Cup Spy Dec 12 : Luna Rossa has a productive winter sailing day
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-world.com/nz 13 Dec 2022 19:40 AEDT
14 December 2022
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - December 12, 2022 - Cagliari, Sardinia © Ivo Rovira / America'sCup
What happened in the Cup - Dec 12, 2022:
- Luna Rossa sailed their LEQ12 on the Gulf of Cagliari, in a light to moderate breeze and flat water and looked to have a good day
- American Magic last sailed on Friday, Dec 9
- INEOS Britannia stayed in the shed in Barcelona
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing went into the shed in Barcelona on November 16, for upgrades and is yet to emerge
- Emirates Team New Zealand are repairing their AC40/LEQ20 after a violent nosedive on November 21. They are expected to sail late this week.
- There has been no progress this week on a final decision on the issue of INEOS Britannia’s Instrumentation Pole, which is claimed by others to be a Mast Tube.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, December 12, 2022, Cagliari, Sardinia
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli was reported to have had a productive sailing day for the team.
The AC37 Joint Recon team noted that while the team was running through the usual checks on the LEQ12, Francesco Bruni and Hamish Wilcox left the dock on a RIB to check the wind conditions out of the Porto di Cagliari and made a decision where to head and hoist the sails later on.
After dock out, the team headed towards Capitana to found some light NW breeze in the large Golfo degli Angeli. Breeze increased and shifted to W-WNW in the afternoon giving to the team the chance to push the prototype.
Several tow-to-fly take offs in lighter conditions. With stronger afternoon breeze, the prototype was able to self take off switching crew configuration on board, with up to six crew on board.
Observation of slick foil-to-foil maneuvers in higher breeze while several touch downs and gos in lighter conditions with different on board crew configurations.
The team sailed with mostly a J#1 being used for two hours and the J#2 for 40 minutes, presumably when the breeze freshened. Despite the comment of the observation team a 57% dry tacking rate and a 42% dry gybing percentages are not particularly good, but could be attributed to the fact that the LEQ12 is a relatively new boat, also with six crew on board, the prototype is heavily loaded in the relatively light winds.
On the RFS video of the day, when tacks were videoed the camera stopped shooting too quickly - we good see the LEQ12 start to sink 5 secs after passing head to wind, but the show was not held long enough to capture the exit from the tack and to be able to determine whether it was a dry tack, or otherwise.
Session Statistics - Cagliari - December 12, 2022 - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12
- Wind Strength 6-9kts (AM) 10-14kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: NW (AM) WNW (PM)
- Sea State: (AM) Flat
- Roll out: 0900hrs Dock Out: 1130hrs
- Dock In: Crane out: 1530hrs
- Total Tacks: 7 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 7 - Fully foiling: 3; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 3
Crew: Jimmy Spithill, Francesco Bruni, Bruno Rosetti, Umberto Molineris, Andrea Tesei, Marco Gradoni
Additional Images: