Long Beach Yacht Club kicked off this year’s World Match Racing Circuit with the past weekend’s 59th annual Congressional Cup. USA’s Chris Poole, and his Riptide Racing team, returned to win his second consecutive Congressional Cup and crimson blazer. Poole and his team — Joachim Aschenbrenner, Bernardo Freitas, Mal Parker, Luke Payne, and Harry West — defeated five-time Congressional Cup winner Ian Williams 3-1 in a tense final.

Showing dominance early, Poole claimed the first point of the event. With so much talent and experience in these boats, Williams and Poole pushed the match-racing rules and boats to their maximum.

Reflecting on the victory, Poole said, “It’s an incredible feeling. It would be impossible without my team. We didn’t start the week the way we wanted to, but once we started sailing like we did last year, we were pretty confident it was going to be ours to win.”

Experience and confidence paid off as the Riptide team held off Williams to stay on top for the win.

Complete results and information here.

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Sailing Hall of Famer Buddy Melges is famous for saying how “instruments are great, but you have to look at the water and present the boat to Mother Nature.” While it is computers that have created the latest batch of America’s Cup AC75s, Mother Nature will get the final vote on which team got it right. Here’s a glimpse of what she’ll be seeing:

With four teams revealing their box-fresh AC75s, it’s abundantly clear that different solutions have been found for very similar questions. The design teams have worked feverishly to deliver their best and latest thinking whilst the electronics and mechatronics engineers have been hard at it to produce the control and power-delivery systems that will define each team’s campaign. So what do we know so far?

With three teams sailing, what we are seeing is fast-flight being achieved by a combination of Barcelona-specific hull design and clever-thinking on controls. For Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, we are only seeing a fraction of their potential as they are with legacy foils and foil arms. That will change.

The performance, however, of Alinghi Red Bull Racing has everyone sitting up and taking notice with the team running full-span bespoke foils which clearly have an enormous effect on performance.

Hull differences and bustle treatment are more nuanced. Easy to say that Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are from the same stable of progressive thinking, so too perhaps INEOS Britannia, but Alinghi Red Bull Racing has thrown a spanner in the works with their chine on the bow and full length, considerable, bustle leading to the stern.

All the teams have gone for T-section shapes at the stern run-off but it’s in the bow area where the differences are most marked. INEOS Britannia have real volume in their in-built immediately voluminous bustle, whereas the Italians and Kiwis have aggressively flared bow profiles back to the foil arm boxes.

The deck area is key. For anyone that has seen an overlaid flow diagram of an AC75, the biggest disturbance air passing over the yacht is at deck level and it’s here where designers and technicians have worked the hardest.

The Italians have a beautifully contoured naked carbon approach, moulding the side pods evenly into the deck and aft off the transom. Emirates Team New Zealand does the same with a raised ellipse stern that screams aero.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing has detail from bow to stern with what look like Venturi bumps on the bow to aid airflow into the jib and then an incredibly open cockpit that creates something of a tunnel with the raised pods having internal sidewalls rather than blended in an aggressive treatment of the flow.

INEOS Britannia, from early morning spy shots, appears to be somewhere in the middle of the Italians and Swiss with blended side pods streaming aft – we will know more when they officially launch in the coming days.

Bumps and both hull and deck dilets are evident on all designs but perhaps the biggest differences lie in the treatment of the bustles and skegs that run down the middle of the boat. What we see on the Swiss AC75 is almost an International Moth style of skeg whilst for the Kiwis and Italians, they have a more blended, considerate approach.

Emirates Team New Zealand’s bustle runs full length, kicking up in the final third to the transom allowing for the rudder to be hung beneath the bustle. Its angularity is marked, similar in fact to the sharpness of INEOS Britannia’s treatment although their bustle stops a few feet from the transom tip, meaning the rudder mechanics are mainly all above deck.

