If you were wondering why an AC40 was sailing in Belfast Lough in the last few days, here is the answer.

About a week ago, the AC40 arrived in Belfast for the Swedish Women's and Youth America's Cup teams for training in preparation for the Youth and Puig America’s Cup during September/October, running parallel to the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona.

This foiling monohull was in Belfast with Artemis Technologies, whose CEO is Iain Percy, ex-2000 Finn Olympic Gold medal winner and ex-2005 America’s Cup +39 Challenge skipper.

Percy instructed the team on the AC simulator and explained why using a simulator is so important. Artemis Technologies is supporting the Swedish Challenge which is united under both the Royal Swedish Yacht Club and Gothenburg Royal Yacht Club – said to be a huge boost to the country’s future participation in the America’s Cup.

The AC40 was watched by some Cockle Island Boat Club members who were “thrilled to see these talented sailors honing their skills right here". "Belfast Lough provides the perfect setting for world-class sailing, and we were excited to witness these elite international teams preparing for their challenge", they added.

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Britain’s challenger for the 37th America’s Cup suffered a setback during training off Barcelona last Friday (16 February) when an electrical fire broke out on one of its boats.

According to Marine Industry News, the crew onboard INEOS Britannia’s AC40 Athena leapt into action after smoke billowed from the forward hatch that contains a lithium battery.

The fire was quickly brought under control by pumping water into the hatch to submerge the battery, which was later safely removed by shore crew, and no injuries were reported.

Athena is one of two training boats, along with fellow AC40 one-design Sienna, being used by the team as it awaits the completion of the final fit-out for its AC75 race boat due in April.

“Fire onboard any boat is always an incredibly difficult situation to manage,” INEOS Britannia skipper and team principal Sir Ben Ainslie said. “I want to personally thank the team for their professionalism and the emergency services for their support.”

Marine Industry News has more on the story HERE.

The “revolutionary” AC40 foiling yacht designed by Emirates Team New Zealand is now available for private owners to compete in a new AC40 Grand Prix Circuit.

Conceived as a strict one-design 40-foot version of the AC75 yachts that competed in the 36th America’s Cup, the AC40 went into production in early 2022 is set for even significant exposure this year as it’s raced in preliminary regattas in Vilanova and Jeddah.

What’s more, next year’s Youth and Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona will also be raced in AC40s, with 12 international teams committed to both events.

With nine AC40s already launched and three more currently in production, exclusive builder McConaghy Boats has a strong mandate from private owners and syndicates to create a new grand prix circuit for the AC40 class.

The class is administered by the AC40 Management Group — comprising Emirates Team New Zealand, McConaghy Boats and Ancasta International Boat Sales — which is now focused on establishing a class of privately owned AC40s to do just that, adding to the existing yachts built for the America’s Cup.

This fleet of privately owned and skippered AC40s will participate in both circuits and championship racing, promising “an extraordinary experience for the lucky few who have the means and ambition to participate in the most exciting form of sailing around”

Logistics were a key factor in the overall design of the AC40. The entire yacht, including hull, mast and appendages, packs down onto a supplied 40-foot flat rack for ease of transport on container ships or trucks.

The yacht can be unpacked and afloat in 48 hours, requiring a minimal support team. With only four crew and a slim sail wardrobe, operating costs are surprisingly low.

A centralised technical support service is also available through the class subscription, which will also provide access to a collective inventory of spares.

And there is a commitment to record and share performance data between teams, which is seen as a key element in ensuring long-term competitiveness within the class, and will be offered to all new teams to the circuit. No crew will therefore have a knowledge advantage over another — true one-design racing.

Meanwhile, a Mediterranean training base will be established as a base for the AC40 fleet, where training sessions will be provided throughout the pre-season including boat handling, performance training, safety skills and practice in an AC40 simulator to obtain an AC40 Class Licence.

The class is organising video conferences to discuss its plans, from events to shared services, on 31 August and 5 September. To join the calls, and for all enquiries, contact [email protected].

America’s Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand began its two-boat testing programme on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour last Thursday (2 February) in ideal 12-15 knots northeasterly winds.

It was the first opportunity the team has had to sail in the past week in the wake of the unprecedented weather event in the city over the Auckland Anniversary weekend.

