Cup Spy - June 15-16: That's it for the Brits. All teams tighten focus on Barcelona buildup.
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 17 Jun 2023 11:25 UTC
17 June 2023
INEOS Britannia Team - Day 61 - T6 (LEQ12) - June 15, 2023 © Ugo Fonolla / America's Cup
In Barcelona, Alinghi Red Bull Racing attempted to put in two solid days on their AC75, but the wind was a near no-show for the first.
It is great to see Ernesto Bertarelli on board the Swiss boats and as a co-helmsman on the AC-40. It's been over 12 years or three Cup cycles since a team owner sailed a boat in the America's Cup, and hopefully we'll see Ernesto having a hands on role as he did in 2003 and 2007 and 2010.
The variance, and particularly frequency of light winds will be watched carefully by the teams and pundits over the coming months - and the 12 month overlap with the start of the Challenger Selection Series begins in mid-August. Also being watched will be the weather trend into the actual America's Cup starting October 12. While moding the Defender for that October series is vital, the heavy lifting really lies with the Challengers who have to mode their boats for a selection series in August, hoping they make it to the Cup, and quite a different weather pattern in October. In the past most have gone for an all-round boat. Unlike the 2017 Cup, teams cannot mode their boat for the weather on a particular race-day, they must select a configuration and declare that to the Measurers prior to the start of the next event. Another push in the direction of an all-rounder.
Most teams as outlined in the summary below are either en route to the 37th America's Cup venue, or are about to do so. American Magic will be the first to start sailing around June 22, and with the arrival of Emirates Team New Zealand, Barcelona will be seeing three AC75s sailing. A key question for the teams and pundits will be whether the much talked about sea condition is actually an issue for the AC75s, or if Alinghi Red Bull Racings issues with the seaway are common to all or are confined to the Swiss.
A further point of interest will be whether Luna Rossa launch one of their two AC75s in Barcelona, or if like the Brits, they are going to be completely reliant on data and experience from their experience sailing 40fters - of either the LEQ12 or AC40 persuasion.
What happened in the Cup - June 15-16, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 on both days in a light to moderate breezes off Barcelona.
- Luna Rossa sailed on June 15, but not on June 16. They had a good day on the water and seem to be well advanced with their test program given the multiplicity of activities being undertaken, without an over emphasis on speed testing for instance. There is no indication of when the Italian team will be packing and transiting to Barcelona.
- Emirates Team New Zealand's AC75, chase boats and several containers of gear is on a ship en route to Panama, with another two/three days sailing ahead, once they have passed through the Panama Canal they will head for Barcelona. The sailing team competed this weekend in SailGP Chicago. They turned in a very good performance with two seconds and a fourth to put them in second overall after Day 1.
- American Magic is expecting to start sailing on June 22, out of Barcelona, with their AC75 or an AC40/LEQ12. One of their helmsmen, Tom Slingsby (AUS/USA) was in form for the opening round of SailGP Season 4 - taking two race wins and a fifth place, to top the leaderboard. Here's an update from Terry Hutchinson, President of Sailing Operations:
- INEOS Britannia sailed on June 15 only - and according to the report from their AC37 Recon team - that was their last sail in Palma. They are apparently not sailing until August 1 from Barcelona. Their skipper, Ben Ainslie did not have a good day on the opening round of Season 4 of SailGP, with a second, seventh and ninth places, leaving them midway on the leaderboard, but with a big gap to close to make the Final.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
- Youth and Womens America's Cup teams are not covered by the restriction on the AC teams of being only able to sail in Barcelona, between July 1 to October 31 inclusive. They are permitted to sail/train in their home country, or anywhere. Several teams already have selection and trial processes under way.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 70 - June 16, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 at 08:45 and prepared the yacht at the dock for an 11:00 dockout. With a typical 'Garbi' South-Southwest forecast for the day, the team prepared the M2-2L and J1-2R, with the J2-2L and J3-1R on the chase boat. The wind shifted to the south-southwest, with speeds consistently recorded between 9 and 11 knots from 14:50 onwards. The morning saw calm conditions with a slight ripple, while the afternoon brought larger wavelets.
