Cup Spy - April 12-14, 2023: Teams return to small boats after Easter break
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 17 Apr 2023 15:53 PDT
12 April 2023
AC40 OD - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - April 13, 2023 - Barcelona - Day 18 © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
Four of the teams resumed sailing in their test boats, or AC40 One Designs after the Easter break. Emirates Team New Zealand resumed sailing in their AC75 on Thursday (13th) and Friday (14th) of last week. These were covered in a separate and earlier report.
What happened in the Cup - April 12 -14, 2023:
- American Magic only sailed one day off Pensacola (Friday 14th) but did sail on Easter Monday and the following Tuesday, in their AC40.
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, on the Tuesday after Easter in their LEQ12, test boat on which they have now clocked up 48 sailing days. In a freshening breeze and more active sea state they did several nosedives, but no capsizes.
- Emirates Team New Zealand sailed their AC75 upgraded to Version 2 of the AC75 Class Rule, on Thursday in light winds, and on Friday in strong winds - covered by a separate report.
- INEOS Britannia sailed in fresh winds and a wild sea state on the Tuesday after Easter (April 12) with some courageous aerobatics.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed on two days in their AC40 One Design (April 12 and 13).
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
American Magic - AC40 - Day 21 - April 14, 2023 - Pensacola
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
The AC 40 craned in at 0915. Two men were observed boarding the race yacht (one wearing a IHMC Robotics shirt) and focusing on the controls in the pods. The two men were observed on Chase 2 for the majority of the day.
The Main and the J1 went up shortly after dock out, but as the breeze filled in quickly the J1 was swapped for the J2. Sailing began at 11:04, after a 17 minute stint the crew stopped for 27 min.
Several of these breaks occurred today, the longest of which was at 1409 lasting 32 minutes.
The sailing today consisted mostly of long runs on a single board displaying bow down, windward heel, both upwind and downwind. The breeze filled in all day (up to 18kt stated in the interview) but the sailing mode seemed to remain the same.
Harden up's and bearaways seemed a little better today but still nervous. There were four notable (medium to small) bow stuffs.
The final stint began at 1453, lasted 35 minutes and ended just outside the base. A conclusion to sailing was called at 1528.
In all, America completed 71 maneuvers, 17 W/L's, sailed approximately 81nm, and had a total flying time of 150min. Top speeds were approximately 27k upwind and 42k downwind (on the starboard foil).
American Magic - AC40 - Day 21 - April 14, 2023 - Pensacola
- Weather: Sunny 70°F
- Wind Strength 8-15kts
- Wind Direction: S (PM)
- Sea State: 1-2ft Chop
- Roll out: 0915hrs Dock Out: 1030hrs
- Dock In: 1550hrs Crane out: 1620hrs
- Total Tacks: 39 - Fully foiling: 27; Touch & Go: 9; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 32 - Fully foiling: 26; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Paul Goodison, Riley Gibbs, Lucas Calabrese, Michael Menninger, Andrew Campbell
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 18 - April 13, 2023 - Day 18 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40 at 09:00, docked out 10:55 and raised the mainsail in the port.
The J2 sail was hoisted at sea, with the wind blowing just under 10 knots. The sailing area within a few miles of the Barcelona beach saw a different direction than the forecasted West wind, due to the effect of the thermal Garbi wind.
Initially the wind blew from SSW, though as the wind increased to 15+ knots, the wind clocked towards the SW. The stronger West wind took over at the end of the session. An 0.8m residual swell from the East was present in the beginning of the session, but died as the South West swell increased, combined to form an aggressive chop.
As explained by Lucien in the interview, the team set out to gather data by pushing the yacht and components, exaggerating with movements and trim.
The team began with a downwind stretch, heading up and bearing away a few times on each gybe. The following stints consisted of pre-starts and short upwind/downwind legs, with one mark used as a leeward/start mark.