Onboard the AC40’s for the three-and-a-half-hour session was the now familiar crew of Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge helming with Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney trimming on AC40.1.

Liv MacKay swapped port-side driving duties with Leonard Takahashi while Josh Junior was on the starboard helm on the second AC40 with Sam Meech and Marcus Hansen in the trimming seats.

The benefits of the two boats squaring off were quick to appear for coach Ray Davies: “The boats were engaging so well from the outset and as a result you could definitely see some instant gains in communication between the guys and girls onboard, obviously keeping check on the other boat’s performance and moves which is really important as far as match racing goes.”

Thursday’s session, which included a number of match race scenarios and line-ups, created an instant increase in intensity for the on-water programme for not only the sailors but the entire on-water operations, the team says.

In campaigns long past, the sight of two boats testing was a common occurrence, especially in the days of the IACC class used between 1992-2007. But not since 2012 has Emirates Team New Zealand had two boats together when a couple of SL33s were used to verify the significance of foiling versus non-foiling in the America’s Cup.

America's Cup Emirates Team New Zealand have suffered damage to the bow of their AC40 today after an early start testing on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in some top-end conditions.

In recent weeks the Emirates Team New Zealand AC40 has been taken out of its one design configuration, and testing stepped up in its development and data collection towards the design of its AC75.

The team were testing under manual flight control to the north of Waiheke Island in around 15-20 knots of windspeed and large waves. While sailing downwind at over 40 knots of boat speed, the crew onboard lost control of the ride height which caused the rudder and elevator to come out of the water. This resulted in a high-speed uncontrolled gybe and simultaneous deep nosedive followed by a capsize.

The resulting impact of the water pressure collapsed the foredeck at the bow of the AC40. Significantly the watertight bulkhead aft of where the damage occurred maintained its structural integrity, successfully serving the purpose of controlling water ingress so the boat could be righted and towed back to base.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said, “It appears that when the boat nose-dived, which was the best we have done, the high water pressure and side load collapsed the forward section of the deck causing the resulting bow damage. The designers are analysing the load cases of the incident and although it might be too soon to tell, it is likely that we will have some retrofit structure necessary to our boat and throughout the AC40’s fleet. But we will understand this further in the coming days.

The AC40 was towed back to base on its foils after the incident and is back in the shed being assessed for the repair job ahead.

 It was up up and away on a very successful maiden sail for Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC40 on the familiar America's Cup waters of the ‘back paddock’ between Auckland’s Waiheke Island and Howick Beachlands.

After a long tow out behind the team’s hydrogen-powered chase boat ‘Chase Zero’, the sails hoisted and sheeted on, it took just a handful of minutes for helmsman Nathan Outteridge to go from a cautious displacement mode to popping the AC40 up onto its foils and off on starboard tack at over 20+ knots in the light 8-10 knots of breeze.

It was Outteridge’s first day sailing a foiling monohull, and it didn’t disappoint, “It was obviously a very successful day, it was an impressive boat to sail for my first time sailing this type of boat. A little unnerving when trying to build speed, but once you get a bit of speed and the foil engages, it goes from about 10 knots to 20 knots in about 5 seconds. So both pretty impressive, the acceleration and the reliability.”

"It was Outteridge’s first day sailing a foiling monohull, and it didn’t disappoint"

Outteridge, Ray Davies, Nick Burridge and Sam Meech onboard throughout the highly productive full day on the water, initially went through a selection of straight line runs before throwing down their first tack, successfully staying up on the foils and carrying on upwind.

“Day one was pretty epic and exciting,” explained Ray Davies.

The speeds of the AC40 were impressive in a relatively light breeze reaching a top speed of over 34 knots downwind and 27 knots upwind in the steady NW breeze

“An amazing team effort to go out there and pull off the first tack as a foiling tack, the first gybe a foiling gybe. The boat is going really well; we have a few tweaks for sure, but awesome to sail with Nath, Sam and Nick. All of the support guys have done an incredible job, out of the box and we were ripping around foiling.”

The autopilot is a key component for the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup regattas and was impressive to the team from the outset explains Dan Bernasconi, “The autopilot on day one has been fantastic, so with a smaller crew and less experienced crew on these boats for the Women’s and Youth racing, the autopilot will be a really important feature.”

