American Magic launches The Patriot and reneges on boat 1 design

In the beginning was the “panty” under the boom. Noting the solution of a mainsail sealed to the deck, without a boom, developed by Luna Rossa, the men of American Magic tried to simulate the same effect on their Defiant, the New Yor Yacht Club’s Boat 1. This was the beginning of an inexorable process of design rethinking that we now see in all its clarity from the first released images of the “christening” of The Patriot, American Magic’s Boat 2.

This hull has little to do with the first star boat. As might be expected, the Americans have presented a boat 2 that is markedly different in shape and solutions than their first hull, and it will be with this one that Therry Hitchinson’s men will go for the America’s Cup starting with the America’s Cup World Series in December 2020.

THE DIFFERENCES.

The first striking element is the presence of the famous “keelboat,” already introduced by Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand in a more veiled manner, in the hull.

The U.S. design team then “takes back” the completely flat keel produced for boat 1, which proved to be inefficient during semi-following or slow speed phases in which the boat touched the water with a considerable wet surface.

The second striking feature is the bow volumes and sections. Abandoning the Formula 1 or airplane-style bow seen on Boat 1, American Magic reverts to a more classic V-shaped bow with volumes still powerful enough to counteract front gags on descents from foils. Interesting to note that the bow is very “lean” at the bottom, and powerful as you go up toward the deck. The reason we could explain it in simple terms like this: if the boat during takeoff or semifoiling touches the water at the bow only the thinnest part of the bow will be submerged, if, on the other hand, it will be a major entanglement it will be the upper volumes of the bow that will come into action making the boat “bounce” out of the water.

Patriot is the first AC 75 boat 2 to be shown. And if this is the beginning, let’s also expect a radical change from Ineos Team UK, which, like the Americans, had already begun to rethink the design, off the road, back on Boat 1. Less striking, however, might be the differences between the first and second boats of Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand.

The curtain is about to open, the teams put their cards on the table. The America’s Cup is about to get into full swing.

Mauro Giuffrè

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