New York Yacht Club decommissions ‘Defiant’

NEW YORK—Defiant, the first AC75 used by New York Yacht Club American Magic at the 36th America’s Cup, has been decommissioned, it was announced on Oct. 3.

The AC75 began its final year of sailing and testing in September 2019, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Defiant was then taken to Pensacola, Florida before ending up in Auckland, New Zealand.

“The planned conclusion of Defiant’s testing lifecycle follows a stretch of sailing that began in September 2019 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, continued on to Pensacola, Florida, and ended in Auckland after 12 months of hard testing and unprecedented performance,” an official statement published by American Magic stated. “Following Defiant’s decommissioning, the full attention and resources of the team have been directed towards the pre-launch preparations for its second AC75, Patriot.”

Defiant was the first AC75, worldwide, to foil and sail in late 2019. The sailboat was used during training exercises to provide American Magic team members with data they could use to design Patriot.

“Defiant has been an absolutely perfect tool for us to use in the development process,” Terry Hutchinson, American Magic’s skipper and executive director, said in a released statement. “With every one of these programs you run through certain developmental phases. With this type of boat, with the foils and the sails and the hull forms and the systems inside the boat all being incredibly complicated, it’s been a great platform for us to learn on and to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our team.”

American Magic intended to use Defiant in a few international competitions this year, even though the vessel was never intended to be used “as a fully optimized racing yacht.” She was scheduled to compete in America’s Cup World Series regattas in Cagliari (Italy) and Portsmouth (United Kingdom), but Covid-19 forced those events to be canceled.

“While we haven’t been able to do any racing against another boat, we have done plenty of race simulation laps now, while learning what you can and can’t do [in the AC75],” American Magic helmsman Dean Barker said in a published statement. “I think we’ve been very lucky with the team that we’ve got, and the way they’ve kept the boat in one piece. We’ve managed to maintain a reasonable amount of reliability over the last few weeks in New Zealand. That’s allowed us to be a lot more productive on the water.”

Patriot is nearing her launch date in Auckland, according to American Magic staff.

The 36th America’s Cup will take place in Auckland, New Zealand, in early 2021. Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is the defending club.