Sometimes the magic just doesn’t happen. The New York Yacht Club’s American Magic team, the U.S. Challenger was eliminated from competing in the 36th races for the America’s Cup.  The elimination follows four straight losses against the Challenger of Record, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli of Italy.  The Luna Rossa team will now advance to the Finals of the Prada Cup where they will compete with Ineos Team UK for the right to challenge the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, for the Cup in races starting on March 6.

The American Magic team really never recovered from the disastrous crash and capsize that seriously damaged the boat Patriot‘s hull and destroyed much of its electronics and control systems, two weeks ago. After round-the-clock repairs and reconstruction, Patriot was able to return just in time to sail in the semifinal series. Completing the work in such a constrained time window was a victory in its own right. The victory, however, was short-lived.

The repairs to the boat also meant, however, that the American Magic team couldn’t sail in the Round-robin races 3 and 4, losing the opportunity to refine their skills aboard Patriot.  The team also suffered mechanical failure. During one race on Saturday, after taking a small early lead against Luna Rosa, Patriot experienced a malfunction of the Foil Cant System (FCS), losing the race by four minutes. Spinsheet quotes America’s Cup Hall of Fame member Gary Jobson who noted that “clearly the boat that went racing today wasn’t the same boat that we saw before the capsizing.”