Cup Spy Nov 4: Kiwis move into Development Mode
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 4 Nov 2022 22:42 PDT
5 November 2022
Emirates Team NZ AC40/LEQ12 - 4 November, 2022 - Waitemata Harbour, Auckland © Adam Mustill / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - November 4, 2022:
- Luna Rossa - No sailing, maybe Saturday when there will be a good Mistral blowing up to 25kts.
- American Magic - No sailing
- INEOS Britannia are yet to sail their newly launched LEQ12 from Mallorca
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - No sailing
- Emirates Team New Zealand - have taken their AC40 out of one-design class, installed some new features and it is now operating as an LEQ12. Their second AC40 arrives next month.
Emirates Team New Zealand - LEQ12 - Auckland
Emirates Team New Zealand have taken their AC40 out of One Design mode, in which it has been sailing for the past 16 sailing sessions, or so, and have turned it into their development boat, or LEQ12, in the parlance of the Protocol governing the next America's Cup.
Quite what has gone on board is not particularly obvious, aside maybe for some more devices in the sailing cockpits. However in this mode - LEQ12 (Less than or EQual to 12metres of overall length) all items are restricted by the numbers permitted to be used in the 2024 campaign. The components all have to be registered and checked off.
The only official notification of the change came in the AC37 Joint Recon system when the photo id changed from "AC40" on November 2 to "LEQ12" on the images for November 4.
From an onlooker's perspective the foil wings and rudder elevator are the same.
Long-time Emirates Team New Zealand team member, Tony Rae was interviewed by the AC37 Joint Recon team after Friday's sail. "Trae" as he is commonly known (everyone in ETNZ has a nick-name) has been with Team NZ, or its first iteration, from the first New Zealand Challenge at Fremantle, in 1987 - along with Kevin Shoebridge and Grant Dalton - now team COO and CEO respectively.
Trae is on his seventh America's Cup, as well as having completed in several Round the World races, including Steinlager 2, with Peter Blake.
Trae is a very safe pair of hands - the person everyone looks to when things turn to custard.
These days, he's on the operations side of the Kiwi team. As well as being a very useful guy to have on the water in any capacity, he is in charge of looking to smooth the way for the day ahead - ensuring the team gets off the dock, fully prepared and there should be no downtime for any foreseeable issue. With the day ahead all sorted, the testing plans can proceed as scheduled, and without any disruption to the team.
He runs through the way the operations team works, on a day to day basis:
"I'm working now with on water operations with Curly (Salthouse - another nickname, but one he picked up as a kid with a mass of curly blonde hair) in charge, and just looking after everything that happens on the water with the chase boats," he explains.
"We've got the hydrogen chaseboat project, which is pretty complex, - but a pretty cool thing to have in our toolkit. It's just keeping it all going on the water. One of my roles is obviously on the water as well on water medic." [Medic is a role he has been trained going back into the early Round the World Race days, which has included stints working a night or two in hospital emergency departments.]
"It's all good and, and we don't have any issues, but the boat (AC40) is fantastic and the boys are having a lot of fun out there."
"The AC40 is a new boat. As you do the time on the water, everything just gets smoother; gets better; you refine different areas - whether it's pulling the sails up and down, or pulling the boat out of the water; who holds what rope, which rope has to be longer or shorter? Plus where the cradle sits, how the mast and the sails come up the dock on a trolley, and who moves that at all."
"We're always looking all these things more efficient, and also safer, I guess."
"It's just going through those processes. And you can always say 'this is how we did it, or this is how we've always done it'. But there will always be a better ways to do it. And the team is great, because everyone's pretty open minded about looking at how we do something better - with sailing the boat; systems on the boat; or how we get the sails to the to the loft; or even just how we park the chase boat. It's just everyone is trying to make it smoother and safer."
"Each sailing day, the guys who are sailing have their own debrief; planning before they go sailing; debrief after sailing and going through numbers, or whatever. Then there's the shore team organising the boat coming out of the water.
"Our area is making sure that the chase boats are 'A1 and Ready to Go' for the next day. And, if that's tomorrow, and we're going out at seven in the morning, then the chase boats have got to be ready to go at 7.00am in the morning. It's a matter of having all those systems in place to ensure that happens."
"We tend to stay together in our own groups/department as such. There's a lot of WhatsApp groups that go around, and to make all those cogs click together."
Session Statistics - Auckland - November 4, 2022 - Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40/LEQ12
- Wind Strength 6-16kts(AM) 12-16kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: W(AM) W (PM)
- Sea State: No Swell (PM)
- Roll out: 0945hrs Dock Out: 1030hrs
- Dock In: 1345hrs Crane out: 1425hrs
- Total Tacks: 28 - Fully foiling: 26; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 19 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge (Helms); Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke (Trimmers)
On-Water AC37 Joint Recon Notes:
Good session on the harbour between A buoy and Royal Akarana Yacht Club. Boat looked fast but twitchy. some very slick manoeuvres but also one or two duds. More straight lining than manoeuvres. I think they were trying to learn the Modes. Some low and slow down wind and some high and slow up wind. The team looked to be enjoying the bear-aways. Sails looked good across the range, no leach flutter observed. Very flat. Mast looked to be at the max rake setting. Mainsail: Some foot flapping noticed on take-off, stopped when up to speed.
Additional Images:
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.