“After today, we know this will be just fine for the Youth and Women’s America’s Cup. It will be spectacular racing, super quick, super-efficient and all straight out of the box,” said Davies.

After one long downwind run with a succession of foiling gybes, it seemed like it was the 20th day on the water rather than the first. It is an exciting time ahead with the AC40 fleet.

Just over 11 months since Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC75 ‘Te Rehutai’ crossed the finish line to claim the 36th America’s Cup, its younger sister class- the AC40 is already in production.

While much of the world was having a well-earned break during the transition from 2021 into 2022 the 7 axis CNC machine at McConaghy Boats production facility was working 24/7 carving out the tooling for the hull of the new class.

The AC40 hull shape is based on that of Te Rehutai- but is already a generational step forward incorporating a number of developments learned after the completion of AC36 last year.

In usual America’s Cup fashion, the AC40 design and production timeline has been highly condensed yet achievable due to a global collaboration led by Emirates Team New Zealand design team with Dan Bernasconi and Richard Meacham central to the management of the production process with Mark Evans Group Managing Director of McConaghy Boats.

“While the genesis of the AC40 project comes from the familiar design and innovation of the people within the Emirates Team New Zealand design department we have really had to push the limits by utilising a combination of the best of the New Zealand Marine industry as well as key offshore partnerships.

Specialised elements like the rigs are being built by Southern Spars and the boat building talent we have at the ETNZ build facility are producing the foil arms. We also have a great partnership utilising the production power of an organisation like McConaghy Boats in China for the hulls, decks and fit out as well as North Sails Marine group with the aero package.” said Meacham.

McConaghy Boats has been building composite race boats with leading construction technologies for over 50 years across a range of classes from Maxi’s like Wild Oats (the most successful yacht in the Sydney Hobart race), all the way down to foiling Mach 2 Moths and Waszps.

But for now, the focus is firmly on rolling out the fleet of AC40’s explained Meacham, “Currently there are already 8 AC40’s under order with McConaghy’s, with teams lined up awaiting possession. We have a world leading marine sector here in New Zealand, but like so many industries there are labour resource constraints, so without partnering with McConaghy’s and utilising their production capabilities we simply would not be able to fulfill the orders in time.”

The first AC40 is expected to be ready to be shipped from the McConaghy facility in July of this year to the Emirates Team New Zealand base in Auckland for its on water commissioning in August. And each successive boat will be rolled out in 5-week increments thereafter as the Challenging teams take possession and prepare to hit the water where the performance across with wind range is estimated to be quite exceptional for a 40-foot boat.

In light winds, the AC40 is expected to be able to sail at up to 26 knots at 46º upwind and 30 knots boat speed at 138º downwind. At the upper limits of 20 knots TWS, the boat speeds are expected to escalate to 39 knots upwind at 41º and 44 knots at an angle of 155º downwind.

Due to the AC40 being a ‘production boat’, the process has been a bit different to usual for Head of Design Dan Bernasconi, “Normally during the build of an AC boat the design team has a bit more time to develop and finalise the hydraulics, electronics and systems, but because the production process is so rapid in this case we have had to finalise a lot more of our designs in respect to those areas up front and make sure they are spot on.”

While the America’s Cup teams will be using their AC40’s for testing, development, Match race training, and preliminary events, they will be used for both the Women’s and Youth America’s Cup’s as a key tool for creating the pathway into the America’s Cup for women and the next generation of foiling sailors. This pathway made all the easier with the added benefit of the availability of the AC40 simulator developed by Emirates Team New Zealand for pre-delivery training.

As a further step on from this, the AC40 and the simulator will be available to private owners, many of whom are the backbone of high-performance Grand Prix circuits already and could be looking for a new challenge in a dynamic boat that is right up there in terms of performance close to that of the AC75 America’s Cup powerhouses.

“There is even the possibility of private owners having a long-term ambition to race, but initially wanting to give a prospective Youth or Women’s AC crew a leg up with their campaigns by buying one early as well.” said Meacham

“So, despite the pressure of design and pushing this all along, it is exciting to see the moulds completed and production underway on a class of boat that will cover a wide range of use cases.”