An Epic Challenge NYC member John “Hap” Fauth is a gale force behind American Magic, the United States’ only team of America’s Cup contenders
J
ohn “Hap” Fauth is a familiar face around NYC—and in the international yacht-racing community. As CEO of the United States’ 2021 America’s Cup challenger syndicate, American Magic, Fauth has been laser-focused on bringing the Cup back to the States while upping the ante on sailing yacht innovation and design. With four years between each America’s Cup challenge, Fauth has been absorbed with fundraising for the multi-million-dollar endeavor, the design of the team’s foiling monohull design called the AC75, and the cliffhanging competition at multiple tiers that boils down to mere seconds. “You can race the same course on the same day, and the wind and currents will be different. We win races by five seconds—by half a boat length,” he says. “It’s competitive as hell.” It’s called the “challenger syndicate” because “there’s always been a group of gentle-
men who have put a team together to race in the AC. All the way back, J.P. Morgan was the helmsman,” he explains of the competition for the oldest trophy in international sport, dating to 1851. “As it’s gone along, it’s become a younger man’s game.” The equipment for the younger crew manning the fast, highly responsive AC75: Kevlar suits and custom life vests, helmets, and bulletproof goggles for taking on 50-plus-knot speeds. The current Cup holder, called “the Defender,” is Emirates Team New Zealand from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Challengers in the America’s Cup World Series who have made their way to this level of battle need to win 11 races in the Prada Cup Challenger finals. The winner will go head-to-head with New Zealand in the 36th America’s Cup, based in Auckland, N.Z. and scheduled for March 6 through March 21. Syndicates represent clubs, not boat owners or captains. American Magic is
representing the New York Yacht Club, where Fauth is a longtime member and trustee. The venerable yacht club “held the Cup for 132 years. It’s part of the club’s DNA, so we want to bring it back and start the legacy again,” Fauth says. The other competitors are Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team and the British Ineos Team UK. (Luna Rossa is the “Challenger of Record” because it launched the first challenge to New Zealand following its 2017 victory, and it has a hand in the writing the series rules.) American Magic worked closely with dignitaries and through official channels after New Zealand closed its borders in the wake of COVID-19. It was touch-and-go until mid-
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