Magic of pre-race emotion not matched by performance on water
As American Magic prepared to set out for the first two races of the Prada Cup semifinals against Luna Rossa, the emotion of the situation was clear.
With international country and western superstar Caroline Jones belting out The Star Spangled Banner as their giant flag flew proudly in the wind above their base on the Wynyard Quarter, the team, its fans and locals around the Viaduct had a moment to reflect on American Magic’s triumphs over the past 10 days.
For while they were preparing to enter a now-or-never segment of their America’s Cup challenge, to be in the position to do so when their vessel was on the verge of sinking after a capsize two weeks ago was an achievement in itself.
“If that doesn’t move you, nothing will,” American Magic skipper Terry Hutchinson said of Jones’ rendition of the country’s national anthem.
“I’m not quite sure I have the right words to express to her just what she did for us and the motivation of all the families . . . we’re all proud to represent the United States, so having her do that and having those families there is awesome.”
But while American Magic started the day with the aura of triumph, that was soon overtaken by frustration on the water.
American Magic were dealt two sizeable losses in the first races of the best-of-seven series against Luna Rossa, being outsailed in both pre starts, before running into trouble at the end of the fifth leg in both races.
Although beaten out of the blocks, American Magic showed plenty of speed on the water and looked as though it would take just a small mistake from their opposition to open the door for them, as has happened a number of times during the America’s Cup World Series and Prada Cup so far.
However, in rounding the righthand marker of the fifth gate, American Magic came off their foils and, in doing so, lost too much ground to Luna Rossa.
In the second race, Dean Barker’s frustration was made clear by his oneword response to their splashdown which was picked up by the broadcast and quickly drew apologies to the viewers from the commentary team.
Speaking to the Weekend Herald after the day’s racing, Hutchinson said Barker’s words were familiar ones amongst the team.
“We all race to win,” Hutchinson said. “We all shared his frustrations without question.”
While the American outfit celebrated the achievements of their team on land to get Patriot back in working order during the week, frustration and hunger will now drive the sailing team.
“I hate losing. It’s no more complicated than that,” he said. “Nothing gets you going more than having your teeth kicked in.
“That’s me personally. The message to the team is we can’t change a thing. They’ve done a really good job to get us this far, and when I say not to change a thing, we’re going to go and debrief our racing with a critical eye and come out a better sailing team.”
After a day of high wind conditions saw both teams hit speeds above 49 knots (91km/h) — with American Magic racing at 53 knots (98km/h) at one point — today’s forecast predicts much lighter and variable winds conditions, which many expect to favour Luna Rossa.
“To race at a high level, you have to treat each day as the same,” Hutchinson said.
“You’d have to say we need to understand the mistakes we made and not make them twice.
“We know Luna Rossa’s boat is a good boat all the way through the range, and we think Patriot is a good boat all the way through the range.
“So we don’t have to deviate too much. If you go and try to change a lot of things, chances are that it’ll bite you.
“It’s not too steep of a mountain to climb,” he said. “I would use the example of the last 12 days, of what we’ve done as a team.
“I think the beauty of our team is that if you walk into the shed, whether it’s a race day or a training day, whether you’re sitting on match point or you’re down 0-2, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
For now, Hutchinson said the team has one focus.
“You could walk into our shed and what you see is a motivated group of people trying to make sure that we take one race at a time [today] and we get ourselves to Sunday,” he said. “Then we see where we sit.”