The America’s Cup starts on the 12 October 2024, with 1 year to go, what do we know about the teams and what did we learn from the Preliminary Regatta? There is now just 1 year to go until the America\u2019s Cup proper kicks off in Barcelona, where Emirates Team New Zealand will take on the winner of the challengers selection series to fight for the ultimate prize in sailing, the America\u2019s Cup. It has been a long time since we last saw cup teams racing, but the Preliminary Regatta last month has served as something of a line in the sand for fans, who can now start to get excited about the build up to the competition.
\nWith this in mind, the sight of America\u2019s Cup sailors out of their aerodynamically sleek cockpits hanging off shrouds and standing on the bow of their AC40s trying to get boats moving in displacement mode was probably not the image that the organisers had hoped for after racing in the first America\u2019s Cup Preliminary Regatta came to a close over the weekend of 14-16th September. But it is the image many viewers will remember as the racing was marred by poor conditions.
\nAlthough racing was cancelled on day one due to no wind, was adversely affected on day two for the same reason and was forced to finish early on day three, there was still some thrilling action on the race course for those patient enough to keep watching through the lulls (both figuratively and literally).<\/p>\n
What did we learn from the America\u2019s Cup Preliminary Regatta?
\nThe simplest answer to this question is \u2018not very much at all\u2019. How teams perform in their one-design AC40 foilers bears very little resemblance to how they might perform at the America\u2019s Cup proper in late 2024, when they will be racing their AC75 America\u2019s Cup yachts which have a much more open class rule and which teams are developing behind the scenes right now.
\nBut there is a little more nuance than that. American Magic, with two of the best foiling sailors in Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison won the event.
\nThey have spent plenty of time sailing their AC40 \u2013 of which they now have two. Even if the team felt they came into the race a bit \u201cunderprepared\u201d as Goodison put it as the sailors had been focussed on sailing against, not with, each other.
\nIt may be a small surprise that Emirates Team New Zealand with the three generational talents of Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge and Blair Tuke onboard did not win the regatta. They have also been sailing plenty in their two AC40s, but at least the Preliminary Regatta showed the all-powerful Kiwi team can be beaten.<\/p>\n
A much bigger surprise, however, was the performance of the French Orient Express Racing Team who picked up third place having only launched their single AC40 in August this year, weeks before the event began.
\nHowever, it is interesting to note that with no other test platform on the water and no AC75 either, this team spent a significant amount of time working on an AC40 simulator, so they are not quite as unfamiliar with the platform as their launch date might suggest.
\nThis move to simulator time is a theme we have seen in recent America\u2019s Cup as teams develop computer platforms to help with the design process, but we\u2019ve not often seen them used for upskilling in pure sailing skills terms.
\nElsewhere, the two teams that have focussed on technical development of their own test platforms (called LEQ12s) in Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia were fourth and sixth respectively.
\nFor their part INEOS stated their disappointment with the team\u2019s Giles Scott admitting they should have done better despite their limited time sailing an AC40.
\nSandwiched between these two were Alinghi Red Bull Racing, who have put a great deal of time and effort into updating and sailing the AC75 they purchased from Emirates Team New Zealand to better understand the platform while they design another boat for the 2024 America\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s Cup weather worries?
\nOne thing that can be learned from the first America\u2019s Cup Preliminary Regatta are the conditions likely to be experienced at the start of the next America\u2019s Cup \u2013 or at least the challenger series, which will take place at a similar time 50 miles up the coast in Barcelona.
\nThe timing of this event firmly puts it just ahead of the windiest winter season, with the lightest wind month being August and the windiest month typically around January. As such the spectacle of foiling boats struggling to make it round a race course might well be something we see some of in the early parts of the challenger series \u2013 and the Youth and Women\u2019s AC both set to use AC40s and both scheduled ahead of the AC itself.
\nWith the America\u2019s Cup itself taking place in October, winds should in theory be a little stronger. It is worth noting that as Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand will not need to compete in any of the racing ahead of the Cup itself, and so could well see a significant advantage from not needing to focus so hard on very-light wind performance.
\nOf course, this is sailing and everyone is at the mercy of the elements to some extent.
\nAmerican Magic out two-boat testing. Photo: Paul Todd\/America\u2019s Cup
\nTest platforms and training
\nEvery team entered into the\u00a02024 America\u2019s Cup\u00a0needs to purchase a one-design\u00a0foiling\u00a0AC40 for racing in the Preliminary Regattas and to ensure they can enter teams into both the\u00a0Women\u2019s and Youth America\u2019s Cups\u00a0(both of which will use AC40s).
\nAll teams set to take part in the 37th America\u2019s Cup now have AC40s on the water, however, some have had them on the water longer than others, and some have two out on the water sailing.
