Cup Spy: Three Sailings and a Splash in the last 24 hours, as the teams get some serious traction.
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 14 Oct 2022 01:13 PDT
14 October 2022
American Magic test sail- AC75 - Pensacola, Fl, USA - October 13, 2022 © Paul Todd / America's Cup
Three America's Cup teams have sailed in the last 24hrs or so, in New Zealand, Spain and the USA, with a fourth launching their Surrogate boat (LEQ12) in Italy.
It is now apparent that the teams are taking quite different approaches in their build up and design testing phase, and there will be no real indication of their 2024AC thinking, until the race boats get launched, in about 18 months. However the cut-off for hull design decisions is starting to with six months remaining. The other major components - rigs, sails, wings and appendages are on a later, individual timelines - but they are also subject to limitations on the number that can be constructed/trialed, as are race boat parts.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing
On Thursday, in the 2024 America's Cup venue, Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 'Boat Zero' in what were described as the freshest breeze to date. A westerly breeze of 10-12kts swung to the SW in the afternoon increasing to 16-18kts - however crew member Bryan Mettraux reported they'd seen 25kts at one stage. The Swiss crew are still working into the AC75 and did mainly straight-line sailing with only a few maneuvers.
On Friday, Alinghi Red Bull Racing had a day at the other end of the wind scale, getting Boat Zero foilborne when the wind was above 6kts - which is a good effort. They covered 40nm in a five four session on the water. Again the team was not able to achieve a foiling tack or gybe - which is not easy in lighter breezes.
They are expected to resume training on Monday. It will be interesting to see how many consecutive days they sail next week, as currently they are putting in big hours - but then they have to if they are to catch up to the other Challengers who are in their second campaigns in the AC75.
NYYC American Magic
In Pensacola, American Magic had their first sail, in light winds of 3-5kts in Patriot, their AC75 from the 2021 America's Cup in Auckland. Helmsman Paul Goodison revealed after the sail that the team had taken a different approach with the AC75. Rather than start up where they left off in Auckland, the team have made major changes to the systems incorporating some ideas used by other teams in the last Cup, but with a few new ones, too.
The most obvious change has been the switch to a boomless mainsail. Goodison said that the day was all about structural testing, with all systems being loaded up. As with the other teams sails were hoisted to check the geometry was correct. "Some fitted, some needed a bit of work," Goodison commented. "We had a really good day," he added.
Emirates Team New Zealand
In Auckland, Emirates Team New Zealand continued testing their AC40 - today in what was expected to be a top-end breeze and sea-state. In the end the wind almost got there, but not quite. I watched the entire two hour session, with the assistance of a pair of excellent Fujinon 14x auto-stabilised binoculars.
The team sailed mainly in the Course C and D areas used for the 2021 America's Cup - which gave a straight-line track of 6nm in a ESE breeze averaging 17-20kts with gusts to 20-23kts. The top end wind-strength for America's Cup racing is a sustained gust of 23kts for a period of 30 secs three minutes before the start. Clearly these conditions were top-end race conditions for AC75's and just a nice fresh breeze for Optimists and everyone else.
The test came with the sea condition, and while there was a slight swell, the sea-state had a fetch of 17nm starting at the bottom end of Waiheke Island and a further 13 nm from the Coromandel peninsular. As well there was a strong outgoing tide - a wind against tide condition. The tide was still relatively high, having turned at 1117hrs and was a 3.2metre tide. The high tide meant there was a low of rebounding wave action off a lee shore, from wind and large boat wakes. However the AC40 avoided most of that, copping it occasionally when they ventured into a channel between one of the several islands which ensure the area is virtually landlocked.
So we didn't see the cross swell and wind chop conditions expected off Barcelona. Nathan Outteridge later commented that one of the main objectives for the day was to get a signoff from a load perspective. "No alarms went off today, which was fantastic".
The crew also did some sail geometry testing, leaving harbour with a J2 hoisted which they knew was too big for the conditions. But the geometry, particularly the jib clew needed to be checked with the jib sheeted hard under load. In the shelter of Moutihe Island at the top of the track, the jib was changed down a size or two for the rest of the two-hour session.
Overall the AC40 handled the conditions well. There was only one serious nosedive that we saw, in a wind against tide condition just east of Browns Island (Motukorea) where they would have copped the worst of the tide going against the wind chop, and with a bit of swell for good measure. It was a regulation nosedive for a foiler, with a lot of water being thrown wide and sufficiently high to obscure all the signage on the AC40 mainsail. However the AC40's bow volume kicked in and all came out the other side OK.
There was the usual immediate round up as the crew dropped off the foils to check themselves, and the boat.
From Outteridge's comments on boatspeed on the dock, the AC40 would have been travelling at well above 45kts at the time, as they were in the area of strongest and constant breeze, and the worst sea state.
If that episode didn't set off a load alarm, then nothing will.
Outteridge added that they were seeing VMG's in excess of 40kts - which is impressive.
Other than that incident the AC40 looked like 49er in those conditions, impressive speed through the water, trimmed well, and sailing very fast. The bear-aways would have been character-forming, but this form of sailing is not for the faint hearted.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
In Cagliari, Sardinia the Italian team, Luna Rossa launched their Surrogate yacht (meaning that it is less than the maximum length for permitted Surrogate yacht). In this Cup the Surrogates are known as LEQ12's - Less than or EQual to 12 metres overall length. By all accounts the occasion had the usual Prada touch of simple chic, surperbly executed.
The reported reason for the development of a LEQ12, rather than use of an AC40, that the team felt it was easier to have the flexibility offered by having a separate test boat, rather than use an AC40, which had to be put back into strict One Design class conformity for racing in the America's Cup Preliminary Events.
INEOS Britannia
There has been no announcement from the British team, INEOS Britannia as to which they will launch first - their AC40, which has left McConaghy's facility in China, or their LED12 - being built by Carrington Boats in the UK. Additionally the Brits have to ready a sailing base in Majorca, Spain.
With the exception of the Swiss, the other three teams are sailing out of their existing bases in Auckland, Florida and Caligari.