Cup Spy Nov 8: Swiss continue testing in Jeddah, USA has stutter-start with AC75
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 9 Nov 2023 16:14 AEDT
9 November 2023
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 58 - November 8, 2023 - Jeddah © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
Four America's Cup teams sailed in Cagliari, Barcelona (2) and Jeddah. The Swiss continued their two boat testing program using AC40s in Jeddah, enjoying warm temperatures, steady breezes and flat water. In Barcelona, American Magic had some issues with their AC75 on the water.
What happened in the Cup - November 8, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - sailed their two AC40s from Jeddah, venue for the next America's Cup Preliminary Regatta.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - The Italians sailed their LEQ12 test boat off Cagliari with some FIV coaches on board. The breeze was slow to arrive shortening the session.
- INEOS Britannia - The Brits were back on the water in their test boat/LEQ12 T6, and enjoyed a solid four hour speed testing session.
- American Magic - American Magic had some issues with their AC75 on the water during a tow test - initially forcing a return to base, but on the second attempt technicians were again called on board, and the AC75 did not sail before darkness fell.
- Emirates Team New Zealand - Did not sail .
- Orient Express Racing Team - Their AC40 is en route to Jeddah.
- All teams are/have shipped AC40s to Jeddah for the second Preliminary Event at the end of November. No further official update on security concerns.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - November 8, 2023 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled their AC40-4 (Yellow) and AC40-7 (Red, distinguished by the Red Vilanova sticker on the mainsail head) at 09:00hrs and 09:35hrs respectively. A black line was sprayed on the outer wingtips of the red boat at the last minute before crane in. Both vessels were afloat by 10:00hrs, with Flight Control System (FCS) checks occurring just off the dock. Following standard pre-sail procedures, both boats docked out at 11:30hrs.
Both mainsails were hoisted just off the dock, with the red boat hoisting an OD mainsail, while the yellow boat hoisted the M1-2 LE mainsail. The yachts were then towed out of the Obhur Creek, the yellow boat hoisted the J1-3 LE jib and the J1-2 LE jib on the red boat. Sailing commenced at 12:00hrs under wind conditions ranging from 6-8kts at 225°, slowly increasing, while the sea remained flat all day.
The initial sailing stint saw side-by-side runs, with the yellow boat demonstrating superior speed, particularly upwind. During this phase, the wind speed incrementally increased to 8-10 knots at 255° by 12:50. The leeward trimmer could be seen standing to observe the wingtips during speed runs.
Stint 2 started after a brief five-minute interval, featuring split tacks upwind where the yellow boat clearly had better VMG. Manoeuvres started to show a slight decline in consistency, highlighted by the yellow boat's touch-down during a tack. The duo regrouped to sail downwind in sync, gybe towards the course start line. The course was set at 260°.
In Stint 3, the red boat led the one-lap race from start to finish. The yellow boat dropped and lifted the windward foil before rounding the windward mark, perhaps accidentally, slowing them down and allowing the red boat to extend its lead. Both boats rounded the starboard leeward mark which was clearly the better choice, and continued a few more hunted meters upwind before turning back to the start to prepare for the next race.
After a lunch break and debrief, the course was adjusted to 255°. Stint 4 involved a practice start with the red boat executing a good start while the yellow boat struggled with a touch-down on a gybe onto the start layline. Both boats returned to the start line and stopped for sail adjustments, focusing on lower batten tension before resuming racing. This time both boats sailed for opposite boundaries, with the yellow boat leading at the windward gate, and controlling the downwind to win the second race.
The final stint saw an aggressive pre-start, with the red boat taking the lead, remaining dominant upwind and securing the victory in the third race, despite a close battle. Both boats then returned towards Obhur Creek, concluding sailing activities at 15:30hrs with sails dropped and a tow back to base.
In total, the team spent four hours on the water, with 150 minutes dedicated to sailing. Out of 88 observed maneuvers, a remarkable 97% were fully foiling. 43nm were covered by the recon unit.
The post-sailing debrief included insights from Gautier Sergeant, who confirmed the J1 jibs' performance differences were primarily due to sail shape variations. Notably, the black lines previously sprayed on the wingtips were absent post-crane out.
