wobbles in light winds.
They are the men who want to return the America’s Cup to large displacement yachts.
We got a taste of that in Auckland for long periods as the winds dropped and so did the boats, falling off their foils and languishing in the water, desperately looking for puffs to get them going again.
American Magic were victims on the minefield course that turned their races against Luna Rossa and Ineos Team UK into games of snakes-and-ladders, where gains could turn into losses with one cruel roll of the dice.
This was often a case of the wind finding the boats, rather than the boats finding the wind.
In the immediate aftermath to the loss to Luna Rossa,
American Magic helmsman
Dean Barker lamented ‘‘you question why you want to do that as part of the event?’’, referring to racing in those ‘‘lottery’’ conditions.
But he answered his own question, saying: ‘‘It is what it is’’.
And that’s the point. The rules are made and teams need to find a way to deal with what they’ve been served up. Some are doing it better than others.
The Americans found that in their second race against Ineos Team UK as well, as they got stalled on the start line against the British with Sir Ben Ainslie sailing away to a commanding win, though he was racing the 45-minute time limit more than American Magic most of the way.
Suddenly the unfancied Brits are 3-0 and the highly regarded Americans are 0-3.
As tough as it was to watch at times – imagine enduring it on board an AC75 – there was also a strange fascination in seeing who could make the best of a bad situation.
On the back of similar struggles in the warm-up regatta, American Magic skipper
Terry Hutchinson made a plea for the lowest wind limit of 6.5 knots to be raised to around 8 knots to guarantee conditions that would be suitable for foiling.
There is zero chance of that happening now, with teams so far into their development.
Challenger of record Luna Rossa won’t want it because they rate themselves in light winds, and they showed that yesterday with a composed performance.
Defenders Team New Zealand won’t budge either. Right now they are working on ways to dominate in these light conditions during a testing period that takes them up to the America’s Cup match that starts on March 6.
For the New York Yacht Club to get their wish about dumping the foiling, they have to win the America’s Cup and earn the chance to change the rules.
And to win the Auld Mug, they have to first win the Prada Cup challenger series. Right now, that’s a dream rather than anything close to a reality for an American Magic outfit who certainly haven’t backed up their pre-regatta favouritism over the first couple of days.
They made a perplexing sail choice yesterday, failing to go for a bigger jib that would have helped their cause against Luna Rossa.
Have the Americans misread the Auckland scenario entirely?
They look to have geared up for the higher wind range for the summer conditions on the Waitemata¯ Harbour and
Hauraki Gulf while Luna Rossa’s research has pointed them into preparing their AC75 for moderate-to-light conditions.
That’s perplexing because American Magic don’t lack for local knowledge in Auckland.
Barker earned his stripes as a cup sailor in these very waters.
Hutchinson himself is no stranger after being part of Team New Zealand’s revival in their 2007 campaign when he was their tactician alongside Barker, who was on the wheel.
Hutchinson is a cool customer and you don’t sense panic, rather frustration, two days into a regatta that is now a genuine three-boat competition with Ainslie’s momentum building.
Somehow they need to find some magic, just as the British have managed.