New York Yacht Club American Magic returns to Pensacola Bay with hopes of a permanent base

Over the next several months, anyone looking out over the waters of Pensacola Bay may get a glimpse of the 75-foot sailboat Patriot flying over the water at speeds of more than 50 mph.

New York Yacht Club American Magic is back in Pensacola for another winter, and the team is looking to make Pensacola a permanent winter training location.

Terry Hutchinson, skipper and president of sailing operations for American Magic, told the News Journal that the team hopes to have a permanent brick-and-mortar facility at the Port of Pensacola in the coming years.

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"Our goal has to be when we get done with (the America's Cup) in 2024, we're coming back to the American Magic High-Performance Training Center or the American Magic America's Cup base here in Pensacola, Florida," Hutchinson said. "So, we have a place to return to, we have a place that we can go straight back into our training facility and pick up right where we left off, win, lose or draw."

The America's Cup is one of the most prestigious sailing race events in the world and features boats that are on the cutting edge of sailing technology.

The 37th America's Cup is set to take place in Barcelona, Spain, in 2024 between the defending team Emirates Team New Zealand, and four other teams: INEOS Britannia of the United Kingdom, Alinghi Red Bull Racing of Switzerland, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team of Italy and American Magic of the U.S.

American Magic expects to train in Pensacola up until next summer, when it will move its operations to Spain to prepare for the America's Cup there.

Hutchinson said the competition is best described to people who may not be familiar with sailing as Formula 1 racing on the water.

"One thing that's unique about the America's Cup is that the competition itself is incredibly difficult to win," Hutchinson said. "A lot of the rules are tilted in the favor of the defender because the defender gets to write the rules. And so, by that very nature, the competition is difficult, which makes it exciting and challenging."

The boats in the competition are closer to aircraft than traditional yachts.

The design of the boat, called the AC75, as in America's Cup 75-feet, is a foiling sailboat. The boats feature two large hydrofoils that swing down into the water and lift the hull of the boat out of the water, allowing the boat to "fly" above the water with the foils acting as underwater wings using the same physics that allow an airplane to fly.

The boats can move more than twice as fast as the wind it's using to sail. In the last America's Cup in 2021, the American Magic boat Patriot reached speeds of 60 mph in a 25 mph wind.

Winter training

The team selected Pensacola as a winter training base during the last America's Cup because the geography and wind conditions in Pensacola Bay made it "a perfect spot" to train, Hutchinson said.

"The sailing is really, really good, and then put on top of it, how welcoming everybody here has been to us," Hutchinson said. "It's a perfect spot for us to come and train and develop."

The city of Pensacola included the prospect of a potential American Magic training facility in its $53 million Triumph Gulf Coast application.

"The goal has to be that for (the 38th America's Cup) that we're building at our own facility here in Pensacola, and then we're manufacturing or finishing off our own sails here in Pensacola, and that the engineering and the design is being done by people here in Pensacola and the surrounding community," Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said a major vision of the team's owners is to boost the marine industry in the United States in aspects of engineering, design and manufacturing while also driving interest in the sport of sailing.

Hutchinson said growing the sport will require driving interest at the youth level and training the next generation of Olympic sailors.

"The nice thing about Pensacola is that the No. 1 most critical part of it is already here, and that's the water and the venue," Hutchinson said.

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Hutchinson said getting youth interest in sailing is important to building the sport and noted the Pensacola Yacht Club offers good beginners sailing classes, but he hopes there will be more opportunities in the future.

"What needs to be developed is some level of community sailing and some level of community support that allows for an opportunity, not just for yacht club kids, but for all kids to come and participate and learn about the sport," Hutchinson said.

The team has about 96 members working in various fields, and many have come to live in Pensacola with their families. Hutchinson said with the families who now live here, about 300 people associated with the team call Pensacola home.

Hutchinson recently got his Florida driver's license in town, and the clerk asked him what he did for a living.

"I said, 'Well, you know, American Magic,' and I just started to say, 'We're Pensacola's professional sailing team for the America's Cup,'" Hutchinson said. "... We represent the New York Yacht Club. We represent the United States, but we also represent Pensacola."

Back on the water

The team is already back on the water in Pensacola Bay. Last week and over the weekend, the team conducted its first water trials since the Patriot was brought back from New Zealand. The team plans to be out on the water again on Wednesday.

Past America's Cup competitions also meant a cadre of spies from other teams in town scoping out the progress of the boat, but with the latest America's Cup rules, spying is now officially sponsored with an America's Cup recon team observing American Magic on behalf of all of the other teams. The recon team photographs every move the boat makes outside of its tent at the port.

The recon team reported that the Patriot was out in Pensacola Bay on Sunday and sailed for the first time reaching speeds of 20 mph, an unimaginable speed for a traditional sailboat but an easy day on the water for American Magic.

Video taken by the recon team showed the Patriot hull lifted out of the water as the boat cruised in view of Community Maritime Park and Bruce Beach.

American Magic is committed to the 37th America's Cup in 2024 and the following 38th America's Cup, likely to be in 2027.

"We know that we're coming back to Pensacola, and it's becoming part of our DNA and part of our area to develop and train," Hutchinson said.

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: America's Cup team American Magic returns to Pensacola Bay