Cup Spy Mar 1-2 : American Magic sails new AC40; Brits have good AC40-OD session
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-world.com/nz 3 Mar 2023 15:29 AEDT
3 March 2023
American Magic - AC40 - Day 9 - March 1, 2023 © Paul Todd/America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - March 1-2, 2023:
- American Magic rolled out their new AC40 One Design and sailed it for over five hours off Pensacola in 12kt winds. They performed 74 manoeuvres dry tacking/gybing in 57 of them - a good result for their first day of sailing. Their Dry Tack/Gybe % of 77% compared very well with the Brits 80% who are now on Day 9 of their AC40 OD program. It is not known what direction the US program direction will take from here. Their AC40 boat number is AC40-5. The Swiss are AC40-4; INEOS has AC40-2 (swapped building slot with ETNZ) and ETNZ has AC40-3 and 40-1).
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 with a new deck layout and other changes after a two-week period in the building shed. See report here See report here
- INEOS Britannia sailed in the AC-40 in One Design configuration (see report below). Their LEQ12 test boat went into the shed on February 8, for repairs after a capsize and battery fire, but what was also planned as a three-week upgrade block - due to be complete around the beginning of March.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rigged up and went on the water off Cagliari. However the wind wasn't aware of the forecast, and didn't show up in sufficient strength to facilitate foiling - even after a tow-up.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail due to a lack of wind in Auckland. The AC75 stayed behind a partially opened shed door today.
- Orient Express Team (formerly French K-Challenge) - no update.
American Magic - AC40 One Design - Pensacola - March 1, 2023 - Day 1
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
The new AC40 was craned in at 8:45, dock out was 9:45. The team began tow testing at 10:40 and concluded at 11:01.
The AC40 was towed at 20k in very light air and flat water.
It took a little over an hour to get the M1 and J1 up, but then the team sailed 3 hours and 20 minutes in this configuration.
The team then hoisted the J3 and sailed on it for 15 minutes. The breeze picked up to around 12k as the J2 was raised and the team elected to sail for almost another hour.
The AC40 then began sailing at 12:25, completed 74 maneuvers, covered a distance of just over 80nm, 17 W/L's, and was on foil for 165 minutes total.
Top speeds were approximately 23k upwind and 33k downwind.
Sailing ended rather abruptly at 16:42 after "some valves got stuck" and the yacht "shut off" (according to the interview with Paul Goodison).
No sailing is expected tomorrow
Session Statistics - Pensacola - March 1, 2023 - American Magic - AC40-One Design - Day 1
- Weather: Mostly cloudy 72°F
- Wind Strength 12kts
- Wind Direction: SW
- Sea State: <1ft chop
- Roll out: 0845hrs Dock Out: 0945hrs
- Dock In: 1730hrs Crane out: 1810hrs
- Total Tacks: 37 - Fully foiling: 28; Touch & Go: 6; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 37 - Fully foiling: 29; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 1
- Dry Tack/Gybe success = 77%
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell
INEOS Britannia - AC40-One Design - Mallorca - March 1, 2023 - Day 9
Top sailing journalist, Justin Chisholm was on the water, as part of the AC37 Joint Recon Team, and made various observations on the British boat:
After 48 hours of constant downpours and strong winds on Mallorca since INEOS Britannia's last sailing day, on Monday, the sun returned to the Mediterranean island for the team's ninth sailing session aboard its one design AC40.
After a 1030 rollout the British yacht was launched at just after 1100 and off the dock an hour later. Outside the harbour a pleasant 8kt southerly breeze had established itself by the time the crew - Giles Scott and Ben Cornish (helming) with Australian pairing Iain Jensen and Luke Parkinson (trimming) - had the M1-1 mainsail and J2-1 headsail hoisted.
Over the next 30 minutes this breeze quickly shifted right to 250 and ramped up to 13 - 15 kts as the team launched into a 70 minute foiling session saw the boat predominantly in the air other than three brief touchdowns (one on a tack and two on gybes).
After changing to the J3 the second session saw the team practice racing for five and a half laps of assured maneuvering around a one-nautical mile windward/leeward course.
The session was curtailed after 35 minutes when the sailors became aware of an oil leak down below. Time was called at 1500 and after a slow speed tow in the boat was back on the dock at 1600.
Session Statistics - Mallorca - March 1, 2023 - INEOS Britannia - AC40-OD - Day 9
- Weather: 10° C
- Wind Strength 8-15kts
- Sea State: Flat sea then slight swell
- Wind Direction: 180-250°
- Roll out: 1102hrs Dock Out: 1202hrs
- Dock In: 1600hrs Crane out: 1630hrs
- Total Tacks: 26 - Fully foiling: 24 Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 26 - Fully foiling: 18; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 4
- Dry Tack/Gybe success = 80%
Crew:Ben Cornish and Giles Scott, Luke Parkinson and Iain Jensen
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - March 2, 2023 - Day 36
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli last sailed on February 24.
From Michele Melis of the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
The LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 at 8:00am, stepped the mast and craned in 20 minutes later while the shore crew run the usual on board checks. Regarding the boat configuration a new pair of PS and SB wings were declared with no major detectable changes.
As the forecast looked quite promising with upper range NW pressure the smaller mainsail M2-1 was locked in the mast fittings with an higher positioned carbon fibre cover on sail tack jointed with a sail patch when hoisted, between the upper battens the usual inflatable tube was pumped.
Unfortunately the forecast revealed itself to be quite lighter then expected while the team docked out and headed just outside of the Cagliari harbour to fully hoist the main + J1-5.1 as the breeze never reached values above 7 kn on the Recon anemometer. The LEQ12 was towed up on its foils three times and slowly transited back to hullborne not finding enough breeze to power up the mainsail.
After completing one foiling gybe the team towed the LEQ12 in front of the Sella del Diavolo for lunch break while awaiting for stronger puffs. As wind shifted to W and decreasing completely slightly afterwards, the team dropped sails at midday and headed back to the dock remaining in stand-by for a second dock out until 3 pm calling it a day at the end. [Michele Melis AC-Recon]
Session Statistics - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - February 24, 2023 - Day 35
- Wind Strength 4-6kts
- Wind Direction: NW
- Weather: Cloudy 9°C
- Sea State: 0.5mtr SE
- Roll out: 0820hrs Dock Out: 1030hrs
- Dock In: 1215hrs Crane out: 1510hrs
- Total Tacks: 1 Fully foiling: ; Touch & Go: ; Touch Down:
- Total Gybes: Fully foiling: ; Touch & Go: ; Touch Down:
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei, Umberto Molineris
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