American Magic’s campaign ended for America’s Cup

After an astonishing capsize and and even more astonishing intense repair, American Magic’s Patriot has been eliminated from the Prada Cup, so ending its campaign for the America’s Cup.

Over the weekend, Luna Rossa defeated American Magic 4-0 to earn a spot in the Prada Cup finals against Ineos Team UK.

The American Magic team had returned to the racecourse 11 days after sustaining severe damage and nearly sinking. The level of damage incurred by Patriot was substantial, and would normally take weeks or months to actualise. Nearly every system onboard, including the critical foil cant system and much of the electronics, had to be replaced. In addition, due to composite core damage, a section of the hull much larger than the hole itself had to be cut away, rebuilt, and plugged.

And although Patriot was back in the water after nine days, due to a loss of critical racing and training time while repairs were carried out, she was unable to match the performance development achieved by the Italian syndicate.

“The biggest issue you face is losing those days on the water, where ideally you would be continuing to develop,” says helmsman Dean Barker. “We probably underestimated what impact that may have had, when you see how much Luna Rossa has moved on.”

Luna Rossa turned in a nearly flawless performance over the best-of-seven series and decisively earned a berth in the Prada Cup Final.

As American Magic ponders its future, it will have to weigh up whether the considerable investment in this campaign can springboard into a long-term commitment. Budgets are rarely revealed in this game, but it has been estimated that translates to around $10m a race for the United States syndicate, according to Stuff.

“It was a great effort from American Magic to get back out on the course, but it wasn’t their weekend. They are great competitors, and we look forward seeing them come back stronger,” says Sir Ben Ainslie, skipper Ineos Team UK.

“Our focus is now on the Prada Cup Final in two weeks’ time.”

“It was a great day. We reached our first goal which was to go to the final of the Prada Cup,” says Max Sirena, skipper Luna Rossa. “The boys sailed the boat very well, just as we had planned in our pre-race tactics. In both starts they did a good job in controlling their opponent. Conditions were not easy, the wind was very gusty and it was difficult to keep control on the downwind. What makes us very happy is the performance of the boat and the on-board communication; both have been improving a lot. This is only the first step; from tomorrow we are back on focus towards the final and it will be tough. So heads down and concentration up.”

Main images courtesy of Studio Borlenghi.