Cup Spy July 20: The search for the best foil continues in Barcelona and Cagliari
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 21 Jul 2023 07:57 PDT
20 July 2023
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 44 - July 20, 2023 - Barcelona © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
Foil testing continued for a second day, in stronger winds, but with only the Swiss and Italian teams participating.
The Barcelona based Alinghi Red Bull Racing took advantage of the increased breeze to fill the gaps in their test database - after yesterday's light winds. It was a similar story in Cagliari for the Italian Luna Rossa team who had a slightly increased breeze.
In both post session interviews the teams said they were satisfied with the outcome - but would hardly say otherwise.
What happened in the Cup - July 20, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing again put their two AC40's put into One Design mode, with the One Design rigs being fitted to both boats, and One Design foils on one boat. AS happened yesterday, the Yellow boat carried One Design foil on port side and the latest test foil on the other. The objective of the day was to properly evaluate the test foil, however it was pointed out by the AC37 Joint Recon Team that the Red boat (with the ETNZ designed standard foils) appeared to be faster than the Yellow test boat on occasions - and this was shown in the video. The team are expected to move into their new permanent base, in Port Vell, next week, which is another milestone for the team.
- Luna Rossa - again sailed out of Cagliari in their custom design LEQ12 in winds of 7-13kts and a morning temperature which hit the low 40's as the team was rigging up, dropping to a mere 38 degreesC while they wee sailing. Again they tested two of their prototype wing foils on the LEQ12. Because their AC40-One Design is in Barcelona, the Italians cannot do as the other teams have done and test their LEQ12 with development foils against the AC40 One Design with its One Design foils.
- Emirates Team New Zealand have shut down their sailing program until Tuesday or so - as their sailing team competed in SailGP Los Angeles.
- American Magic - did not sail.
- INEOS Britannia will not be sailing until August 1, and are transiting to Barcelona from their pre-Cup base in Mallorca.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Commentary:
In the post session interviews both teams trod the same party line of confirming all was well and they were learning plenty.
"Today was a perfect day for testing, we did the many up and down and try a lot of things. And so we are quite happy with the with the day. A good day like that on the water, is always really nice," said Alinghi Red Bull Racing's Arnaud Psarofaghis.
In the Cup racing the teams are not allowed to switch wing foils (or any other appendage) on a daily basis, optimising their configuration for the race day forecast. As Alinghi Red Bull Racing's co-helm, Arnaud Psarofaghis, pointed out the foils and appendages need to be efficient across the wind range. "It's an all purpose foil that we need to design, and we are quite happy with what we have and the way we could manipulate it today."
"We tried many, many different setup on both boards. Sometimes one was gaining, sometimes the other, it's really hard to tell from from the setup we had, it's just needed to review the data. "We tried so much stuff today, that we need to be calm and just check the data to see what came out there, he added.
The AC37 Recon Team interviewer had one last crack at getting a confirm or deny response out of the Swiss.
"And just a quick one. What do you prefer the Delta ('tubercle') foil used previously previously or the new foil?"
"I don't know. It's hard to say - they're both black," was Psarofaghis' response.
Luna Rossa co-helmsman Francesco Bruni was also interrogated by the AC37 Joint Recon Team, pursuing their view that one of the wingfoils was preventing leeway, more than its opposite. Bruni, who is normally quite expansive in his interviews, wasn't letting on.
"This boat has mainly been produced to do foil testing. As you know, the foils are a big, big topic on our foiling boat. And the AC40s/LEQ12s are the perfect tool for checking new things. The foil is going very well with few upgrades. And we are pretty happy with it."
The AC37 Joint Recon team also believe they spotted some changes to the Italian rudder.
"Basically, we want to test as much as possible - and also on the rudder. So we change a few things. We always need a good balance between testing and racing to give the right answers, because sometimes something can be good for testing but can be harder for racing. So it's important to go around the marks, and have the right balance every day. Then we can get the right answers to the designers."
Weather conditions at Barcelona July 20, 2023:
Conditions today were much steadier than the last few days with the breeze building to 12.5 to 15kt average by midday, and gusting to 17kts. It moved around between 1300hrs - 1400hrs, and then settled down at 15kts before starting a slow fade to 1630hrs. The projected race start time is 1400hrs in the America's Cup regattas.
The direction was reasonably steady between 200 degrees - 210 degrees after 1200hrs.
Any difference between the on the water and weather station readings may be explained by the height difference - 2.5 metres for the AC37 Recon Teams and 12 metres for the Port Olimpic weather station. The mast height on an AC75 is 26.5 metres - so the Port Olimpic station is reading at about mid-rig height.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 78 - July 20, 2023 - Cagliari
Similar to the previous days, the Italian LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 1200hrs on another record hot day in Cagliari.
Quickly began the shore crew with the mast stepping routine procedure and the yacht touched the water at 1215hrs.
As suspected the anhedral foil #2 had undergone some modifications on wing and flaps along with the rudder as documented by actual and past recon shots. Also a new mainsail M3 was noted looking quite similar to their first iteration in terms of surface distribution with an edgy clew covering the updated main sheeting system.
