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

John “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 gentlemen 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 boa t 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

June, when team members received border exemptions from the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. American Magic personnel and their family members underwent strict entry requirements, including quarantine.

Fauth, along with Doug DeV os and Roger Penske, are the principal backers of the $160 million syndicate, which includes $34 million of in-kind contributions. They have created two foiling monohull racing yachts, Defiant and Patriot, both built in Bristol, Rhode Island, to meet this year’s race regulations. Patriot was transported by air from Bristol to Auckland in late August. If all goes well for

Photo: Will Ricketson, American Magic

Patriot in practices and races, the vessel will undertake the final America’s Cup challenge against New Zealand if the syndicate advances.

The American M agic syndicate totals 145 paid team members, Fauth says, which includes 40 designers and 40 boatbuilders, up to 25 sailors with backups for each of the 11 onboard crewmembers, coaching staff, and ground crew. Getting to Auckland was a massive logistical operation. Thirty-seven shipping containers will serve as a mini village for a variety of purposes, such as a press room, a kitchen to feed 100 people three meals a day, and an electronic simulator for the sailors to practice. Some will house workshops for sail-making, metal machining, and carbon-fiber repairs that will be pressed into action daily.

“When you’re going consistently at 40-knots-plus, stuff breaks,” Fauth says, noting the 75-foot vessel weighs 1,200 pounds, and is hoisted out of the water following each practice and race. “It’s about efficiency and durability. Hopefully, efficiency equates to speed, and durability

suggests you will stay on the racecourse and not have to drop out because of a broken item on the boat. You can’t win if you don’t finish.”

A Chess Match on the Water Fauth, 72, grew up on the waters of New York’s Great South Bay between Long Island and Fire Island. He began racing at the age of 7, and his father dropped his golf game to spearhead a Blue Jays team and racing committee at Babylon Yacht Club in West Islip, N.Y. He has extensive experience in high-level races with his own custom racing sailing yachts, including his Bella Mente Maxi 72.

For F auth, sailing “has always been about interpreting the majestic nature of water. The dynamics of sailing is a three-dimensional chess game. It’s not only you and the wind, it’s you, your crew, your boats, and the tide— what’s happening on the water. It’s a geographic equation. You’re having to think and perform at three different levels, at least.”

He and his wife, Geren, bought a Port Royal home on Naples Bay in 2005 and joined Naples Yacht Club in 2007. Behind their Galleon Drive home is the 30-foot Intrepid, which the family uses for sunset cruises, jaunts to Boca Grande, and fishing trips.

The Fauths also have property in Rhode Island and Colorado. Fauth spends a lot time in Minneapolis, Minn., where the privately held investment firm he founded in 1982, the Churchill Companies, is headquartered. They have three grown children, who all grew up on the water, and six grandchildren.

In March, Fauth, DeVos and American Magic’s skipper and executive director, Terry Hutchinson, held a fundraiser at NYC. It was attended by 80 members, who got to hear first-hand about the behind-the-scenes excitement of this international endeavor. He was happy with the feedback and the generosity. “Everyone really enjoyed it,” he says. “It was all good.” 

Follow American Magic:

americanmagic.americascup.com/en/home

Carving a Path to the Cup

American Magic needs decisive wins in key regattas to advance and face off with the kiwis. Here is the schedule:

ACWS Auckland (December 17-20)

The Prada Cup (January 15-February 22)

36th America’s Cup (March 6-21)