American Magic’s AC75 PATRIOT returning to dockside following its capsize during the PRADA Cup
Terry Hutchinson, New York Yacht Club American Magic Skipper and Executive Director attended a press conference after accident suffered by the U.S. Challenger.
American Magic capsized in a strong gust of wind while leading around the final mark of RR2 Race 3 against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. All team members onboard were quickly accounted for by the teams on-the-water safety personnel and declared safe. But the racing yacht PATRIOT was damaged during the incident forcing the team to stabilize the boat and keep it afloat before a long tow back to shore. The boat made it back to shore at 10:45 PM NZDT thanks to a joint effort between the team, event and local authorities, as well as the other three America’s Cup teams who rushed in to help.
“First and foremost we need to recognize the heroic effort everybody in the Auckland community who came to rescue Patriot from despair; in particular the local authorities, the police, the fire services, the Coast Guard, and finally the competitors Emirates Team New Zealand, INEOS TEAM UK and Luna Rossa who were spectacular, “said Terry Hutchinson, Executive Director and Skipper of American Magic.
“If you think about our family, our sailing community, it was awesome to see the show of support. We didn’t see this one and we will live to fight another day. So I think from here you have to acknowledge the really huge support of all the competitors and what they did for us, and that without them there, when it happened, I think we would be in a much different scenario today, I had the boat going to the bottom. ”
It was a long night for the sailing and the shore teams of American Magic; a night spent entirely on evaluating the full extent of the boat damage and on planning the rebuild program for the immediate future.
Hutchinson fronted the media almost 24 hours after the incident, displaying a serene attitude and positive words of reassurance. He confirmed that after a full examination of the hull and its internal systems, they are confident they will be back sailing soon. They can rely on all the necessary support to bring PATRIOT back up to speed.
Hutchinson confirmed American Magic will default this weekend’s Robin Robin racing to be ready for the PRADA Cup Semi-Finals on January 29, with the boat preferably on the water days before for testing.
“The beauty of our team is that there is a high level of resolve, and I think we’re going to see over the next eight to ten days the boat to be rebuilt, she may not come out of the shed that pretty, but she’s going to come out the shed to get back into racing. I would like to go back sailing before the semis, and not straight into it, but the team is committed to it and when you think about what all the teams have had to endure to get here, to deal with some of the things that we’ve had to deal with really over last three years, it would be a bit of a mistake not to give everything that we had to get the boat back out on the race course and in good working order. ”
The American Magic skipper said that while the hydraulics had only minor damages, major concerns lay with the electronics of the boat. Thankfully, the syndicate has brought all spare parts from the United States to Auckland. Now a two-week window of hard work begins for American Magic.
“We have a realistic timetable and great support from the Auckland maritime and boat building community to help us. We have a great support from all the teams, everybody has offered up their services to get Patriot back on the water, which again, as competitors here, I’m enjoying the time we argue with each other about things that are in a race and sailboats, and we argue about the things that needs to be done and we all try to get a point across. But at the end of day you can’t come across better sportsmanship and generosity than the teams that we have around us, and it’s the sincerity in the world, they’ve extended their facilities for us to rebuild Patriot and in that regard we are in a very strong situation. We are going to the plan to get the boat ready and I think the easiest part of it is probably rebuilding it; the hardest part is getting electronics on the inside of the art up to speed. It’s day 45 and Patriot’s been incredibly reliable but yeah , there’s a lot of work that goe s into that and if you have concerns or worries, it’s dealing with the gremlins inside the boat “.
Decision about the racing schedule for the final Round Robin is currently under discussion, future updates will be published when available.
Terry Hutchinson on the capsize:
“If you look at the boat it was accelerating, kind of threw the trajectory to turn, and we were going 47 knots or something. There’s transverse structure inside the boat and there’s a longitudinal structure.
When the boat slams down, it’s fine if it slams flat on its keel, but when you land on the side, on the flat panel, physically the structure inside the arch, a skeleton goes through the panel. We are fortunate that we got both batteries out of the boat, we’re fortunate that all the hydraulic fluid inside were kept at the yard. “
