Cup Spy - April 5-6, 2023:Swiss capsize, Kiwis hit over 4x windspeed, Luna Rossa has new wingfoil
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 7 Apr 2023 05:03 PDT
7 April 2023
AC40 OD - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - April 5, 2023 - Barcelona - Day 16 © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - April 5-6, 2023:
- Luna Rossa relaunched their LEQ12 test boat from Cagliari, and had a commissioning session of over 20 hours hitting speeds of over 45kts. A new wing has been fitted to the port side foil arm
- Emirates Team New Zealand sailed in a light but building sea breeze, ahead of a significant weather system advancing down New Zealand's east coast. The Recon team claimed the upgraded AC75 hit speeds of 45kts sailing home, on a long downwind reach
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed out of Barcelona, but had some issues with the autopilot (flight control system developed by the Swiss) and their AC40 One Design nosedived and capsized, bringing the session to an end. It is believed that there was no damage to the AC40. The team was training in moderate winds with a small swell running directly against the wind direction.
- INEOS Britannia last sailed on Tuesday April 4, from Palma, with Team Principal Jim Ratcliffe dropping in on the session.
- American Magic last sailed on Tuesday April 4, 2023
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - April 6, 2023 - Day 46
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
After 10 days in the shed, the LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 13:00, stepped the mast and craned in undergoing the usual protocol checks at the dock as dockout was scheduled 1,5h later.
Similar to last sailing day, several sailors were involved in these routine procedures under guidance of shore crews. The AC37 Joint Recon Unit has been allocated a new square position - providing a clean view of the LEQ12 when on the dock.
On the boat side configuration, a new portside wing was noted replacing the previously switched anhedral wing. The new flat wing seems to be larger in span with a sharp longer bulb and fairings on the arm stock. The setup of its flap control surfaces is yet to be analysed by help of additional shots from below, above and square on.
On starboard the previously declared flat wing was recognized with some newly added fences on its arm stock, perhaps housing embedded cameras or sensors.
Before dockout, the main M2 was locked in and four crews boarded the prototype. Exiting the harbour, the team headed towards Sarroch in glassy waters before the southerly sea breeze filled in.
The tow run was twice interrupted with support engineers from Chase 1 taking closer look along the new wing's span.
The Recon team anemometer displayed 14-16kn of S-SSE seabreeze when the team hoisted the J2 as the first foiling stint started with take-off on starboard tack testing the new foil getting foilborne.
This take-off speed was newly matched by Recon RIB resulting in 17kn on a 80 deg TWA. On several occasions, the team seemed to follow a consistent sailing routine within the Gulf: self take-off on either board, tacking to sail upwind on the new Port side wing and bearing away for a long straight line downwind run before stopping to debrief.
On the downwind run it was quite hard for the Recon Unit RIB to keep up with their pace, certainly boat speeds above 45kn were reached. This was a Commissioning day for the Italian team: total foiling time of 44 minutes, 4 tacks and 3 gybes have been recorded [Michele Melis AC-Recon].
Session Statistics - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - April 6, 2023 - Day 46
- Weather: Cloudy 16 degreesF
- Wind Strength 14-16kts
- Wind Direction: SSE
- Sea State: 0.65mtrs chop
- Roll out: 1320hrs Dock Out: 1430hrs
- Dock In: 1700hrs Crane out: 1830hrs
- Total Tacks: 4 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 3 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
Crew:
Francesco Bruni, Jacopo Plazzi, Andrea Tesei, Umberto Molineris
Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Auckland - April 5, 2022 - Day 9
Wednesday's session looked set to be a non-event with light winds right across the Hauraki Gulf, on a very pleasant sunny day. The team towed out about lunchtime and hoisted the sails before being towed out towards Takapuna, chasing the breeze - which eventually started to fill in from the sea. Eventually they sailed a long way off shore - to the point where they were invisible from the shore, and partially below the horizon when checked using binoculars.
They came home on a nice breeze which was idea for foiling long legs downwind - which accounts in some ways for their high reported speeds.
Having now seen the Kiwis sailing on several occasions, it would seem that they are now equal to or better than when they finished racing in the America's Cup - which is an achievement given the reconfiguration of the boat, and new sailing team. They have sailed in very fresh winds - 18-22 kts and looked very comfortable at speeds later admitted to be over 50kts.
The only surprise is the non-appearance of Glenn Ashby on the crew lists. None of the sailing crew have professional sail making and design experience - and all are out of Olympic class backgrounds and have been in Olympic programs since they were picked up in talent identification programs as teenagers. This gives the crew a somewhat one-dimensional, one-design background personna, without the spread of sailing experience and skills that have been a feature of Kiwi America's Cup programs in the past.
