The first racing day of the PRADA America's Cup World Series in Auckland has concluded and New York Yacht Club American Magic is leading the provisional ranking after winning both their matches.

In second position comes Emirates Team New Zealand (1 point), third Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (1 point) and fourth Ineos Team UK (0 points).

Races, where held with a south-westerly breeze, ranged between 15 and 19 knots. Top speed of the day was 49.1 knots reached by Emirates Team New Zealand.

View the races below.

All eyes are on Ineos Team UK as it struggles to compete in at least one trial race before the World Cup Series starts on Thursday in New Zealand. So far it has been anything but plain sailing for Ben Ainslie and his crew after his new America’s Cup boat was slammed in a brutal blog post.

Even though Ineos Team UK has hit back by telling The Herald that its main concerns centres around a ‘small hydraulics problem’, the British team pulled out again today, this time from a scheduled trial race this morning.

The mysterious problems plaguing Ineos and its unresolved issues are fast becoming the most intriguing story in the build-up to the America’s Cup World Series, says The Herald.

The paper reports that Ineos Team UK commenced the pre-start manoeuvres against Emirates Team New Zealand, but pulled the pin in less than two minutes.

A less sinister interpretation of events was put forward. The “Brits fell off the foil and couldn’t get back up again,” says Live Sail Die.

“Under 8 knots it seems really sticky and there are a few teams struggling to get their boats out of the water.

“Ineos were really struggling. I don’t think I saw them do a successful tack or gybe today, certainly not in the racing which will be very disappointing for them. Whether they had some issues, who knows?”

The British boat, which is backed by the largest single sponsorship in sailing history, headed back to its Viaduct harbour base under tow. 

It means the British team have only one more chance to complete a trial race (Tuesday) before Thursday’s World Series start.

Much more on Marine Industry News here.

If there's one hard fact in a sea of uncertainty, this is identifying the team that needs to be beaten to win the America's Cup, the current Defender representatives, Emirates Team New Zealand.

Their new second boat took many by surprise as it was rolled out into the open for the first time. This is a bold, aggressively styled AC75 that is a long way from their first boat.

Team NZ unveiled their second AC75 Te Rehutai last week, impressing onlookers with its concave design which was a distinct departure in shape from the first boat.

Wing effect - In order to get extra power in light conditions, Team New Zealand are using a double mainsail in their latest AC75. Sheeting is visible in this photo that shows the crew controlling each skin separately

Such a big departure has raised plenty of questions so, in a Defender analysis, journalist Matt Sheahan explains in the video below what this means for both the Kiwis and the competition.

As Afloat reported earlier, four teams are signed up for the America's Cup World Series in Auckland and a Christmas Race format has been announced.

Team New Zealand has released a video showing the intense behind the scenes efforts from the design team to build their second America's Cup boat. Check out the New Zealand Herald article and video here

In less than three weeks four international teams from New Zealand, Italy, United States, and Great Britain will line up for the first time on their second generation of flying AC75’s for the Prada America’s Cup World Series Auckland and the Christmas Race (December 17-20).

The event will see current America’s Cup Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, the Challenger of Record Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, INEOS TEAM UK and New York Yacht Club American Magic facing each other during four days of match racing on the Waitemata Harbour and the Hauraki Gulf widely regarded as ‘The jewel in Auckland’s crown’.

Emirates Team New Zealand 

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team Photo: Giulia Caponnetto

The first race will start few minutes after 3 pm on December 17 and will see Emirates Team New Zealand against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team. The second pairing will be American Magic versus INEOS TEAM UK.

With each of the teams interpreting the AC75 design rule differently there are marked differences between all four boats launched so far and therefore great anticipation to see them race for the first time.

New York Yacht Club American Magic Photo: Will Ricketson

The racing format for the four days of racing has now been finalised. For the first three days of the PRADA ACWS Auckland (17th-19th of December) there will be four races per day of Round Robin competition when all of the four teams will race each other twice.

The fourth day (20th of December) the PRADA Christmas Race will kick off and will be comprised of two knock out stages, the first stage consists of two head to head match ups, the winners of each will progress to the final, the losers to a 3rd & 4th match which will help decide the final rankings. The pairing of the Christmas Race Semifinals will be decided by the results of the PRADA ACWS Auckland double Round Robin.

America's Cup World Series Auckland and Christmas Race race formats

The races will be held on a windward-leeward racecourse with an upwind start and last around 25-30 minutes each.

Racing is scheduled for 1500 – 1800 each day weather permitting. The race course will be communicated on racing days by the Race Management depending on wind direction, intensity and tides. The permitted wind range is between 6.5 and 21 knots.

