Cup Spy - June 26: Three teams sailing during transition period
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 28 Jun 2023 21:33 HKT
24 June 2023
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 71 - June 26, 2023 - Barcelona © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
Three teams are currently sailing in Barcelona and Cagliari. The other teams are en route to Barcelona - which is the only venue permitted for sailing from July 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023. American Magic has started sailing their new AC40.
Luna Rossa Had a change of co-helmsmen with Jimmy Spithill returning, and seemed to have a solid day in a moderate to fresh breeze on Cagliari Bay.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed in lighter winds out of Barcelona. They did not achieve the dry tack percentage, they should have - particularly upwind, given that the breeze was within the range in which the bots would expect to race. Downwind the dry gybe percentage was better, but again could have been a lot better, and not good enough for winning races in these conditions.
What happened in the Cup - June 26 2023:
- American Magic - we have no information on whether the team sailed as there is no mention of the US team in the AC37 Joint Recon System (RFS), however there are several images in RFS with American Magic's AC40 in the background and on the waters of Barcelona.
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in the fresh breeze of 15kts from the SSE.
- Emirates Team New Zealand is en route to Barcelona with a projected arrival date of July 2.
- INEOS Britannia is not sailing until August 1
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed from Barcelona in a 7-10kt breeze from SSW.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 74 - June 26, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The Italian LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype to sail firstly in some dying Maestrale from the morning and some seabreeze in the afternoon. Once the mast was stepped, the yacht was cranned in and the usual checks followed before dockout scheduled for 11:45.
The mainsail M1 was locked in the mast fittings and six crews, including one cyclor and one female youth sailor on joyride seat, boarded the prototype which was towed offshore of Sant'Elia to fully hoist the main with the J1.5 jib.
The seastate was flat and the offshore NW-NNW breeze did not exceed 12kn on the RU anemometer. Once all set, the LEQ12 was towed up took off on port tack, tacked right away and bore away heading downwind for some gybes before trimming back up to stay closer to shore where the offshore breeze seemed more steady.
After 20 foiling minutes, the LEQ12 came to a stop as the warm pressure died completely allowing sailors for a quick debrief. Chase 2 then towed the prototype slightly offshore to anticipate the incoming SSE seabreeze. Having found some steady pressure, the second foiling stint began with releasing the LEQ12 from towline and with the execution of some tacks before bearing away for a long downwind run with some occasional gybes.
Chase2 laid out the usual race course and the yacht sailed around it for two legs before stopping after another approx. 20 minutes foilborne. The seabreeze had increased to 12-14kn SSE and hence the J1.5 was lowered to hoist the J2.
Once foilborne again, one uncompleted prestart was observed and it seemed that the team were doing checks on the starboard cant system with hydraulic technicians entering hatches while the board was raised and lowered several times.
Shortly afterwards the team completed a prestart with time on distance and proceeded sailing around the course for some legs for another approx. 20 minutes and stopped to debrief. Some additional mark roundings have been observed before Chase2 collected the marks and the LEQ12 engaged with Chase 1 for some interference sailing downwind and stopping by the harbour to lower the sails.
During this day a foiling time of 82 minutes out of 195 in total, with 27 tacks, and 21 gybes were counted [Michele Melis AC Recon].
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 74 - June 26, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny 29°C
- Wind Strength 9-15kts
- Wind Direction: SSE
- Sea State: Flat
- Crane In : 1100hrs Dock Out: 1145hrs
- Dock In: 1510hrs Crane out: 1700hrs (Est)
- Total Tacks: 27 - Fully foiling: 24; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 21 - Fully foiling: 18; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Marco Gradoni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 71 - June 26, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 at 09:00 for a day of light wind sailing, with a focus on light wind manoeuvres. The ‘Garbi’ wind started at midday at around 7 knots, increasing to just over 10 knots before dying back to 5 knots by the end of the session.
The M1-1R and J1-2R sails were hoisted as sailing commenced at 13:05 from the port entrance. After adjusting the tack of the mainsail, the team warmed up with a half hour upwind downwind until the increase in wind called for a change to the J2-2L jib. The team proceeded to practice bear aways and round ups, ahead of sailing a pre start and a few laps of the course.
The team began to lose consistency with the J2 as the wind started to decrease again, prompting a change to the J1-1R jib, last seen on 21 April. After initially struggling to get on foil, the yacht was tow started and sailed a long downwind to Badalona, performing mostly consistent fully foiling gybes. The yacht was turned upwind and sails were dropped before the yacht was towed back to land.
Today saw the teams most consistent effort in gybes, with 86% of gybes fully foiling, compared to the 28% fully foiling tacks. Over the 39 total manoeuvres performed, 59% were fully foiling.
The team were on the water for just over four hours, and covered over 50NM.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 71 - June 26, 2023 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 7-10kts
- Wind Direction: SSW
- Weather: Partly cloudy 29°C
- Sea State: Beaufort 3
- Crane In: 0925hrs Dock Out: 1230hrs
- Dock In: 1645hrs Crane Out: 1715hrs
- Total Tacks: 18; Fully foiling: 5; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 9
- Total Gybes: 21; Fully foiling: 18; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Maxime Bachelin, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nico Rolaz, Bryan Mettraux, Augustin Maillefer, Nils T Heuninck, Nico Stahlberg, Théry Schir
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.