Chase Alpha completed the pin end. In the latter part of the session, a long downwind was sailed as the wind increased to 15+ knots. An end to the session was called at 14:15 and the yacht was craned out by 15:05. Extra attention was given to de-masting, as the strong West wind blowing directly into the forecourt, made handling difficult.
The team were out for almost four hours on the water and 50+ NM covered. A brilliant day on the water, with 90% of maneuvers completed foil-foil, from a total of 52. It is estimated the AC40 reached speeds around 40 knots.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 18 - April 13, 2023 - Day 18 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 10-15kts
- Wind Direction: SW
- Weather: Part Cloudy 12°C
- Sea State: Beaufort 2-3, Short Chop
- Roll out: 0900hrs Dock Out: 0930hrs
- Dock In: 1455hrs Crane out: 1520hrs
- Total Tacks: 31; Fully foiling: 30; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 21; Fully foiling: 17; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 3
Crew: Maxime Bachelin, Arnaud Psarofaghis , Lucien Crujean, Bryan Mettraux,
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 48 - April 12, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:45, stepped the mast and craned in undergoing the usual protocol checks by shore crew and sailors.
As dockout was scheduled at 13:00, the team hooked the main M2 in the mast fittings and packed several foresails on the chase boats.
The wind conditions in the bay looked marginal for foiling with southerly breeze never exceeding 8kn and very flat waters.
On several occasions during the sailing session the LEQ12 hosted 6 crews while rotating sailors including two engineers on the joyride seats.
The first sailing stint lasted approximately 30 min which saw the LEQ12 perform several maneuvers in light air style and running through some foiling modes mostly inshore.
As the breeze almost faded completely, the LEQ12 was towed for 15 minutes searching for some sailable patch before heading slightly offshore to finally find some decent breeze of 14-16kn SSE with some short period chop of approx 1m 4s.
With these conditions, the team lowered the J1.5 and went for the J2.
Once up and foiling after an unsteady looking transition to foilborne in waves, the LEQ12 headed further inshore where the breeze had filled in before the increasing sea state.
During this second foiling stint, the LEQ12 has been observed sailing mostly straight line on the newly mounted wing pared to some maneuvers, bearaways as well as heading up and perhaps some foiling modes.
When the sea state finally filled in in front of Cagliari, all chase boats including Recon RIB could not quite keep up with the prototype allowing only distance observation anticipating when possible in safely manner.
The LEQ12 has been observed several times stuffing the bow down while bearing away, checks below deck followed almost flipping over at low boat speeds with easy recovering by sailors.
Another productive sailing session for the LRPP team which called it a day after a long downwind run towards the home base. Within 60 nautical miles, a total foiling time of 118 minutes, 17 tacks and 12 gybes have been observed. [Michele Melis AC-Recon].
Session Statistics - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 48 - April 12, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Cloudy 16-24°C Sunny
- Wind Strength 14-17kts
- Wind Direction: SSE
- Sea State: 1.0 - 1.3mts
- Roll out: 1145hrs Dock Out: 1310hrs
- Dock In: 1700hrs Crane out: 1830hrs
- Total Tacks: 17 - Fully foiling: 11; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 12 - Fully foiling: 9; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 34 - April 12, 2023 - Mallorca
Top sailing journalist, Justin Chisholm was on the water and made various observations on the British boat:
With a forecast in place for winds over 20 knots (potentially with gusts to 25) for Palma Bay today there was an air of nervous anticipation around the British base as the INEOS Britannia T6 LEQ12 was rolled out on time at 1000 this morning to be rigged and launched ready for a scheduled 1200 dockout.
But, with a solid 20 knot south westerly pumping down the harbour basin at 1130 the team coach Xabi Fernandez and a meteorologist Tom Harrison made a recce trip out into the bay to assess the strength of the breeze, the seas state, and to choose the most suitable area for today's session. When they returned the dock out was pushed back to 1300 – by which time the over the city of Palma was still too strong, but over to the west off Portals Marina the winds were lighter and the sea state flatter thanks to some shelter from the western coastline of the bay.