A secondary issue is the lack of solid match racing exerience in the team - with the exception of Josh Junior. With the split into co-helmsman roles on all teams - strength in match racing would seem to be essential in one of the co-helmsmen - particularly in the starboard helm position, the seat occupied with devastating effect by Jimmy Spithill in the 2021 Prada and America's Cups.
How this all resolves itself in the future will be followed with interest - and with the current setup points to a very split experience between the sailing and design teams, maybe similar to F1 Grand Prix - without the crossover between the groups of previous years. It is also a little surprising to see four of the eight places on the crew being allocated to cyclors/power team - leaving just four places for the sailors - a 50/50 split. When cyclors were last used in 2017 only two of the six were power specialists - with two more having a sailing/power role, and with the remaining two being dedicated sailors.
Maybe an objective of the current test program is to get the current reliance on four cyclors reduced - freeing up at least one spot for sailing crew, so there is a 5:3 sailing and power team ratio.
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team [Alastair Moore AC-Recon]:
Te Rehutai was on the docks edge at 1100hrs and in the water in the pen by 1130hrs.
She was towed from her berth at 1230hrs and taken just off the old tank farm to hoist sails. Main and number 1 jib were hoisted together and on the locks by 1239hrs. The yacht was now towed with sails up out just past Rangitoto light where she dropped the tow and got into some light airs warm up sailing. The breeze at this stage was still very soft around the 6 knot mark out of the NE. After her first attempt at a tack she came off the foil and spent about 5 min searching for enough speed to take off but it did not happen and the tow line was passed across. She was towed up for the last time this session as the breeze built slightly to about 8 knots.
Adam and I observed three windward leeward runs of approximately 6nm before the yacht came to a stop off of Thornes bay just north of Takapuna at 1430hrs. Here we watched a jib change from the #1 to the #2 and a rotation of the power group. The race yacht was sailing again at 1453hrs. At 1518hrs Chase 2 set a square to the wind start line and Te Rehutai had three pre start drills, going off the GPS clock all of them looked to be bang on time or just early.
The yacht stopped again at 1558hrs and rotated the power group and also put onboard a design and hydro personnel.
In less 10 knots of wind Te Rehutai headed home at about 45 knots through the water stopping off the base at 1625hrs and was back in the pen by 1642hrs.
Session Statistics - Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Auckland - April 4, 2022 - Day 9
- Weather: 20 degreesC Sunny
- Wind Strength: 6-10kts
- Wind Direction: NE
- Sea State: Slight
- Roll out: 1130hrs Dock Out: 1230hrs
- Dock In: 1645hrs Crane out: 1730hrs
- Total Tacks: 20 - Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down:
- Total Gybes: 37 - Fully foiling: 36; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down:
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke, Simon Van Velthooven, Marius Van Der Pol, Louis Sinclair, Louis Crosby, Hamish Bond, Marcus Hansen, Sam Meech
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Barcelona - April 5, 2023 - Day 16
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
A fairly short day for Alinghi Red Bull Racing on their last sailing day before the summer break.
The shore crew rolled out the AC40 at 10:30 for a 12:30 dock out. They raised the M1 mainsail and J1 jib in the port, towed to the port entrance and released the yacht to start sailing.
The Migjorn (Catalan for south Wind) came in as forecast, measured at 8 knots, gusting 10 knots, with a residual North East swell of 0.5m.
The team warmed up with a downwind to the intended sailing area, where a course was being set just off the Barceloneta beach.
During the bearaway of their seventh foiling maneuver, the rudder elevator lifted out of the water, causing the yacht to nosedive and consequently capsize. The team swiftly righted the yacht, with technicians getting onboard immediately to assess the condition of the boat. The go ahead was given, and after a jib change to the J2, the AC40 was back under sail. It quickly became apparent that there were issues beyond repair at sea, forcing an early end to the sailing day.
The post-sailing interview with Arnaud Psarofaghis revealed that an issue with the autopilot was the reason sailing was cancelled. As can be seen in the Day 15 video below at around 2m40sec, the swiss have a couple of spectacular nose-dives - neither of which resulted in a capsize.
The team will be on break until Tuesday the 11th of April according to the sailing calendar.
Session Statistics - Barcelona - April 5, 2023 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 16
- Wind Strength: 8-10kts
- Wind Direction: SW
- Weather: Sunny 15 degreesC
- Sea State: 0.5m NE Swell with increasing chop.
- Roll out: 1100hrs Dock Out: 1430hrs
- Dock In: 1230hrs Crane out: 1500hrs
- Total Tacks: 2; Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 5; Fully foiling: 3; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Crew: Maxime Bachelin, Nicolas Charbonnier, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Yves Detrey, Lucien Cujean, Nicolas Rolaz
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.