America's Cup: American Magic release video of new boat foiling

The American Magic syndicate today revealed video footage of their new 75-foot foiling monohull, named Defiant, from their base in Rhode Island.

After an estimated 76,000 combined hours of fabrication and finishing work by the production and shore teams of American Magic, the U.S. Challenger's first AC75 racing boat was officially named and launched yesterday.

The syndicate released a still image of the boat on foils last week but their video shows that the full-scale concept introduced for the next America's Cup works.

Named Defiant, the cutting-edge foiling monohull is the first America's Cup class boat built to represent the New York Yacht Club in over 16 years. The boat underwent initial testing on Narragansett Bay earlier in the week.

American Magic will continue to train in Rhode Island waters during the fall of 2019 before relocating to Pensacola, Florida for the winter.

"It's going to be a great tool for us and we can't help but think what we learn on and off the water is going to be invaluable to us for our success in Auckland 2021," American Magic skipper and executive director Terry Hutchinson said at the launch.

"Really, each milestone you're going to the next one and, as always, a measure of the team and the execution and the consistency ... the fact that 90 minutes into the first sail we were foiling and we bore away and executed a foiling manoeuvre ... to me that was the best thing about it."

Last week, Emirates Team New Zealand started testing their radical new boat's rigging and sail systems.

The boat, named Te Aihe, was unveiled last Friday at Auckland's viaduct, with fans getting their first chance to see the vessel that Team New Zealand hope can defend the 2021 America's Cup.

The crew then took the boat for a tow on the harbour, but were more secretive about their first foiling session - although that didn't stop intrepid followers from managing to spot the crew in action last Monday.