Cup Spy - April 19: Three teams sail in fresh winds, Kiwis blow out jib. Swiss AC75 reappears
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 22 Apr 2023 19:50 PDT
23 April 2023
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 13 - April 19, 2023 - Hauraki Gulf © Adam Mustill / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - April 19, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 following rudder box repairs and did in the water testing only at their base in Barcelona.
- Emirates Team New Zealand sailed for the second successive day, in a fresh seabreeze, and a 1.5-2.0 metre sea-state that had been building for five days - giving another opportunity to test the AC75 which has been upgraded to Version 2 of the AC75 Class Rule. Around 1330hrs the tack of the J2 jib parted company with the forestay tack fitting and blew back against the mast in 55kts of apparent wind. There was only minor damage to the mainsail, and Josh Junior who was working forward on the leech line for the jib was uninjured despite being hit by the jib as it blew back.
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, winds of up to 15kts and a modest sea state. There were some issues with the foil wings which caused the LEQ12 to be stopped while the crew climbed out onto the wing to work on it - after which they sailed at speed, which occasionally hit the low 40kts.
- INEOS Britannia sailed out of Mallorca after a delay of an hour waiting for the breeze which quickly increased to 17kts. Later in the session the Brit's test boat hit the low 40kts
- American Magic remained ashore in Pensacola, Fl.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 13 - April 19, 2023 - Auckland
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team [Alastair Moore AC-Recon]:
Te Rehutai was rolled from the shed at 9.25. The rig was rig stepped, in blustery conditions again and the boat was lowered into the water at 10.10.
After leaving the berth she was towed down to Orakei where she stopped, took Chase 1 alongside and bent on the M2 and J5.
The mainsail was on the lock by 11.23 and the jib by 11.36. She was sailing by 11.40 in 14-18 knots of NNE breeze making for #1 buoy where she did five laps of a windward leeward course of about 2 NM in length.
No marks were set but by staying close to the team's drone pilot boat we were able to be quite close for several tacks, gybes and round ups.
In this session I saw three or four big splash downs after gybes but every time she hotted up and got going again.
The yacht came to a stop by #1 Buoy at 12.15 and changed from the J5 to J4 and was sailing again at 12.29. She did another five laps of a shorter windward leeward showing more control with more power.
Te Rehutai came to a stop again at 12.56 where a power group rotation was observed and then the J4 was swapped out for the J2. At 13.11 she was sailing again ripping around a short course really throwing it around to get four gybes in in less than 1.6 NM.
The yacht came to a stop again at 13.34 and batteries were swapped between chase and yacht. At 13.43 she was off again with a longer beat out of about three miles, a run back in towards us and just past where she hardened up on the breeze, looking settled in on starboard tack.
For no apparent reason the J2 tore from the forestay and slammed into the rig and leeward skin of the mainsail damaging both. [S-W: Josh Junior was working forward of the mast adjusting the leech line on the jib, when the tack tore away from its attachment point on the boat.]
After this incident the Main was lowered and she was towed back to base arriving at 14.30.
Session Statistics - Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 13 - April 19, 2023 - Auckland
- Weather: 20°C 45% cloud cover
- Wind Strength: 12-22kts
- Wind Direction: NE
- Sea State: 1.5-2.0 metres
- Roll out: 1010hrs Dock Out: 1100hrs
- Dock In: 1430hrs Crane out: 1505hrs
- Total Tacks: 36 - Fully foiling: 30; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 37 - Fully foiling: 34; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Nathan Outteridge, Peter Burling, 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 - Day 54 - April 19, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 at 12:00, for the first time since 23rd March 2023.
It was noted that since the previous outing, the rudder stock fairing has been repaired and the rudder (American Magic Legacy Rudder - AC75_R1) was replaced with the teams original rudder (Emirates Team New Zealand Legacy Rudder - AC75_R0_0003).
Two pairs of LED strips were added on each side of the jib track. It is assumed these are jib trimming load indicators, potentially in this location to keep the sailors heads up and out of the cockpit.
The yacht was craned in and set alongside Chase Alpha perpendicular to the dock.
The yacht did not leave the dock as the team spent the day carrying out in-water tests. Apart from general testing of the systems, the team spent a large portion of the day focusing on the cyclor and hydraulic systems. The sailors in the power team were on board and in position for most of the day, working with members of the shore crew and designers/engineers on the gear system and calibration, as well as running through various scenarios.
