Cup Spy Nov 8: Sailing resumes in AC75's
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 8 Nov 2022 19:01 PST
9 November 2022
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - November 8, 2022 - Barcelona © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - November 8, 2022:
- Luna Rossa dropped mast off LEQ12, while rigged and before launching on Sunday - expected to be out for a "few weeks".
- American Magic sailed the AC75 off Pensacola in light airs with Hurricane Nicole's advance expected to have an impact later in the week.
- INEOS Britannia are yet to sail their newly launched LEQ12 from Mallorca
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 from Barcelona after chasing the breeze early on, they had a solid sailing session
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail - crew have left to contest the SailGP regatta
Both Swiss and US America's Cup teams had somewhat similar days, sailing their AC75's.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing, with Dean Barker aboard, had a good session once they got into a solid breeze off Barcelona.Spain.
The boat is being sailed with a bow-down trim, which is different from the way it was sailed by Emirates Team NZ in Auckland - where the fore and after trim was more level. American Magic is also very bow down, getting very close to the surface and maximising the end plate effect between the wind and water.
Both teams are running boomless mainsails which in Alinghi's case has been on since October 29, while American Magic's has been in operation since they resumed sailing operations.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 Version 1 - Barcelona
"We spent a couple hours looking for wind," Design Co-Ordinator Adolfo Carrau said dockside, after the sailing was finished.
"All day it was a bit up and down. So we had to do a few jib changes. We spent the whole day trying different techniques and settings. Some things were working, some things were not working. But all in all, it was a pretty useful day. We've managed to collect a little data, which is good.
"It's [the boomless mainsail] is quite nice. It's reliable, and it's doing what it should."
Alinghi Red Bull Racing is running different sailing crew either side, and with different foils on either side. The Swiss say there is a significant difference from each side.
"That's why we need to collect a lot of data. We are rotating sailors in order to make sure we can compare apples with apples. Everything is very asymmetric and we are trying to be consistent," the spokesman said.
The video below shows a long unbroken sailing sequence by Alinghi Red Bull Racing - the consistent flight height is a big step up for the Swiss team over their first sailing block. There are also a couple of foiling gybe attempts in the clip.
Session Statistics - Barcelona - November 8, 2022 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Version 1
- Wind Strength 5kts (AM) 11kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: SW (AM) SW (PM
- Sea State: 1 0.5m E swell(AM) 2 with 0.5m E swell(PM)
- Roll out: 0915hrs Dock Out: 1115hrs
- Dock In: 1630hrs Crane out: 1725hrs
- Total Tacks: 2 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 5 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 3
Crew:
Driving Group: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Dean Barker, Yves Detrey, Pietro Sibello | Power Group: Nicolas Rolaz, Nils Theuninck, Augustin Maillefer, Thery Schir, Nico Stalberg, Florian Tub
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola
"We had another one of our classic early starts in Pensacola with, like, proper solid morning breeze," Dan Morris told the AC37 Joint Recon team in a dockside interview after the day's sailing. It fades really quickly by the time it's lunchtime. But what's great is that you learn so much when you have the same conditions day in and day out.
"We had to call it 'delivered' in a big way, a lot of lessons learned on the water, and conditions were enough to give us the opportunity to test a bunch of different systems, sails, cycling systems and, and the performance of athletes on the boat."
Session Statistics - Pensacola, Fl - November 8, 2022 - American Magic - AC75 Version 2
- Wind Strength 8-10kts (AM) 6-8kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: 055(AM) 070 (PM)
- Sea State: <1ft (AM) <1ft (PM)
- Roll out: 0652hrs Dock Out: 0828hrs
- Dock In: 1245hrs Crane out: 1315hrs
- Total Tacks: 20 - Fully foiling: 9; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 7
- Total Gybes: 5 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 5
Crew: Paul Goodison, Lucas Calibrese, Riley Gibbs, Dan Morris, Terry Hutchinson
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.