No further developments from the late entry French K-Challenge. An announcement was expected in mid-late January according to an earlier announcement by the Late Entry team.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Barcelona - January 20, 2023 - Day 37
The AC37 Joint Recon team report: Alinghi rolled out at 10:30, a late start in order to find the afternoon breeze due to a 180 deg turn from North to South at midday.This made for cross conditions, with wind from the South and waves from the East. The team was on the water for a total of 3hours, despite only managing upwind sailing for 35 minutes.
The mainsail was hoisted in the port, the yacht then towed North to Montgat to find calmer conditions. The J3 was hoisted and the team sailed upwind along the coast on port tack, stopping after 15 minutes due to a sensor issue around the mast base. This was quickly resolved with onboard maintenance.
The team continued upwind for another 20 minutes, attempting two foiling tacks before calling an end to the session on account of the difficult conditions. It was quoted as "the coldest day on the water so far".
But actually, it seemed like you had a little bit of a problem somewhere at the mass base. Could you tell us what was happening? "We saw that we had a little bit of a sensor issue. It took a good 15 minutes to solve the problem. And then we could go back into sailing," Yves Detrey said later.
Only one of the sailors aboard Alinghi RBR had AC75 experience - Pietro Sibello, who was with Luna Rossa in 2021 AC. Helmsman coach Dean Barker is back in Auckland competing in the ILCA7 Nationals/Masters. (He finished second in the Masters, behind a former Masters World Champion).
The video below shows Te Aihe being sailed by Emirates Team New Zealand, in Auckland, in December 2019, in a wind against tide condition and winds that were recorded at 28kts. It shows the AC75 charging upwind, without noticeably slowing, and holds its momentum.
The second [bottom] video is from the Recon File System and a 6 minute clip of Alinghi RBR sailing to windward off Barcelona. It is not known if the Swiss are using the same flight control system as the Kiwis used on Te Aihe, or if they have one they have developed themselves. Also whether they are flying on auto-pilot or under manual control.
A third short video clip shows an Int foiling Moth sailing in the same seaway and looking very comfortable.
The videos also give an idea of the sea state off Barcelona - remembering that the camera flattens the wave height. Also that the sea state in Barcelona is a lot more irregular than that in Auckland, which was a flat water venue.
The other point with the bottom video is that the AC75 appears to be heading offshore, and as so often is the case in that situation, a confused sea state tends to become more regular.
It is plain that Barcelona is not a flat water, landlocked venue, like Auckland, Bermuda or San Francisco. That asks designers the question as to whether they make the AC75 easier to sail in a seaway, or if they continue with cute wingfoil enhancements - which may be a little faster than their rivals, but make the AC75 more difficult to sail - or have a boat that is more forgiving of a sailor error. Remember too, that Emirates Team New Zealand's philosophy in the last two Cups was one of no compromise on speed. In other words, the designers task was to develop the fastest possible boat/configuration and it was up the sailing team, being professional sailors, to learn how to sail it.
Whether that philosophy will be continued will be one of the interesting aspects of the 2024 America's Cup.
[Apologies for the quality of the video, it is not easy shooting from a powerboat/RIB at 30kts heading into a sea way. As anyone who has tried to film AC75's in moderate seas will know, the hydrofoils and catamarans before them, will easily outrun all but the most solid, and heaviest RIB.]
Session Statistics - Barcelona - January 20, 2023 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Version 1
- Wind Strength 12-16kts (PM)
- Wind Direction:
- Sea State: SS4 1 - 1.3mtr with E swell
- Roll out: 1100hrs Dock Out: 1255hrs
- Dock In: 1600hrs Crane out: 1625hrs
- Total Tacks: 4 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew:
Driving Group:Arnaud Psarofaghis, Pietro Sibello, Lucien Cujean, Yves Detrey, Nicolas Charbonnier, Maxime Bachelin| Flight Control: Yves Detrey, Bryan Mettreaux Power Group: Nils Theuninck, Nico Rolaz
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola - January 19, 2023 - Day 35
From the AC 37 Joint Recon Team: Patriot sailed inshore today, covered approximately 71 nm, comprised of 10 W/L legs. Five headsails were loaded into the support RIB, 2 were used. Sailing began at 12:55, completed 37 maneuvers and ended sailing at 16:44.
Patriot had a total flying time of 111 Minutes. Top speeds were approximately 37kts upwind and 43kts downwind (according to RIB GPS). The highest wind speed recorded today was 9k (1404hrs) and it got as low as 4k (1317hrs).
Patriot's boat speeds seemed higher today than in prior sessions in similar conditions. The cyclists were back on board today and based on the interview the new equipment is installed and functioning as designed. Patriot is not expected to roll out again until Monday 1/23.
Session Statistics - Pensacola - January 19, 2023 - American Magic - AC75 V1.5
- Wind Strength 4-9kts SW (PM)
- Sea State: <1ft (PM)
- Roll out: 10.55hrs Dock Out: 12.30hrs
- Dock In: 17.05hrs Crane out: 17.30hrs
- Total Tacks: 21 - Fully foiling: 12; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 4
- Total Gybes: 16 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Riley Gibbs, Andrew Campbell, Colten Hall/ John Croom/ Madison Molitar/ Trevor Burd/ Taylor Brown/ James Wright/ Tim Hornsby
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40-LEQ Boat 1 - Auckland - January 20, 2023 - Day 10
Emirates Team New Zealand again sailed their AC40-1 in LEQ12 mode.