The America’s Cup Race village is FREE to enter and a great place to enjoy the action from, or soak up the village atmosphere. Depending on the course of the day, there are many vantage points around Auckland, from which the racing can be enjoyed while on land.

For the Challenger teams, the results from the ACWS and the Christmas Race regatta will determine the pairings for the PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series to be held in January/February 2021 that will decide which of them will take on Emirates Team New Zealand in the Match for the 36th America’s Cup presented by PRADA starting on March 6th 2021.

A first sail is not usually a year in the planning, but when New Zeland America's Cupper 'Te Rehutai' hit the water for her first outing today, that was exactly the case with many areas of her new design having been locked in over nine months or more ago, meaning today was a chance to finally validate what the simulations had been predicting. The result? An adequate first outing.

On a beautiful Auckland day with a calm Waitamata sea state and building breeze, Te Rehutai left the dock and immediately started tow testing on the way out to the Hauraki Gulf.

Last night’s launch was a fantastic opportunity to presented Te Rehutai to the world, and thank everyone involved in getting her to this point, but for many in the team, seeing her out sailing on her first day was the real moment of celebration.

Reflecting on the first day Blair Tuke said "After the official launch last night, it was pretty awesome to be able to get out there and throw the boat around in a beautiful southerly breeze on the Hauraki Gulf. It's great for the whole team to see it out there flying, doing its thing, after a heck of a lot of work from so many people to get to this point"

A successful first day marks a major turning point for the team, where building and development make way for testing and race preparation, but developments in all areas will continue right until the very last race.

Peter Burling felt the day was a success. "It was great to get commissioning underway. The boat felt really nice. We're happy with day one, but have got a lot of hard work ahead."

As part of the early testing programme for Te Rehutai, the team ticked off everything as planned and completed a few manoeuvres on Course C on the way home.

With just 26 days to go until the warning signal of the first race of the PRADA ACWS Auckland, the plan is to get as many days on the water as possible, so locals should expect to see Te Rehutai become a familiar presence on the harbour.

Defiant, the first AC75 racing yacht built for New York Yacht Club American Magic, Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, has arrived in New Zealand. The AC75 was shipped through the Gulf of Mexico, transited the Panama Canal and then crossed the Pacific after departing from the team’s winter base in Pensacola, Florida on May 28.

“Seeing our boat unloaded in Auckland was an awesome moment for our team, and a significant milestone for the America’s Cup as well,” said Terry Hutchinson, Skipper and Executive Director of American Magic. “Soon we will all see American Magic out on the same patch of water as the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand. That’ll definitely be an exciting sight for sailing fans worldwide, and for us it will be a daily reminder of the huge task we have in front of us. Every possible training day from now until the Prada Cup is priceless, and we are focused on going sailing again as quickly as possible.”

The Bristol, Rhode Island-built foiling monohull is the first Challenger yacht to arrive at the venue of three upcoming regattas: ACWS Auckland (December 17-20, 2020), The Prada Cup (The Challenger finals, January 15 - February 22, 2021) and the 36th America’s Cup (March 6-21, 2021). The U.S. team also expects to take delivery of their second AC75 in Auckland sometime during the fall of 2020.

American Magic’s focus over the coming weeks will be in three primary areas. First, the team will work to complete the New Zealand entry and quarantine process for team personnel and their families, which was made possible after the team received border exemptions from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on June 12th. Second, the AC75, chase boat fleet and the team base will be assembled and activated in Auckland. Third, American Magic’s production team in Bristol will put the finishing touches on the second AC75, and prepare it for air transport from Rhode Island to New Zealand.

“I could not be prouder of how our 145-person team has handled this shipping process, and everything else the pandemic has thrown at us,” said Hutchinson. “Our shore and operations team pivoted incredibly well as events happened, and as the focus changed basically overnight from getting us to Europe to getting us to Auckland. Our production guys have been able to safely keep the ‘Boat 2’ build process going, and it looks incredible. And our design group has maintained a singular focus of developing an AC75 capable of winning the 36th America’s Cup. Now we just need to pass our remaining team members through quarantine, keep everyone healthy and safe, and get back to business on the water.”

Back in the real (although unreal) world amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic it is an altogether different and fluid path ahead for all of the teams in their home countries in how they now approach the 36th America's Cup both philosophically and logistically with all of the changing variables day to day.

They have no more information on their relative performance other than what they already know via differing levels of early reconnaissance. Do they trust their initial instincts? Their current design knowledge and interpretations of the class rule? Or do they change their approach based on certain nuggets of information that contribute to an overall incomplete puzzle?

"If there is one thing that is guaranteed in the America's Cup- that is to expect the unexpected"

American Magic's Skipper Terry Hutchinson acknowledged recently, "We missed the opportunity to see where we are vulnerable," by not being able to race in Cagliari or Portsmouth "It's going to require us to lean that much harder on the design side of the program."

American Magic's Skipper Terry Hutchinson

The biggest question mark though is the progress on each of the teams highly anticipated second AC75's currently in production in their home countries. Build timelines that were well established long before COVID19 had made itself known to the world are near impossible to change without flow-on effects to the wider campaign. Some production continues, some has been halted. Do the teams complete the build at home, or get their new boats to Auckland to finish? Do they ship them or fly them direct to Auckland. And most importantly- how will they compare relative to each other when they eventually see the light of day.

If there is one thing that is guaranteed in the America's Cup- that is to expect the unexpected, and COVID-19 has certainly thrown the biggest cat amongst the pigeons the event has seen in a long long time.

West Cork Commodore's Cup sailor and 1720 crew and former Mirror world dinghy champion, Revelin Minihane who has also served as a helmsman with Baltimore RNLI lifeboat, is on duty with the New York Yacht Club America's Cup Challenger, American Magic.

New York Yacht Club has challenged current America's Cup Defender, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, for a single purpose; to win back the Cup, and bring it home to the United States of America.

Among many roles, Minihane is the team's chase boat driver and it looks like he is currently in high demand if the vid below is anything to go by. 

Formed in October 2017 by Bella Mente Racing, Quantum Racing and the New York Yacht Club, American Magic represents a joint vision to win the America’s Cup, the highest prize in sailing and the oldest trophy in international sports.

The name, American Magic, is a nod to the New York Yacht Club’s storied America’s Cup history; a combination of the boat the trophy is named for, and the first boat to defend it.

Following a successful mediation, the America's Cup Defender and Challenger of Record have come to an agreement on the Match Conditions for the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada.

The two sides came to a consensus after engaging in an official mediation process run by the America's Cup Arbitration panel chairman David Tillett (AUS).

As part of the agreement, the wind range for racing in the America's Cup Match will be 6.5 to 23 knots.

The agreed racing schedule for the America's Cup Match has two races per day planned for March 6,7,10, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Additional reserve days have been scheduled but the intention is to complete the event on the weekend of March 13/14, weather permitting. Racing is planned from 4pm onwards each race day. The winner of the America's Cup Match will be the first team to score seven points.

The parties also agreed on certain conditions in respect of the Prada Cup due to be issued by June 30 2020.

The racing will consist of four Round Robin sessions over January 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, and 24, followed by a repechage round over January 29, 30, 31, and February 2, with the first-to-seven-points Prada Cup Final taking place over February 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22.

The following wind range for racing has been agreed:

• Round Robins and Repechage: 6.5 to 21 knots
• Prada Cup Final: 6.5 to 23 knots

In addition, the parties also confirmed Course Location Guidelines for the Race Director when selecting the Auckland racecourse locations for all the Auckland events including the Match for the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada. To view the Settlement Memorandum click here.

The first competitive action of the 36th America's Cup presented by Prada will be in Cagliari, Sardinia from April 23 - 26 at the first of three ACWS regattas taking place during 2020. Further ACWS events will be held in Portsmouth, England on June 4 - 7, and in Auckland, New Zealand on December 17 - 20.

Royal Ulster Yacht Club members Deborah and Simon Lace recently returned from an adventure holiday in Chile where they had met an American man called Glen, from New Orleans writes Betty Armstrong. It transpired during the course of conversation that he and his wife were also racing sailors – in their case a J130 raced across the Gulf of Mexico.

During a discussion on the America's Cup, the link between RUYC and Sir Thomas Lipton surfaced, and Glen told an interesting story.

He is a member of the Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans which is the second oldest yacht club in the USA and older than Royal Ulster, having been established in 1849 “by New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents seeking the camaraderie and challenge of yacht racing in the Mid-Gulf region”. And the club was a proud owner of a special trophy gifted to them by Sir Thomas Lipton to promote sailing competition.

It had been used as a perpetual trophy for the Lipton Cups held each Labor Day and all 26 yacht clubs on the Gulf Coast are invited to bring their best sailors to compete in one-design boats. Many of the world’s best sailors including many Olympic, US, European and world champion sailors of all classes of sailing compete each year.

Tragically, in the aftermath of the Category 5 Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the clubhouse was destroyed by fire, with the loss of all medals (some Olympic) and trophies.

Southern YC unsuccessfully approached the British makers of the Lipton trophy to see if they still had the original mould. They didn’t, but however, one was made using the half-cup replica, which was given to the winning member each year to keep at home. It required $15,000 worth of silver to cast and this sum was gifted to the Club by a private benefactor. Southern YC now has their cherished Lipton Trophy once again.