Over the sailing day the AC37 Joint Recon Team (RU) focussed on flying shapes and trimming of mainsail skins. As the team towed their prototype out of the harbour, the seabreeze was slowly filling in fighting against hot Maestrale breeze. Once the breeze found stability over the gulf, the RU anemometer displayed 11-13kts from 175 TWA [True Wind Angle].
The new mainsail was quickly fully hoisted and paired with a J2. With 6 crew onboard, the first foiling stint began with a tow-to-fly by chase2 on portside tack and the usual routine sailing path commenced with long straight line for testing, three tacks, bearing away on starboard tack hence flying on the anhedral wing for a long downwind ride, gybing twice and trimming back up. Within 30 foiling minutes, this course path was conducted twice until a starting gate was laid out with a single windward mark. A prestart with time-on-distance practice was observed followed by an upwind leg and half of one downwind before stopping for lunch allowing sailors to debrief while the seabreeze has shifted to 155 TWA with some choppy water.
Several prestart routines followed before the LEQ12 sailed around the race course for several laps until the breeze decreased to 7-9 kn 155 TWA and the team decide to hoist the J1. The marks have been collected and within the last 40 minutes of the sailing day the LEQ12 performed a series of well controlled maneuvers in light air and some occasional touch-downs have been observed. The team called it a day with 4 prestarts, approx. 15 legs, 126 foiling minutes, 41 tacks, and 38 gybes.
[Report by Michele Melis AC Recon]
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 78 - July 20, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny 38 degrees-41 degreesC
- Wind Strength 7-13kts
- Wind Direction: 155 degrees
- Sea State: Light chop
- Crane In: 1215hrs Dock Out: 1330hrs
- Dock In: 1730hrs Crane out: 1840hrs
- Total Tacks: 41 - Fully foiling: 36; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 38 - Fully foiling: 33; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro, Ruggero Tita, Luca Kirwan (cyclor).
Alinghi Red Bull Racing LEQ12 - Day 44 - July 20, 2023 - Barcelona
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40-4 (Yellow) and AC40-7 (Red) at 10:45 and 11:20 respectively.
After executing standard system checks, one design sails were prepared on both boats, the Yellow boat still with the new foil on starboard. The yachts docked out at 13:00 and were subsequently towed to the port entrance with sails hoisted.
The 'Garbi' afternoon thermal wind provided steady conditions, starting at 11-13 knots from 200 degrees, peaking at 13-15 knots from 190 degrees, and subsiding to 10-12 knots by late afternoon. Wave height oscillated between 0.5m-0.8m, with a period of 4-5s. Six stints of sailing were carried out through the day.
Stint 1 began with a downwind gybing duel followed by lengthy upwind stretches side by side.
In Stint 2, the yachts proceeded downwind on a port tack, allowing a comparison between the new foil and the one design foil. The stint concluded with a bit of warmup for match racing.
Stint 3 began with a pre-start, with the first race being interrupted by a tourist boat crossing the 100 meters above the start line, as the both yachts then returned to two boat sailing upwind, leading into a long downwind stretch to Montgat. The Yellow boat was observed carrying better performance downwind.
In Stint 4, the yachts sailed upwind back to the course start gate, performing 15 tacks, inclusive of two double tacks. Maybe as a result of executing more maneuvers, the Yellow boat seemed slower than the Red full One Design boat. Both boats then switched to J2 One Design sails. However, the Yellow boat remained stationary, with the crew attending to unidentified issues below deck, while the Red boat continued sailing.
Stint 5 had the course set at heading 190. Following pre-start practice, the red boat halted at the start line, while the Yellow boat continued practicing two half laps of the course. It performed a JK maneuver round the leeward mark and a double gybe before the second leeward rounding.
Stint 6 involved upwind sailing back to the base as the wind began to die down. Notably, trimmers Bryan Mettraux and Lucien Cujean stepped into helm positions for half of this stint. The Red boat was towed back in displacement mode due to undisclosed issues.
The Yellow boat docked in at 17:30, followed by the Red boat 20 minutes later. Despite some hiccups, the team performed a commendable 94 manoeuvres, with 94% fully foiling. They covered 55 nautical miles over a near five-hour period on the water.
In the post-sailing interview, helmsman Arnaud Psarofaghis expressed the team's enthusiasm about reaching a new milestone and transitioning into their new base.
Despite a few unknown issues on both boats, the day ended on a positive note, completing 68 manoeuvres, 94% fully foiling. They covered 55 nautical miles over a near five-hour period on the water.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing LEQ12 - Day 44 - July 20, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny 31 degreesC
- Wind Strength 11-15kts
- Wind Direction: 180 degrees-200 degrees
- Sea State: Flat
- Crane In: 1110hrs Dock Out: 1300hrs
- Dock In: 1730hrs Crane out: 1810hrs
- Total Tacks: 46 - Fully foiling: 42; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 22 - Fully foiling: 22; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin. Nico Charbonnier, Pietro Sibello, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detfry, Lucien Crujean, Yves Detry, Nico 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 snapshot of all teams' progress on a given day or period.