American Magic

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
is back in the water! they are looking to sea trial it now.

dj
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Can’t say they had a great showing for their first two races back. Two poor starts, not great boat speed, and several points where they lost control and splashed down badly.

Forecast for racing today is lighter winds. Maybe that’ll help them with the control problems, but in earlier races their boat was even slower in the light stuff. Hope I’m wrong but it could be a quick exit from the semifinals.
 

RussC

.
Sep 11, 2015
1,578
Merit 22- Oregon lakes
I reluctantly have to say I'm very disappointed in the US team effort this year. I thought maybe the crash and consolidated effort to get her back on the water would get them more motivated but they just don't seem to have the necessary fight in them to sail against this level of competition. they haven't had a decent start yet this race, to the point of embarrassment in fact. :(
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
They weren’t bad in the December races. It definitely seems they didn’t advanced as much as the UK and Italy teams between then and the Round Robins.

Hard to say whether yesterday’s performance was continued lack of advancement (because they were too busy making fixes), something not completely fixed, or mental errors lingering from the crash. Maybe some combination of the three. There is also some precedent for Dean Barker’s team not recovering well from a nearly catastrophic boat handling error - see 2013.
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
I guess that’s all she wrote. Undone by a gear failure, but the end seemed inexorable anyway. If the commentators’ sources were right that Luna Rossa picked up about 10% boat speed since the Round Robins then it’s clear the Americans would have no way to compete, having spent all that time making repairs and not upgrades. It certainly looked like they just couldn’t consistently compare with boat speed.

It also looked to me like confidence in the boat was just not there. The start of race 3 looked evenly timed, but Hutchinson said afterward that they were forced into “plan b” - taking the left side of the line. If they wanted the right side why not challenge for it? It seemed they could’ve engaged Luna Rossa and made a go at it, but instead they were resigned to sailing their course without any kind of offensive maneuvers. I do wonder whether they would’ve been more aggressive if they weren’t worried about losing control again.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
The forth race was really sad with Patriot not being able to drop her board when she needed to with many out of bound penalties.
 
May 17, 2004
5,028
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
The forth race was really sad with Patriot not being able to drop her board when she needed to with many out of bound penalties.
I agree. Hard to watch. I wonder why they didn’t just keep both foils down at that point. I’m sure it would’ve been slower than optimum speed, but probably faster than overrunning every turn and getting the penalties. Keep just a little more pressure on Italy and be there in case they slip up.
 
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
It was disappointing and difficult to watch, that 4th race was very tough. There will be a lot of analysis coming for sure in the next few days. Expert and opinionated. Hopefully as one commentator said, NYYC sees this as a beginning and not an end. Multiple issues that need to be addressed.

My money now would be on Ineos UK but, what do I know? I wrote them off in the beginning.....