\nAlthough the AC40 is a one-design class and must adhere to strict rules for the Preliminary Regattas and the Youth and Women\u2019s AC, outside of these events they are allowed to be modified in order to conduct testing ahead of the launch of team\u2019s single allowed AC75 America\u2019s Cup boat \u2013 though they must be able to be returned to their one-design configuration for racing.
\nPhoto: Martin Keruzore\/OERT
\nThe French Orient Express Racing Team were the last team to enter this America\u2019s Cup and were also the last to get an AC40 \u2013 only launching it in mid-August. And as such hold the difficult duel position as both last team to enter the Cup and the team with the least time on the water. But an impressive showing in the America\u2019s Cup Preliminary regatta at least shows they have the sailing chops to mix it with the rest of the field.
\nBy contrast, Defenders of the America\u2019s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand were the first to launch an AC40 back in 2022 and were the first to conduct two-boat testing once their second AC40 was launched. Neither of these outcomes are a surprise, with a single builder of AC40s, teams were allocated a build slot based on their order of entry to the 37th America\u2019s Cup.
\nIn terms of boat launches, teams have taken a number of different approaches. With a wait for AC40 delivery and time of the essence (as ever in the AC), some teams chose to build their own training boats.
\nBoat terminology has become a little confusing, but test platforms are generally referred to as LEQ12s (short for \u2018Less or Equal to 12m\u2019 the parameters for a test platform as defined by the America\u2019s Cup rules, to limit teams building platforms too similar in size to an\u00a0AC75).
\nLuna Rossa Prada Pirelli training in their LEQ12.
\nThe two teams which have chosen this route are Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. To add a little more confusion to the nomenclature, Luna Rossa refer to their boat as simply LEQ12 while the Brits have named their \u2018LEQ12\u2019 T6. Both of these were launched in late 2022.
\nFor both of these teams, their LEQ12 has been the primary test platform, with both also adding AC40s to their roster of boats following the launch of their LEQ12 test platforms.
\nTo further confuse the issue, if teams take an AC40 out of one-design configuration that too becomes (officially) an LEQ12. This is because there are limits on the number of parts any team can design and own. So an LEQ12 can have a certain number of test foil shapes (for example) and this same rule applies to foils on a non-one-design AC40.
\nINOES Britannia launched their LEQ12 bristling with sensors. You can make out one camera here, above and aft of the foil arm buried in the hull, surrounded by carbon there are hundreds more load, speed etc. sensors. Photo: C.GREGORY \/ INEOS BRITANNIA
\nIn addition to AC40s and LEQ12 test boats, teams are also able to sail their AC75s from the 36th America\u2019s Cup, though with limitations on when they can be sailed. These limitations vary somewhat with teams that took part in the last America\u2019s Cup, who already have AC75s, more restricted than new entries, who were able to purchase an AC75 and sail it earlier in the cycle.
\nAlinghi Red Bull Racing\u00a0are a new entrant in this Cup cycle and they purchased Emirates Team New Zealand\u2019s first AC75 from the 2021 Cup cycle and relaunched it in August 2022 immediately getting some time on the foiling monohull under their belts. They have since relaunched once again after adding some further developments.
\nThey have split their time between AC75 sailing and AC40 sailing, once their own one-design was delivered, and have recently been two-boat tuning with the delivery of their second AC40.
\nSailing \u2018legacy\u2019 AC75s will be a key part of the build up to the next America\u2019s Cup, with teams only allowed to build one new AC75 this time around (two were permitted for the 2021 Cup).
\nEmirates Team New Zealand training on an AC75 with cyclors now returned to Cup sailing . Photo: Job Vermeulen \/ America\u2019s Cup
\n\u201cThe rule that you can only build one AC75 this campaign is to save cost, but it\u2019s a big change from the America\u2019s Cup that I grew up with, in the old IACC class monohulls,\u201d explained Jeff Causey, INEOS Britannia\u2019s boat operations manager. \u201cBack then, it was all about two-boat testing. Every team that could afford to designed and built two boats, and then lined them up against each other for countless hours of side-by-side tuning out on the water. We don\u2019t have that available to us this time.\u201d
\nThe USA flagged team,\u00a0American Magic\u00a0has taken a similar approach to Alinghi Red Bull Racing, getting plenty of time out on the water onboard their AC75 from their base in Pensacola and sailing their first AC40 there too, before moving out to Barcelona earlier this year where they got their hands on their second AC40 allowing them to get some two boat testing and training under their belts.
\nIt should be noted that the AC75 rules have been slightly tweaked for this edition with \u2018cyclors\u2018 once again allowed and some changes to the foil arms and sail control systems \u2013 among other tweaks, such as reduced crew numbers. And we have seen teams making changes to their legacy AC75s to reflect this, with many teams opting for cyclors at this early stage.<\/p>\n
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The America’s Cup starts on the 12 October 2024, with 1 year to go, what do we know about the teams and what did we learn from the Preliminary Regatta? There is now just 1 year to go until the … <\/p>\n