[Report from AC37 Joint Recon Team in Jeddah]
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Nico Charbonnier, Phil Robertson, Nico Rolaz, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey, Jason Waterhouse
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40x2 - Day 58 - November 8, 2023 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Weather: Sunny, 36°. Part cloudy
- Wind Strength 6-12kts
- Wind Direction: 225° - 260°
- Sea State: Beaufort 2
- Crane In: 0930/0955hrs Dock Out: 1130hrs
- Dock In: 1545hrs Crane out: 1600'1635hrs
- Total Tacks: 47 - Fully foiling: 46; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 41 - Fully foiling: 39; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
American Magic - AC75 - Day 46 - November 8, 2023 - Barcelona
New York Yacht Club American Magic's second generation AC75 Patriot underwent a long day of systems checks and debugging which saw the boat wheeled out from the shed just half an hour after sunrise this morning and dock in half an hour before sunset.
After launching at 0950hrs the boat left the dock at 1232hrs with the mainsail aboard and exited the harbour on a bow tow at 1245hrs. An initial attempt at a tow up (sails down) was quickly aborted after the boat rose from the water steeply inclined with the bow up and then hobby horsed up and down for several seconds before splashing down.
The second attempt was more successful and the team began an hour of tow testing parallel to the coast at speeds in the 25 to 30 knot range on a flat sea. Much of the time the boat was angled noticeably bow down with the stern accordingly angled steeply up.
A 10 minute stop at 1320hrs saw two support crew board the boat carrying laptops. After turning through 180 degrees, towing began again but at this point we were informed that the boat was returning to the dock to collect some parts.
The boat reached the harbour entrance on foils and arrived at the dock at 1410hrs. 55 minutes passed before the team docked out again – this time with the mainsail plugged in. The mainsail hoist took place in the harbour and was completed by 1525hrs with a J3 headsail hoisted by 1535hrs.
The boat remained in this configuration for the next hour and a half while at least one support crew member worked on board on a laptop – presumably debugging an issue. With sunset looming time was called shortly before 1700 with sails quickly dropped and the boat back on the dock by 1712hrs.
Another early roll out has been scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday November 9) when a full day of sailing is anticipated.
Report from from Sebastian Peri Brusa - AC37 Joint Recon Team
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 -Day 46 - November 8, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Clear 16° C
- Wind Strength: 9kts - 10kts
- Wind Direction: 180°
- Sea State: Mostly flat.
- Crane In: 0950hrs Dock Out: 1232hrs
- Dock In: 1712hrs Crane out: 1740hrs
- Total Tacks: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 96 - November 8, 2023 - Cagliari - AC37 Joint Recon Unit
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:20hrs, stepped mast and craned the yacht in by 11:30hrs.
Dockout was scheduled for 12:30hrs and the shore team run through the usual dock checks. Similar to the previous day, as the yacht was being towed out of the harbour, the offshore Maestrale seemed a bit patchy distributed over the gulf. Indeed very light and marginal being measured 320° blowing 5-7 kts while main M1-1 and jib J1.5-2 were being hoisted.
The LEQ12 was boarded by four crew members only and, towed up on port tack but quickly back hullborne exiting the first manoeuvre.
Quickly towed up again, the LEQ12 successfully completed two tacks before dropping back hullborne on a reach entering a lull. The team then awaited for then wind to fill back again and towed the LEQ12 back towards closer ashore of Cagliari where some puffs could be seen under some rainy clouds.
With 6-8kts from 310°, an approx. 10 minutes foiling stint followed with several tacks in light airs before the pressure dropped again as the rain vanished and the sky cleared. Several hydraulic and electronic technicians jumped on board and went under the hatches.
A longer break followed as no puff could be seen in the whole gulf for approx 1hour. At 15:00hrs the offshore Maestrale pressure filled in with 9-11kt from 325° and the LEQ12 sailed for approx. 15 minutes, perhaps running through some modes and boat setups while straightline sailing with six6 crew members on board.
After a successful JK (270° mark rounding), the team decelerated dropping both boards and the guest seats were boarded by two FIV (Italian Sailing Federation) coaches while the flight trimmers swapped.