A new custom pair of hybrid ON Running / cycling shoes were used by Arthur Cevey, seen in the ‘Photos of Interest’.
It is understood that not all testing went to plan, and that further testing might be required before sailing the AC75. Other small works were being carried out, such as fitting additional vertical structure in the cockpit.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 51 - April 19, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:30, stepped the mast and craned in undergoing the usual protocol checks before dockout scheduled for 13:00.
The southerly SSE seabreeze had already filled in in the harbour when the usual Foil Control System (FCS), rudder rake and sail controls were being tested.
Exiting the harbour the team found steady SSE seabreeze of 13-15 kn with increasing choppy seastate and the main M2 was hoisted at 13:15 paired with the J2 slightly afterwards.
Throughout the whole sailing session, the LEQ12 was boarded with six crews including two engineers and a youth sailor later on.
With the help of a first tow-to-fly by Chase 2, the prototype took of on port tack heading upwind executing several tacks before bearing away for less gybes and heading up again. This pattern has been observed by the AC37 Joint Recon team (RU) several times; after the first 40 minutes a break followed which saw several sailors and shore crew involved at the main sheeting system.
Then the LEQ12 self took off on starboard tack, and proceeded with the previously observed sailing pattern before stopping downwind after a JK (luff around followed by a tack).
During this break the starboard foil arm has been raised and some work has been done on the pressure side of the central flap cover with a sharp device.
Once the foil arm was dropped again, the LEQ12 transited foilborne on portside tack running the inverse sailing pattern. The increasing sea state and chop made following closely the prototype quite harder for RU - and only anticipating its course for steadier footage seemed to be an option. While downwind speeds of lower 40kts range were recorded, different ride heights seemed to be tested on reaching courses and some touch and goes skimming on downwind courses.
Finally the LEQ12 performed a series of quick tacks along with some hard round ups and bear aways before heading to the harbour gate for a long downwind run and slowing down calling it a day. An approx total foiling time of 128 minutes, 14 tacks and six gybes were counted for the day.
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 51 - April 19, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Cloudy 16°F
- Wind Strength 12 - 15kts
- Wind Direction: SSE
- Sea State: Beaufort 4 .5mtr Swell
- Roll out: 1145hrs Dock Out: 1800hrs
- Dock In: 1625hrs Crane out: 1800hrs
- Total Tacks: 14 - Fully foiling: 11; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 6 - Fully foiling: 5; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro
INEOS Britannia - AC40 - Day 37 - April 19, 2023 - Mallorca
Top sailing journalist, Justin Chisholm was on the water and made various observations on the British boat:
The British America's Cup team's day on the water was cut a little short today after a technical issue on the team's main data gathering chase boat forced an early end to sailing at shortly before 1600 today. The team's silver T6 LEQ12 test boat was out on the water with sails up at 1330 but the crew – helmsmen Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher with flight controllers/trimmers Iain Jensen and Luke Parkinson – had to wait for nearly an hour for the forecast southerly breeze to establish itself.
When it did, it came in fast – ramping quickly from 7 to 13 knots and forcing the team into an early headsail change from the J2 to the J4.
With ths completed T6 was soon back up in the air and powering around Palma Bay – first on a series of windward leeward runs with occasional tacks and gybes, and then in a somehwhat unpredictable pattern of reaches, round-ups, and bear aways. The boat looked stable and fast throughout the day with speeds estimated to be into the high thirties at times on the downwind runs.
The boat was observed at a number of ride heights upwind and down – sometimes low with the bustle skimming the tops of the waves, sometimes much higher. Tacks and gybes were assured with only two touch and go gybes to mar a perfect score.
All in all a solid testing session which will have been frustrating for the British squad to have had to cut short by at least an hour or two.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - AC40 - Day 37 - April 19, 2023 - Mallorca
- Weather: Sunny 22° C
- Wind Strength 6-17kts 0.4mtr chop
- Wind Direction: 100-220°
- Roll out: 1045hrs Dock Out: 1148hrs
- Dock In: 1620hrs Crane out: 1710hrs
- Total Tacks: 7 - Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 7 - Fully foiling: 5; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Giles Scott, Dylan Fletcher, Iain Jensen, Luke Parkinson
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. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snap shot of all teams' progress on a given day, or period.