Having towed over there by 1315, T6's M1-2 mainsail and J4-1 headsail were up by 1345 and – after the regular system checks – the boat was airborne by 1350 for the first of four 30-40 minute foiling runs. As well as clearly running through another list of the design team's testing exercise list there were multiple tacks and gybes, though these were less clean than the previous day in flat water – presumably due to confused and choppy sea state (0.5 - 0.75 metre).
Downwind in particular the crew seemed to be experimenting with skimming the bustle off the tops of the waves. When the team stopped for a battery change at 1540 Giles Scott jumped on board to join Ben Ainslie as helmsman (replacing Ben Cornish). Also on board as trimmers/flight control were Ian Jensen and Luke Parkinson.
With the sea state seeming to become more confused as the wind clocked right from 180 to 220, the British boat looked to be more on the edge than previously in the afternoon.
A roundup turn from a fast downwind angle on port to an upwind course resulted in a spectacular sky jump which saw T6 at an angle of 30 degrees with just the rudder still in the water. Following the resulting crash down the sailors did well to avoid what for a second seemed a certain capsize and unfazed minutes later they were back up and foiling.
Another big splash down 10 minutes later as the crew attempted a gybe and round up signalled an end to proceedings for the day. By all accounts T6 is non-the-worse for wear but will for sure getting a thorough check over in the British shed tonight.
With Mistral conditions forecast for Mallorca tomorrow the team has called a rest day, with the next potential sailing day scheduled as Friday.
Session Statistics - INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 34 - April 12, 2023 - Mallorca
- Weather: Sunny 18° C
- Wind Strength 13-15kts Sea: 0.5-0.75mtr
- Wind Direction: 180°
- Roll out: 1000hrs Dock Out: 1300hrs
- Dock In: 1705hrs Crane out: 1735hrs
- Total Tacks: 11 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 9 - Fully foiling: 5; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Ben Ainslie, Ben Cornish (swapped out for Giles Scott), Luke Parkinson, Iain Jensen
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 17 - April 12, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing began early, rolling out their AC40 at 07:30 and docking out by 09:30. This was in anticipation of the strong Garbi (Southwest wind) forecast for later in the afternoon. Sails were raised inside just off the dock and the yacht was towed to the port entrance, where it was released from the towline.
Sailing commenced just before 10:00, with the J2 jib to match the 10 knot breeze which was building. The team sailed a one hour stint, performing six tacks and six gybes, all ‘fully foiling’.
They flipped between modes, playing with bow down and windward heel as the sea was flat, then raising the bow as the chop increased.
The J3 jib was hoisted for the second stint, which saw increased breeze and a heavier chop. Meanwhile the performance remained consistent, with just one ‘touch and go’ gybe out of the 10 foiling manoeuvres. The team stopped to recalibrate, before continuing to sail a short third stint back upwind to the port, stopping between two tacks to check the rig.
The J3-2 jib seems to be a variation of the J3-1. The tell-tales on the port side of the sail are in a slightly different location, indicating there is in fact a difference.
The team were back at base and the yacht craned out by 13:00. About 60 Nautical Miles were sailed over the three hour session, which saw the most consistent AC40 sailing to date. They completed all bar one of their manoeuvres (foil-foil), from a total of 24 moves.
Session Statistics - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 17 - April 12, 2023 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 8-16kts
- Wind Direction: SSW
- Weather: Sunny 16°C
- Sea State: Beaufort 3-4
- Roll out: 0800hrs Dock Out: 0930hrs
- Dock In: 1240hrs Crane out: 1300hrs
- Total Tacks: 13; Fully foiling: 13; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 11; Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis , Nicolas Charbonnier, Yves Detrey , 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. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snap shot of all teams' progress on a given day, or period.