The AC 37 Joint Recon Team set the scene: There was a fresh SW (offshore) breeze mostly 14-23kts according to Predictwind readings in the area.
Stunning mid to top end day around the inner Hauraki Gulf. Plenty of breeze and changing sea state depending on where they were. Boat looked dialled in and in control for 98% of the day. More than 50NM sailed in just on three hours sailing time.
Friday was a great sailing day in Auckland, with bright sunshine, clear skies and 26°C with plenty of breeze and plenty of different sea states.
As mentioned ETNZ had a good session covering 50nm covered in less than four hours. That included downtime while the sails were lowered and battens resecured.
After the sailing session, Nathan Outteridge was asked by the AC37 Joint Recon team for a breakdown of the day.
“It was a good day today. We haven't been out on a lot of breeze for a long time. For all of us on board, it was good fun sending it at the high speeds again and we saw upwards of 20 knots of breeze, at times which is a good southwester. It was good fun, we ripped down to the backpack and did a few laps down the back paddock and then kept going further and further offshore just chasing more wind and waves and ended up with a long upwind home.
On the wind against tide creating rough water: “When you get to those bits where there is wind against tide, you do get some good chop. And we were just testing the limits on how high you can fly, and how well the foil behaves, at those high ride heights.
“I think anyone who knows foiling, knows less foil immersion is generally quicker, but if you get a bit too high, you get too much air on the foil and the boat drops down.
“Obviously we've got a test foil on and the one design foil on so just trying to learn a bit about those. And it was a pretty good day for it. We never saw any real big waves. If you want to replicate the waves like Barcelona you’ve got to wait till the wind is blowing onshore [NE]. We went about as far as we could to try and find some waves out there and not enough, really.
“We were on manual control [foil control] today. Blair and Andy are doing an awesome job on the flying. You know, players obviously got heaps of experience. I think the two of them are working really well together. And you know that you can, you can be sailing with teams where it's really breezy, and the columns get quite elevated, but it was pretty calm on board today. And that was good fun. It was quite cool for me to just be amongst a good group of guys again, and be out there sending it. Just seeing how far we've come over the last few months is pretty impressive, too.
On canting the AC40 to windward or leeward: “We chase it [cant] all around a little bit depending upon what mode you want to sail. Ideally, we're trying to sail the boat as fast as we can. If we get a little bit out of kilter, we can correct that with, the cant, the flap, and also the rudder to try and like keep everything balanced.
“The last thing you want to do is pop a rudder out of the water or have the hull touchdown. If in doubt, you prefer a whole touchdown than the rudder out of the water.
“For me, it's learning all these new techniques on these boats. Pete and Blair have been doing it for a very long time. So it's quite cool to be getting coached from the leeward side from Pete on my performance and when he's quiet, I know that I'm doing an okay job.”
Session Statistics - Auckland - January 20, 2022 - Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40-1 LEQ12
- Wind Strength 14-22kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: SW (PM)
- Weather: Temperature: 24 degreesC
- Sea State: Wind against tide(PM)
- Roll Out: 1130hrs; Dock Out: 1257hrs
- Dock In: 1605hrs; Crane Out: 1630hrs
- Total Tacks: 28 - Fully foiling: 26; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 10 - Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge (co-helms), Andy Maloney and Blair Tuke (trimming)
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Mallorca - January 20, 2023 - Day 37
Top international sailing journalist, Justin Chisholm, is a member of the AC37 Recon Team assigned to monitor and report on INEOS Britannia. He reports: A non-sailing day after the weather in Palma conspired against the British team despite a super early 0730 roll out time aimed at catching a morning weather window with enough breeze to sail before the expected 1300 shut-off.
What transpired was a 20 knots plus of breeze from the north with a heavy swell left over from strong southerly winds overnight. The team held their LEQ12 ashore - on the dock and ready to go while INEOS Britannia head of sailing Giles Scott and coach Xavi Fernandez made four runs out the harbour in a chase boat to assess the situation.
Eventually dock out took place just before 1415 but once out of the harbour it was immediately clear that this would be a towing day. The crew - helmsmen Scott and Leigh McMillan, along with flight controllers Bleddyn Mon and Luke Parkinson - made six foiling runs on flat water but still with significant swell running.
Newly spotted on the boat were two estimated one metre horizontal lateral masthead aerial brackets, each fitted with what are believed to be high accuracy GPS aerials, a white vertical bracket in the starboard aft cockpit with a unit mounted horizontally on it (believed to be an Aruba wireless access point and was removed before sailing), and a grey unit fitted to a bracket previously spotted on the starboard side of the bow.
Session Statistics - Mallorca - January 14, 2023 - INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 12
- Wind Strength 5-9kts (AM) 0-6kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: N
- Roll out: 0735hrs Dock Out: 1413hrs
- Dock In: Crane out: 1700hrs
- Total Tacks: 4 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Giles Scott, Ben Cornish, Leigh McMillan, Bleddyn Mon
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.