Sailing commenced at 11:30, straight from the port entrance with a downwind/upwind/downwind warmup, completing 17 manoeuvres. The second stint started with a pre-start practice and upwind, however system issues just before the top mark brought the stint to and end. A two hour period followed, as the team dealt with foil arm cant issues.
At 14:45 the J2-2L was hoisted and sailing resumed as the team sailed downwind back towards the 2NM windward/leeward course. Four laps of the course were sailed over two stints, performing roughly 4 manoeuvres per leg. The team struggled with leylines, though in the interview Maxime Bachelin admitted they are not using any leyline aids. After a short stint upwind to the port entrance, sails were dropped and the team returned to base.
The performance around the course looked to be the best sailing the team has done so far. They are still struggling with keeping the bow from touching the water. The team performed a total of 62 manoeuvres (71% fully foiling), the most performed in a day so far, and the second best performance in terms of fully foiling manoeuvres.
(Technically their best day so far was on the 3rd May, 12 moves, 75% FF). Considering 'Touch and Go' manoeuvres, today would be the team's best overall performance, also with the highest rate of manoeuvres so far, 20/hour (time measured in total minutes of jibs raised).
The team spent almost six hours on the water, covering more than 60 Nautical Miles.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 70 - June 16, 2023 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 7-11kts
- Wind Direction: SSW
- Weather: Slightly cloudy 28 degreesC
- Sea State: Beaufort 1-2
- AC75 Crane In: 0910hrs Dock Out: 1100hrs
- AC75 Dock In: 1640hrs Crane Out: 1700hrs
- Total Tacks: 31; Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 9; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 31; Fully foiling: 25; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Ernesto Bertarelli, Dean Barker, Jason Waterhouse, Yves Detrey, Bryan Mettraux, T, Nicolas Rolaz
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 70 - June 15, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their LEQ12 at 08:00 scheduling dockout exactly one hour later.
From a different RU square perspective [the marked spot where the AC37 Joint Recon team are permitted to stand, observe and shoot], the modifications enlarging a fairing on the PS [port side] foil arm/stock, perhaps hosting a different actuator system, and added joints on the outboard wing were noted.
Once the usual shorecrew checks and sailors checks for sail trim controls set for the day were completed, the LEQ12 was docked out to fully hoist the M1 mainsail paired to the J1.5 jib. The forecast looked solid with 8-10kn original NW Maestrale and flat sea state. With a four crew setup, the LEQ12 was foilborne by 09:35 and headed downwind completing some foil-to-foil gybes.
Having sailed couple of miles offshore, the breeze looked definitely stronger with approx 13-16kn and the LEQ12 was trimmed back up for some tacks. Many maneuvers have been observed focusing on cant variations of both arms entering and exiting the transition. Once closer to shore, Chase-2 dropped some marks and the LEQ12 started rounding them completing four legs with interference by Chase-1. Shortly after, a prestart with time on distance was observed before completing some more laps with more aggressive engagement between the two boats, the LEQ12 crossed the finish line before Chase-1 and came to a stop.
Once foilborne again, the LEQ12 was observed several times testing some accelerations, slowing down just above minimum foiling speed on two boards and bearing away raising the windward board up again. The breeze seemed to have dropped slightly towards the leeward gate and Chase-2 picked up those marks. Further inshore towards the upwind gate, the breeze picked up some more knots, the J1.5 remained hoisted and the LEQ12 sailed there focusing on tack bear-aways and JKs round ups. The marks were then picked up and the LEQ12 sailed by itself freely on a long reach toward the harbour gate and calling it a day with an approximate total foiling time of 87 out of 179 minutes with 29 tacks, 25 gybes
[Michele Melis AC Recon].
