Black Magic (yacht)
Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 6:54 pm
BLACK MAGIC
Nicknamed: Black Beast, the Mighty 32
1995
Sail number: NZL-32
New Zealand.
Yacht Club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup to become Challenger and winner of the 29th America's Cup, in 1995.
Owner: Team New Zealand syndicate. Peter Blake, head of syndicate.
IACC Sloop
Builder: McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, New Zealand, Tim Gurr.
Sailmaker: Team New Zealand & North Sails NZ.
Mast/rig: Southern Spars Ltd. & Navtec.
Winches: Harken.
Electronic: Ockam.
Black Magic was even better in the America's Cup Match, just like her namesake, Magic, over 100-years earlier in 1870. Black Magic swept the San Diego Yacht Club's defender, Young America (USA-36), winning 5-0. The Kiwis, led by Sir Peter Blake, achieved the goal they had set for themselves. Arriving in San Francisco before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup, Blake had said, "The America's Cup is unfinished business for New Zealand - a sporting Everest which can and will be climbed."
Launched in September 1993 at the McMullen and Wing shipyard in Auckland, the boat was christened by Joan Bolger, the wife of Prime Minister Jim Bolger. Although it took three times to break the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow, that 'bad omen' was very soon forgotten when the 'black beast' showed its pace against 'old red' (NZL-20), the Bruce Farr design from the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup. Three months later, NZL-32 was joined by NZL-38, and the two began a relentless training and tuning programme on the waters off Auckland until October 1994 when they were shipped to San Diego. The boats were sensational in the choppy seas off the West Coast of the United States where their long and narrow hulls easily cut through the chop to speed to victory.
The Kiwis aboard Black Magic II, NZL-38, set the pace up until the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals, with John Bertrand's oneAustralia (AUS-31) team nipping at its heels, despite the Australian's tragic and dramatic loss of their first boat. Team New Zealand shocked most observers when, despite leading, they decided to switch to Black Magic, the mighty NZL-32, for the challenger semi-finals and the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. With easy victories in both, the America's Cup Match itself was just a formality.
Skipper Russell Coutts and his team rode Black Magic to a sweep of the 29th America's Cup Match, soundly beating Young America, skippered by Dennis Conner with Paul Cayard, both legends in their own right. A frustrated Cayard would remark, "I have never been in a race where I felt I had so little control over the outcome." Coutts replied, "A little bit of boatspeed can make you look smart. The real magic was in the black boat."
Indeed, Black Magic led at all 30 marks over the five contests, winning the races by an average of two-minutes and 52-seconds. During the 1995 Cup season, Team New Zealand would only lose one of 43 races on the water - a tribute to the team that Peter Blake put together.
After the Cup, the mighty NZL-32 returned to New Zealand. In August, 2000, she was flown to the United Kingdom to compete in the America's Cup Jubilee, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first race around the Isle of Wight. She was then leased by Le Défi Français and based in Lorient as a trial horse for FRA-46 and FRA-40 for the 2003 America's Cup.
In July 2002, Black Magic was shipped back to Auckland where it now remains in the New Zealand National Maritime Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, as part of its collection.
http://www.americascup.com
New Zealand SG1883
Nicknamed: Black Beast, the Mighty 32
1995
Sail number: NZL-32
New Zealand.
Yacht Club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup to become Challenger and winner of the 29th America's Cup, in 1995.
Owner: Team New Zealand syndicate. Peter Blake, head of syndicate.
IACC Sloop
Builder: McMullen & Wing yard, Auckland, New Zealand, Tim Gurr.
Sailmaker: Team New Zealand & North Sails NZ.
Mast/rig: Southern Spars Ltd. & Navtec.
Winches: Harken.
Electronic: Ockam.
Black Magic was even better in the America's Cup Match, just like her namesake, Magic, over 100-years earlier in 1870. Black Magic swept the San Diego Yacht Club's defender, Young America (USA-36), winning 5-0. The Kiwis, led by Sir Peter Blake, achieved the goal they had set for themselves. Arriving in San Francisco before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup, Blake had said, "The America's Cup is unfinished business for New Zealand - a sporting Everest which can and will be climbed."
Launched in September 1993 at the McMullen and Wing shipyard in Auckland, the boat was christened by Joan Bolger, the wife of Prime Minister Jim Bolger. Although it took three times to break the traditional bottle of champagne over the bow, that 'bad omen' was very soon forgotten when the 'black beast' showed its pace against 'old red' (NZL-20), the Bruce Farr design from the 1992 Louis Vuitton Cup. Three months later, NZL-32 was joined by NZL-38, and the two began a relentless training and tuning programme on the waters off Auckland until October 1994 when they were shipped to San Diego. The boats were sensational in the choppy seas off the West Coast of the United States where their long and narrow hulls easily cut through the chop to speed to victory.
The Kiwis aboard Black Magic II, NZL-38, set the pace up until the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals, with John Bertrand's oneAustralia (AUS-31) team nipping at its heels, despite the Australian's tragic and dramatic loss of their first boat. Team New Zealand shocked most observers when, despite leading, they decided to switch to Black Magic, the mighty NZL-32, for the challenger semi-finals and the Louis Vuitton Cup Finals. With easy victories in both, the America's Cup Match itself was just a formality.
Skipper Russell Coutts and his team rode Black Magic to a sweep of the 29th America's Cup Match, soundly beating Young America, skippered by Dennis Conner with Paul Cayard, both legends in their own right. A frustrated Cayard would remark, "I have never been in a race where I felt I had so little control over the outcome." Coutts replied, "A little bit of boatspeed can make you look smart. The real magic was in the black boat."
Indeed, Black Magic led at all 30 marks over the five contests, winning the races by an average of two-minutes and 52-seconds. During the 1995 Cup season, Team New Zealand would only lose one of 43 races on the water - a tribute to the team that Peter Blake put together.
After the Cup, the mighty NZL-32 returned to New Zealand. In August, 2000, she was flown to the United Kingdom to compete in the America's Cup Jubilee, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the first race around the Isle of Wight. She was then leased by Le Défi Français and based in Lorient as a trial horse for FRA-46 and FRA-40 for the 2003 America's Cup.
In July 2002, Black Magic was shipped back to Auckland where it now remains in the New Zealand National Maritime Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, as part of its collection.
http://www.americascup.com
New Zealand SG1883