Cup Spy - May 22: Italians and British put in solid sessions in Mallorca and Cagliari
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 23 May 2023 18:53 AEST
23 May 2023
INEOS Britannia Team - Day 51 - T6 (LEQ12) - May 22, 2023 © Ugo Fonolla / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - May 22, 2023:
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in a medium strength SSE breeze.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail today but did have an early morning sail on Tuesday May 23.
- INEOS Britannia sailed from Mallorca in their custom test boat (LEQ12) known as T6.
- American Magic, last sailed on March 10, and is packing out to make the move to their permanent base in Barcelona.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing did not sail.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in a medium strength SSE breeze.
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
The Italian LEQ12 rolled out at 11:45 and the mast was stepped to be craned in at 12:10.
Shortly afterwards, the usual routine checks followed as dockout was scheduled at 13:10.
While exiting the harbour, the forecast looked more stable compared to previous sailing day with southerly S-SSE seabreeze between 8-11kn and mostly flat water with some dying sea-state SE swell.
The main M1 was hoisted with the J1.5 jib and by 13:40 the LEQ12 was all set and foilborne on portside tack after a self take off with six sailors on board.
In the first 30 minutes, the LEQ12 has been observed completing a small amount of maneuvers sailing mostly straight line for testing. While AC37 Joint Recon team (RU) followed the prototype, Chase-22 dropped some marks laying out the usual race course and quickly was the LEQ12 on race pace.
A total of three prestarts, six upwind and six downwind legs have been observed between several breaks in which sailors have either swapped pods or boarded the Chase-1 leaving four crew on the prototype. Towards afternoon the seabreeze seemed to shift slightly more easterly and RU alternated between awaiting at marks or following the LEQ12 or Chase-1.
The latter was used on each leg creating some interference on the LEQ12 to push comms onboard and some tactics have been observed.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 60 - May 22, 2023 - Cagliari
After foiling approximately for an hour around the marks, the LEQ12 sailed freestyle for the last 10 minutes before the team called it a day.
The LEQ12 was recorded foilborne for approximately 102 minutes out of 205 total with 21 tacks, 19 gybes and several mark rounding maneuvers (Report by Michele Melis AC 37 Joint Recon).
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 60 - May 22, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny 21°C
- Wind Strength 8-12kts
- Wind Direction: SSW
- Sea State: SE Chop Beaufort 4
- Roll out: 1230hrs Dock Out: 1310hrs
- Dock In: 1620hrs Crane out: 1800hrs
- Total Tacks: 21 - Fully foiling: 17; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 19 - Fully foiling: 18; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 51 - May 22, 2023 - Mallorca
Top sailing journalist Justin Chisholm was on the water and made various observations on the British boat:
The showery with sunny spells weekend weather in Mallorca gave way on Monday morning to uniform grey low cloud first thing.
With the extensive cloud preventing the interior of the island from heating up enough to generate a southerly sea breeze, the solid northerly gradient breeze was able to prevail with its velocity ramping up over the day from 8-9 knots at midday to 15-16 knots during the afternoon.
Like the team's previous sailing day on Friday the land breeze was extremely shifty and gusty throughout the day, making life difficult on more than one occasion for the British crew – helmsmen Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher with trimmers/flight controllers Bleddyn Mon and Iain Jensen.
The team started off on the J2-1 headsail for the 45-minute long first session which began with an unstable takeoff in the flat water, gust conditions. Having changed to the little-seen J3-2 headsail the crew launched into a second session which lasted an hour and 45 minutes during which the boat was constantly airborne other than for a five minute stop to remedy a minor onboard issue.
The crew performed multiple windward/leeward laps of the bay during which they dived down to the southerly and southwesterly extremities of Palma Bay. A second stop for new batteries and a change to the workhorse J4-1 headsail the team set off on a final 40 minutes session which involved more windward leeward work.
Tacks and gybes over the day were crisp and fast in the main and the crew also performed two straight separate line runs during which the starboard foil was repeatedly raised and lowered.
During one stop a crew member climbed out on to the starboard foil and appeared to be doing something with the cameras on its upper and lower wing surfaces.
The boat was flown low to the water most of the day with periods of windward heel recorded. Top speeds later in the day were around 32 knots upwind and over 45 knots down wind. Time was called at 16:15 with sails down by 16:30 and dock in at 16:45.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 51 - May 22, 2023 - Mallorca
- Weather: Clearing 23° C
- Wind Strength 13-16kts Flat sea
- Wind Direction: 075-090°
- Roll out: 1045hrs Dock Out: 1200hrs
- Dock In: 1645hrs Crane out: 1715hrs
- Total Tacks: 9 - Fully foiling: 8 Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 6 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down:
Crew: Giles Scott, Dylan Fletcher, Bleddyn Mon, Iain Jenson
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 snapshot of all teams' progress on a given day or period.