The 38-foot test boat that prepared American Magic's AC75
The AM38, nicknamed "The Mule" in reference to Team Penske's mules (Roger Penske, one of the three team principals of American Magic), is the reduced-scale test boat built by the New York Yacht Club / American Magic to prepare for the 36th America's Cup. First challenger to equip itself with a surrogate yacht in full scale, the Mule was launched in November 2018, nearly two years before the team's first AC75.
Design: a McConaghy 38 converted into a foiler
The Mule started as a McConaghy 38 production hull, reworked by American Magic's design team — a group of forty people led by Marcelino Botin and Adolfo Carrau (Botin Carkeek), the program's lead designers. The AC75 class rules review began in March 2018, and the Mule's architecture replicated the AC75's key structural choices at half-scale: a foiling monohull with cantilevered arms ending in T-foils on each side, plus two rudders with lifting foils.
Built in Bristol and first sailed in Newport
The boat was built in Bristol, Rhode Island, a historic composite construction site. At 11.5 m (38 feet) long, it complies with the America's Cup Protocol limit for test boats. Christened on November 9, 2018, it flew for the first time in Narragansett Bay, near Newport.
Pensacola, dry laps and 40 knots
From December 2018 to May 2019, the Mule was moved to Pensacola Bay (Florida) — the first America's Cup team to train on the Gulf Coast since 1970 — to take advantage of sheltered waters and steady breezes. The published results of this campaign:
- top speed: 40 knots recorded on the Mule;
- complete "dry laps" over a course of approximately 6 miles by 2 miles, hull never touching the water;
- 92 days of sailing in Florida, fine-tuning the flight controller developed in-house with Airbus as an innovation partner.
Data collected from the Mule then informed the construction of the two AC75s in the program, Defiant (launched May 2020) and Patriot (October 2020). American Magic competed in the Prada Cup in Auckland in January–February 2021; eliminated 4-0 in the semifinals by Luna Rossa, the syndicate did not qualify for the 36th America's Cup match.