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 70 - June 15, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny 25 degreesC
- Wind Strength 7-16kts
- Wind Direction: NW
- Sea State: Flat
- Roll out: 0815hrs Dock Out: 0900hrs
- Dock In: 1200hrs Crane out: 1700hrs
- Total Tacks: 29 - Fully foiling: 24; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 25 - Fully foiling: 22; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 61 - June 15, 2023 - Mallorca
Top sailing journalist Justin Chisholm was on the water and made various observations on the British boat:
INEOS Britannia's final sailing day at their training base in Palma, Mallorca may have been one of the shorter sessions the team has conducted, but the weather conditions were nothing short of perfect for the final bouts of testing the British had scheduled.
An early roll out at 0820 and a launch time of 0905 was followed by a longish delay to the dockout which took place at just before 1145. That meant that once the silver T6 LEQ12 test boat was out of the harbour with sails up - M2-2 mainsail and J2-2 headsail - at 1210 the southerly thermal breeze was already at 10 knots. T6's first flight lasted just under half an hour, when after a longish upwind leg the crew bore away for a fast (38kt) reach over to Magaluf where the J2-2 headsail was swapped out for the J3-2.
The second flying session involved more long upwind and downwind runs with the crew - helmsmen Ben Cornish and Dylan Fletcher with Giles Scott and Bleddyn Mon (with cyclor Matt Rossiter in the fifth man/observer seat) - sailing the boat at times with pronounced windward heel downwind more than upwind. Given the flat sea state the maneuvers were mostly clean and crisp with only a fraction of touch downs or touch and goes observed.
After 40 minutes of this activity it was time once more for the foil painting exercises the team has engaged in for the last several sailing sessions. Once again, the routine was: paint the upper inner section of the starboard foil wing, sail for a few hundred metres, round up, foil up, photograph the foil.
Three rounds of this were carried out. The final section of the day involved more upwind down wind sailing, with more windward heel practice, before a final multi-gybe downwind run saw the T6 round up outside Palma Cathedral for the final time.
Sails were down by 1430 and the team docked in at 1440. The British team's next scheduled sailing session is August 1 in Barcelona.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 61 - June 15, 2023 - Mallorca
- Weather: Clear skies 29 degrees C
- Wind Strength 10-13kts
- Wind Direction: 180 degrees
- Roll out: 0820hrs Dock Out: 1143hrs
- Dock In: 1440hrs Crane out: 1510hrs
- Total Tacks: 10 - Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 15 - Fully foiling: 11; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 2
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 69 - June 15, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 at 09:15, prepared the yacht at the dock and waited for the wind to make a decision. A last minute call was made at 14:00 to go sailing, as the team docked off at 14:30 in search of a breeze.
The yacht was towed North to Masnou to find wind, though to no avail. The yacht was towed back South and after a short wait
outside Port Olimpic, the M2-2L and J1-2R were hoisted and sailing started at 15:45.
The wind measured 5-7 knots from the South, as the yacht was tow started on a reach. An unsuccessful attempt was made at a foiling gybe, and the yacht was tow started again.
Two more manoeuvres were attempted following tow starts, but there just wasn't enough wind to keep the yacht on the foil. After a few more tow starts and stretches, the team returned to base and ended the day, with plans to sail again tomorrow.
34nm were covered over the 2.5 hours on the water. The flight controller highlighted on previous occasion, was spotted more clearly on the port side.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 69 - June 15, 2023 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 4-7kts
- Wind Direction: S
- Weather: Sunny 23 degreesC
- Sea State: Beaufort 1
- AC75 Crane In: 0940hrs Dock Out: 1430hrs
- AC75 Dock In: 1655hrs Dock Out: 1620hrs
- Total Tacks: 1; Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 2; Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Augustin Maillefer, Théry Schir, Arthur Cevey, Barnabe Delarze
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.