New York Yacht Club American Magic became the fifth America’s Cup team to reveal – or at least partially reveal – their AC75 when their new ‘B3’ briefly appeared out of the team shed in Barcelona today.

The team kept observers guessing, with no full boat images released in the press release, although the America’s Cup ‘recon’ programme – created to remove the ‘spying’ element which has traditionally been a big factor in Cup preparations – showed the boat more fully and there are whole boat images on the America’s Cup social pages.

First whole boat view of the new American Magic AC75. Photo: Job Vermeulen/ America’s Cup

I spoke to Paul Goodison, who’ll be co-helming the new American Magic AC75 with Tom Slingsby, earlier today, and he hinted that their team had taken a different design approach to the second iteration of the America’s Cup rule. 

“When you look at [the other teams’ boats] and it’s really interesting. The ones we’ve seen so far are very, very similar in concept. 

“I’m not sure how much I can say – but our boat is slightly different and I think it’s going to be really interesting when the world gets sight of it to see what they think. 

“I’m very excited about what the guys in the design office have come up with and what we’ve thought of, and it’s going to be really interesting when we first get to line up with the other guys.”

American Magic AC75

First impressions of the new American Magic AC75 are certainly that it is different to what we’ve seen from the previously launched designs (Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia). The hull lines are notably smoother and more organic – some observers noted that it bears more than a passing resemblance to the shape of a whale.

Although it’s hard to judge without being able to view the deck, the freeboard appears lower – and it’s not immediately obvious where the cyclors’ pods are sited. Whereas some teams have shrouded their foils or launched their new AC75 with legacy foils, American Magic was first shown with truncated foil arms and no end sections fitted at all.

American Magic’s new AC75, with truncated foil arms. Photo: Job Vermeulen/ America’s Cup

The American Magic ‘B3’ had been built in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, before being flown to its current home in Barcelona on an Antonov AN124 giant cargo plane. The team report that the two-and-a-half-year development and build process totalled over 108,000 design hours and 65,000 construction hours.

A further phase of commissioning and testing will be completed before B3 has its official naming ceremony and inaugural sail.

The Anerican Magic team limited views of their new AC75 on its first day out of the shed. Photo: AmaliaInfante.com/American Magic

Second boat launch strategy

American boat is one of the later to be unveiled, and three teams – Emirates Team New Zealand, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli – are already sailing their second generation boats. However, Goodison said he was confident that the team’s earlier practice time in its previous iteration boat, Patriot, would give them an advantage when it comes to getting the complex AC75 up to speed.

“I guess the teams that launched the [first generation] 75s this campaign and have already done a lot of the big boat sailing should hopefully be at an advantage when it comes to sailing. 

The Anerican Magic team limited views of their new AC75 on its first day out of the shed. Photo: AmaliaInfante.com/American Magic

“On the [new] 75s, you see both Team New Zealand and Alinghi Red Bull that have launched so far, they’re only a couple of days in and they’re sailing their 75 pretty well. And obviously, I think that’s a testament to the work that they’ve done earlier in the year in their big boats. 

“We spent a fair bit of time at the beginning of this year in the 75. And I think that time, just ironing out a lot of the teething problems from the systems side – some of the new mainsheet systems, some of the new jib systems, some of the new hydraulic systems, the bikes on board – we hopefully have debugged a lot of teething problems. 

“So hopefully, the first couple of days, we’ll get commissioning out of the way and be putting our foot on the gas pretty early.”

Helmsman Paul Goodison. Photo: NYYC American Magic

We’ll have a closer look at American Magic’s AC75, and all the new America’s Cup boats, over the coming weeks.