Cup Spy Nov 17: American Magic works out in 20kts..Test sailing begins in earnest for Kiwis
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 18 Nov 2022 10:59 AEDT
18 November 2022
American Magic - AC75 - November 17, 2022 - Pensacola, Fl © Paul Todd/America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - November 16/17, 2022:
- Luna Rossa dropped the mast off their LEQ12, while rigged and before launching on Sunday - just over a week ago and is expected to be out for a "few weeks".
- American Magic was back on the water in Pensacola with the breeze in the 14-18kts range, and had good, but broken session.
- INEOS Britannia are yet to sail their newly launched LEQ12 from Mallorca
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing is back in the shed for an upgrade - not expected to emerge until the end of November.
- Emirates Team New Zealand tested their new wing foil - extending out into the Hauraki Gulf doing straight line speed tests and data collection.
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola
After being plagued by light winds, or confined to being only able to usefully sail in a morning breeze which died off as the day progressed, American Magic got on the water with a piping 14-18kt Northerly breeze which increased to 20kts in the afternoon.
The AC37 Joint Recon team reported that Patriot sailed approximately 24nm comprised of five up/down wind legs.
After sailing for less than 10 minutes, and handling the conditions well. Patriot had a 90 minute outage which we were told in the later interview by Power Team member Trevor Burd was due to hydraulic issues. Adjustments were also made to the boom less, clew sheeted mainsail.
With the hydraulic issues resolved, the team had a solid sailing session for almost an hour sailing at speed around Pensacola Bay in a 17-20kt breeze. Their speed was reported at 38 upwind and 44kts downwind. Those speeds are very comparable with those achieved in the last America's Cup where upwind speeds were in the 36-39kts range, and American Magic turned in the series record top speed of over 53kts downwind, during racing.
"It's great to see all the gear up range and start testing our systems in conditions that have been more breezy we've had last few days. We've had a lot of light air days and dying breeze - so its good to have good breeze all day," Burd said.
Hydraulic caused breakdown issues aside, the progress made in the sailing session of almost 90 minutes is very encouraging for the US team, but no doubt with a long work list to be ticked off. Sea conditions were modest at 1-3ft, but way smaller than the 2 metre swells of Barcelona experienced earlier this week.
"We had a bit of a an issue the hydro zone at one point today and that was a matter of getting the the problem part out, getting it on shore, having the guys take a look at it and then whipping it back out to us," Burd explained.
American Magic was also using a new set of rigging for the first time - delaying the dockout.
"It took us a bit longer to get the rigging of the boat done and all dialled in," Burd explained. "We're just making sure our dock tune is right with our new upgrade shrouds and making sure those were dialled in."
Session Statistics - Pensacola, Fl - November 17, 2022 - American Magic - AC75 Version 2
- Wind Strength 14-18kts (AM) 17-20kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: N(AM) N (PM)
- Sea State: <1-3ft (AM) <1-3ft (PM)
- Roll out: 1057hrs Dock Out: 1230hrs
- Dock In: 1630hrs Crane out: 1700hrs
- Total Tacks: 5 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go:; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Lucas Calibrese, Dan Morris, Terry Hutchinson. Andrew Campbell
Emirates Team New Zealand - LEQ12 - Auckland - November 17, 2022
The Kiwis headed out for a second day of testing on their new wing foil, on Thursday, November 17, 2022.
On paper the first two days looked to be the same but were quite different. Gone was the sunshine and warmth of Wednesday, replaced on Thursday by rain showers, murk and a rougher sea state - but nothing like the 2 metre swells overnight (NZT) of Barcelona.
The Recon Team recorded the breeze as being similar in the morning on both days - except on Wednesday, most would have sold their mothers to be able to go sailing.
On Thursday sitting inside chatting to your dear Mum, while the rain drummed down outside, would have been infinitely preferable to going test sailing in an AC40 in a building nor'easter.
Today, we got better shots of the anhedral test wing foil that Emirates Team New Zealand trotted out yesterday.
It is quite different from the foil wings we saw in the last Cup. This one looks like a product of nature - perhaps modelled on a wandering albatross.
This bird-like wing appears to have a beautiful curved span. By comparison its 2021 Cup antecedents looked to be derived from aircraft - two distinct wings attached to a fuselage or bulb.
Viewed directly side on, the black coloured wing's shape is hard to read against the black portions of the AC40's hull coating. And as a second disguise - the dark coloured sails do a good background camouflage job.
There is an interesting juxtaposition between the tacking /foiling stats - with Wednesday's twirling dance across the Hauraki Gulf being replaced, with the straight lines of Thursday's data collecting test run - and just five tacks on Thursday compared to the 39 of Wednesday. Same story with gybes - Wednesday's 59 gybes became just six on Thursday.
Of course, Wednesday answered the immediate questions on maneuverability of the new wing, but probably more important is the touch down stats - which are as good as the one design wing foil of the AC40 One Design that Emirates Team NZ has been using since they launched almost two months ago. The acid test will come next light weather day to see if the latest foil provides the required amount of lift from its slim profile and section, and almost imperceptible wing flaps.
One would guess that the new slim-line wing is faster than what has gone before - otherwise what's the point?
With this new foil it will be interesting to know by what multiple the boat speed will exceed true wind speed, and what the new wing's terminal speed will be. But we'll be guessing on that one as there is no data provided in the Recon File System.
For the other teams, the America's Cup champions may have pushed out the design/performance envelope more than expected.
We await their response in the coming weeks/months.
Session Statistics - Auckland - November 17, 2022 - Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40/LEQ12
- Wind Strength 6-16kts(AM) 10-18kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: NNE(AM) NNE (PM)
- Sea State: Med Rough (PM)
- Roll out: 1030hrs Dock Out: 1105hrs
- Dock In: 1235hrs Crane out: 1305hrs
- Total Tacks: 5 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 6 - Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge (Helms); Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke (Trimmers)
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.