The Swiss have considerable volume at the stern in their bustle with the added benefit of getting those rudder controls low and hidden. Same too for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli whose refined bustle goes full length and again has the rudder slung off the underbelly. All the boats so far have a keel chine running off the bow with varying degrees of depth.

Another similarity so far, appears to be in crew configuration with everyone so far going for the trimmer in the forward pod, followed by the helmsman and then the two cyclors in the aft. A screen on the forward pod of Alinghi Red Bull Racing confirms their aero intention whereas for the other trimmers, it’s just a very low position out of the wind that they maintain.

Same too for the cyclors, the power units of this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. They are arched into an almost time-trial position with their heads down in the ‘pain-locker’ pedaling for all they are worth – rarely do you see a cyclor look up when the boats are in motion.

In terms of sail control, we can see that all the teams have gone for trench configurations on both their jib track and mainsheet track but there’s a world of difference and new thinking going on here.

Emirates Team New Zealand have innovated once again and removed all of their control componentry below the aft deck to produce a very neat dual control system that auto-varies side to side and gives them ultimate control over both skins of the mainsail.

Jib systems all look to be sunken 3D controls mounted on self-tacking tracks and all the teams have been seen linking up mast rotation to the mainsheet system.

Pre-sets will become defined as the teams ramp up their time on the water, making these AC75s some of the most refined and setting-repeatable boats ever created, placing much emphasis on the data for given wind conditions.

One of the closely guarded areas of development is the foil design. Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have both opted at launch to keep their designs secret and complete the commissioning of their boats on legacy foils.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing, however, did not have this option and what we saw at their launch was a first iteration of the long-span, low volume foils that are beautifully sculpted with almost invisible dual flaps and upturned wing tips. Designed for super-fast flight and early foiling, we’ve already seen the Swiss get airborne in just 6.5 to 7.5 knots of breeze which is an impressive performance upgrade on the first-generation boats.

INEOS Britannia revealed their boat but kept their new foils shrouded until launch, but what we can certainly see is the trend for back slung foils off a slender bulb – expect this to be the norm but whether will we see innovations here such as ‘Tubercles’ like the Swiss trialed on their LEQ12 moded AC40 or something different, is the big question that won’t be answered for some time yet.

Standing by for NYYC American Magic and Orient Express Racing to reveal their boats.

Following the publication of the AC37 Protocol and AC75 Class Rule on November 17, 2021, the AC75 Class Rule and AC Technical Regulations were finalized on March 17, 2022. The entry period opened December 1, 2021 and runs until July 31, 2022, but late entries for the 37th America’s Cup may be accepted until May 31, 2023. The Defender was to announce the Match Venue on September 17, 2021 but postponed the venue reveal, confirming it would be Barcelona on March 30, 2022. The 37th America’s Cup begins October 12, 2024.

Teams revealed to challenge defender Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL):
• INEOS Britannia (GBR)
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI)
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team (ITA)
• NYYC American Magic (USA)
• Orient Express Racing Team (FRA)

2023-24 Preliminary Regattas
September 14-17, 2023 (AC40): Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain
November 30-December 2 (AC40): Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
August 22-25, 2024 (AC75): Barcelona, Spain

2024 Challenger Selection Series
August 29-September 8: Double Round Robin
September 14-19: Semi Finals (Best of 9)
September 26-October 7: Finals (Best of 13)

2024 America’s Cup
October 12-21: 37th Match (Best of 13)

For more schedule details, click here.
Additionally, 12 teams will compete in the 2024 Youth & Women’s America’s Cup.

Noticeboard: https://ac37noticeboard.acofficials.org/
Additional details: www.americascup.com/en/home

Source: ACE

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Big Pimpin’

Allen has just unveiled its latest development in sailing hardware: the Vang King.

The Vang King is not just a gas strut; it’s a game-changer in vang control systems for keelboats up to 26ft. Designed to serve as a boom support system, the Vang King seamlessly integrates with a purchase system to deliver unmatched control of your mainsail vang settings.