As the breeze was now steadily distributed over the flat waters, the longest foiling stint lasting approximately 40 minutes, was recorded with the LEQ12 sailing mostly upwind at first executing a small number of tacks end-plating on straight line before bearing away on starboard tack and going for some downwind speed runs before trimming up again. The LEQ12 came to a stop offshore downwind, here the breeze was measured 10-12kts from 320° and the guests swapped with additional sailors from Chase-1. Once towed up again, the LEQ12 sailed upwind for a while completing two tacks before testing bearing away slowly on port tack, gybing and falling hullborne on the second gybe from starboard to port tack. The wind had dropped again and sails were lowed at 1620hrs. Following has been recorded for the day: 84 foiling minutes, 14 tacks and 13 gybes
Report from AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis .
Crew: (Co-Helms): Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei, Umberto Molineris
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - November 8, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather:Cloudy, 23°
- Wind Strength 5-12kts
- Wind Direction: 320° - 325°
- Sea State: Flat sea
- Dockout: 1230hrs Dock In: 16300hrs
- Total Tacks: 14 - Fully foiling: 8; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 4
- Total Gybes: 11 - Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 2
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 81 - November 8, 2023 - Barcelona
Team INEOS Britannia rolled out their LEQ12 at 10:10hrs, with foil wing and flap #1 on the port side, foil wing and flap #2 on the starboard side, and with their repaired LEQ R01 rudder.
T6 was craned to the water at 11:00hrs and the team docked out at 12:00hrs, as planned, with Dylan Fletcher and Ian Jensen on starboard, and with Giles Scott and Bleddyn Mon on port.
The same MN1-3 mainsail and J2-3 jib as yesterday were selected for today´s session.
Both sails were hoisted at 12:20hrs, and at 12:39hrs, respectively, after sorting out an issue with the main lock that required the team´s rigger to be sent up to the top of the mast.
Today´s training compared to the past two days seemed to be more focused on sailing on target speeds and angles, specifically focusing on the boat balance and sail trimming.
The day started at 12:50hrs performing two long upwind-downwind legs, mostly sailing on a straight line. On the last downwind leg, big zigzags were executed, possibly with the intention to continue to test the modifications on the control systems performed during the past two weeks.
At 13:58hrs there was a half an hour break in which the J2-3 got replaced by the J4-2. Immediately after hoisting the J4-2, it had to be lowered for a slight adjustment that took less than five minutes. Then it was re-hoisted.
At 14:25hrs INEOS continued with the training, performing two more upwind-downwind legs.
It called my attention the aggressiveness of the movements of the main traveler to control the boat balance and heel angle; and at times it was combined with significant and fast changes on the course. On top of that, when talking about the heel angle when going upwind, T6 seems not to be sailed slightly heeled to windward as the in-class AC40s. They sail much more upright.
At 15:10hrs there was another 15-minute break before doing the last long down-up-down-up of the day. Adjustments were made on the main clew once more.
Today´s sailing sessions´ conditions were pretty similar to the those of the previous day but starting lighter. A building south-westerly breeze prevailed during the day, very stable in direction slightly turning right during the day from 205°to 215° and building in intensity from 6 to 15 kts measured at sea level.
T6 entered the port at 16:20hrs, sails were lowered ten minutes after, the boat docked at 16:45hrs and was craned out of the water half an hour later, indicating the end of the day.
Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on INEOS Britannia
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 38 - November 8, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny, 20°.
- Wind Strength 13-21kts
- Wind Direction: 250°-295°
- Sea State: 0.3mtr swell
- Crane In: 1012hrs Dock Out: 1130hrs
- Dock In: 1500hrs Crane out: 1530hrs
- Total Tacks: 3 - Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 3 - Fully foiling: 3; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Dylan Fletcher, Giles Scott, Iain Jensen, Bleddyn Mon
This commentary was written and compiled from video, still images and statistical content extracted from the AC37 Joint Recon program and other material available to Sail-World NZ including photo files, and other on the water coverage from the 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021 America's Cups. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snapshot of all teams' progress on a given day or period.