America’s Cup: Alinghi Red Bull suffers mast failure, as legal drama unfolds

Alinghi Red Bull Racing has encountered a rig failure aboard its vessel, BoatOne, while training for the upcoming Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta on Tuesday (20 August 2024). The news comes the same week that several teams launched a legal challenge over the external finish on American Magic’s Patriot.

All six America’s Cup teams will compete in the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta in their new AC75s. The racing starts tomorrow, on 22 August, with four days of match races to find the two fastest teams. The top two teams will progress to the winner-takes-all final match race on the fourth and last day to decide the ultimate winner of the event.

Silvio Arrivabene, co-general manager of the Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing team, addressed the failure in a statement shared on social media, reassuring that all team members were unharmed and the boat was safely towed back to their dock in the Port Vell: “Today there was a rig failure during the early stage of training on BoatOne. Everybody onboard is safe, and an investigation will be carried out in due course. In the meantime, the team remains fully focused on racing.”

This incident marks the second rig failure for the Swiss team. A previous breakage occurred in June during another training session.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing suffered a previous breakage on June 13 during another training session.

According to Predict Wind, today’s conditions featured a southerly breeze of 12 knots along the Barceloneta beachfront with a calm sea state.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing is scheduled to compete in the first race of the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta against Orient Express Racing Team on Thursday, August 22, at 14:00 CET.

In a statement issued this morning (21 August 2024), Alinghi Red Bull Racing provided an update on Tuesday’s dismasting.

The team said it had been using the mast for just 20 minutes, indicating it was a new racing spar.

“We were sailing upwind in a beautiful breeze of 13 or so knots, and all of a sudden, the mast came down,” the Swiss team’s commentary says.

“The crew very quickly and professionally responded to get the mast and boat separated and retrieved the sail to get the boat towed back in.

“Today the team demonstrated what a competent crew they are. When we got back to shore, we were welcomed by the whole team. Everybody pulled together to bring all the parts back to base. BoatOne is back in the shed with just a few scratches. Most importantly, nobody onboard was hurt. So, despite this setback, our spirits are still up.

“Each failure occurred in a very similar manner, and on both occasions, all load sensors indicated that the stress levels were well within acceptable limits. To be in this situation again certainly raises some legitimate questions with regard to what happened to the masts’ structural integrity. It’s a matter that needs to be looked at very closely, but for now, we’re leaving the investigation to the experts.”

Close-up of the controversial honeycomb cockpit cover on American Magic. Photo courtesy of Alex Carabi/America’s Cup.

In separate news, with only days to go until the America’s Cup races commence, a legal challenge has been mounted over the external finish on American Magic’s Patriot.

On 12 August 2024 — just 10 days before the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta on 22 August, an inquiry was submitted to the Rules Committee regarding the legality of a mesh fairing on American Magic’s AC75.

Four rival teams are arguing that the fairing is prohibited. A fifth team submits the feature might be prohibited, but that more information was needed.

It is unclear whether the inquiry was raised by American Magic or a rival team, as teams often seek rulings on features before fully committing to them.

The fairing, which is said to reduce drag by preventing air from entering the hull, was publicly revealed 10 weeks earlier, but the reason for the delay in questioning its legality remains unknown.

This issue echoes past America’s Cup challenges, where innovative designs, such as New Zealand’s bowsprit in 1992, were deemed illegal, altering the course of competition.

The ruling on the fairing is still pending. American Magic is due to race INEOS Britannia tomorrow, on August 22.

In a recent interview with Matthew Sheahan of PlanetSail, Sir Ben Ainslie, CEO and helmsman of INEOS Britannia, explained the focused atmosphere as they enter the final push. “We’re in a much better place than we were in Auckland,” Ainslie stated, referring to the previous Cup campaign. However, he acknowledged that its a “development game,” whereby improvements are still needed. “There are still some areas of our boat where we can jump in performance, and frankly, we’re going to need to win this thing.”

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