In light winds, the Vang King will hold the boom up which will reduce the unwanted weight on the mainsail leech and thus result in a better sail shape and more speed. Whether you’re cruising or racing, the Vang King ensures optimal performance in every sailing condition.

Find out more here.

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The 2024 World Match Racing Tour gets underway with 17 teams and over 100 of the world’s top match racing sailors competing across back-to-back events in Long Beach, CA. Using Catalina 37s, the Grade 2 Ficker Cup (April 19-21) is followed by the Grade 1 Congressional Cup on April 24-28, with both events hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, this year celebrating its 95th Anniversary.

Eight teams from five countries will compete at the Ficker Cup with the top three finishers advancing to the expanded 12-team field for the the 59th edition of the Congressional Cup.

The oldest continuously-held sailing match race regatta in the world, the 2024 Congressional Cup roster has defending champion Chris Poole, USA (Riptide Racing), five-time Congressional Cup winner Ian Williams (GBR, Team Gladstone’s Long Beach), 2009 Congressional Cup winner Johnie Berntsson (SWE, Berntsson Sailing Team), Eric Monnin (SUI, Capvis Swiss Match Racing), Jeppe Borch (DEN, Borch Racing), Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL, Knots Racing), Rocco Attili (ITA, RBYS) and Dave Hood (USA,DH3 Racing).

Returning to the event after 12-years is also four-time Congressional Cup winner Gavin Brady, USA (True Blue Racing). While back on the World Match Racing Tour last year, Brady narrowly missed out on the 2023 Match Racing World Championship title in Shenzhen, China after being defeated by GBR’s Ian Williams in the final.

“It will be a very special week for me being back at the Long Beach Yacht Club and racing in the Congressional Cup,” said Brady. “My match racing started in 1996 at the Ficker Cup and Congressional Cup, I won my first Congressional Cup before one of my crew was even born!”

Tour information – 2024 season – Ficker details – Facebook

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We’ve seen it movies — mariners stranded on an uninhabited island signaling their plight and being rescued. This week the scenario was real when three mariners were rescued from a tiny, uninhabited island in Micronesia after laying out palm fronds on the beach to spell “HELP.” On April 6, a relative notified the USCG that her three uncles had failed to return home after departing Poluwat Atoll on March 31 aboard a 20-ft outboard-powered open skiff.

The experienced mariners, all in their 40s, had been heading for Pikelot Atoll, approximately 100 miles northwest of Poluwat. They were in familiar waters but had sustained damage to their skiff and outboard, becoming stranded on the small island covering less than 2000 square feet. On April 7, a US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft identified the stranded men and confirmed their presence and condition. The aircraft crew successfully dropped survival packages to sustain the mariners until further assistance could arrive.

On April 8, a US Coast Guard Hercules aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, flew over the area and dropped a radio to establish communication. The mariners confirmed they were in good health, had access to food and water, and had recovered their damaged skiff. The next morning, they were picked up by the USCG’s 154-ft Fast Response Cutter Oliver Henry. The men and their equipment were taken aboard and returned to their home port, Poluwat Atoll.

The rescue operation was a coordination of US Coast Guard Forces Micronesia/Sector Guam and the US Navy. USCG Lt. Chelsea Garcia, the search and rescue mission coordinator on the day the mariners were located, said spelling out “HELP” on the beach with the palm fronds was a crucial factor in their discovery. “This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location,” Lt. Garcia said. “This successful operation underscores the effective coordination and partnership between the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, and regional partners. We extend our gratitude to everyone involved.”

The USCG concluded their report with the recommendation that “all mariners equip their vessels with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) to enhance safety on the water. A growing number of maritime communities offer loaner programs for these devices, making it easier for everyone to access this critical safety tool.”

We wrote about a similar rescue in 2020 when mariners were rescued from an uninhabited beach in Micronesia after writing SOS on the beach. You can read that story here: SOS

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