Cup Spy July 22: American Magic bring their Youth Sailors into regular Cup team practice.
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 24 Jul 2023 20:36 PDT
23 July 2023
American Magic - LEQ12 - Day 43 - July 22, 2023 - Barcelona © Paul Todd/America's Cup
American Magic repurposed AC40-8 as a LEQ12.
The sea state was again awkward with swells from two directions topped off by a wind chop.
Flight controller Michael Menninger outlined the typical daily routine for the sailing crew, and some specific issues relating to crew experience and the awkward three-way seaway, coming from 100°, 160° and 180°.
What happened in the Cup - July 22, 2023:
- American Magic - sailed out of Barcelona.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing did not sail. 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 - Did not sail from Cagliari in their LEQ12 or Barcelona in their AC-40, they have operational bases in both locations.
- Emirates Team New Zealand have shut down their sailing program until Tuesday.
- 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).
Weather conditions at Barcelona July 22, 2023:
On the water the AC37 Recon teams reported a Southerly breeze of 7-12kts, and a breeze from 160°-170°. At the real-time observation station at Port Olimpic the wind averaged 10-12kts peaking to an average of 13kts around 1600hrs, gusting 16kts and then falling away.
Commentary:
American Magic repurposed the second AC40 One Design as a LEQ12, fitting a development wingfoil to the starboard foil arm. The boat was sailed with a mix of youth and regular sailing crew.
Co-helmsman Tom Slingsby was away sailing in SailGP Los Angeles, finishing third in the Final.
"We had a single boat day gearing up for some two- boating next week, but it was a great breeze all day out of the southeast, south and anywhere in the range from like nine to 14 knots. We did two full kind of crew rotations and just practice boat handling and some pre starts and practice race laps," said flight controller Michael Menninger.
There were a few spectacular crashes as the crews went through their respective learning curves. He put these incidents down to crew learning and also pushing the boat hard in the active sea-state.
"The hardest bit was moding," he explained. "When you get a sea like this, any little touchdown, you lose a lot of boat speed. And so just in the manoeuvres, we're just trying to get the sails deep and powerful enough, and forgiving.
"Just to be able to exit manoeuvres and stay on the foils was the biggest challenge for us. But it was good, good practice."
He said the Youth sailors were working well as part of the team: "They're having a tonne of fun and they're learning a lot, and some of the crashing happens as a result - but they're pushing, and they're super happy to be here and doing a lot of different odd jobs while we're on the base. So yeah, they're good boys."
Menniger says the typical day starts with a team cycle in the morning, Followed by a debrief - next is an outlining of the plan for the day. Then get all the sails prepared along with the on-board comms gear. Then it is out on the water."
Back ashore, the plan is reversed with the sails put away, as well as the comms gear - making sure it is dry. "Do a debrief. Hang around the loft, make sure the loft guys are happy and then maybe a beer on the way home."
And then it is rinse and repeat on the next sailing day.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Report:
American Magic - LEQ12 - Day 43 - July 22, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
Full racing mode today with Magic on LEQ configuration.
Magic rolled out at 0915hrs with a One Design foil wing on port and the silver foil wing on starboard side that America, not sailing today, has been using so far.
Initial crew was Harry with Riley and Severin with Lucas but they had a full crew rotation half way through the day with Paul and Michael plus Finn and Andrew.
They began sailing at 1230hrs after a longer than usual jib hoist with mainsail #3 and jib #2.
Conditions were slightly gentler than yesterday but not flat yet. Wind was 7-9kts from 160° wind with a 0.7m, 3.3sec period and wind chop from 180° with a swell 1.2m high with a 4.4sec period from 100° swell.
Four marks were laid, windward gate plus leeward gate, and two laps were sailed before stopping 13:07hrs to change the initial jib #2 for another jib #2 that we couldn’t identify. Then they sailed four more one-lap races and 1one two-lap race with short stops to debrief in between each of them.
Plenty of prestart with two foils lowered maneuvers were executed. Round ups at the leeward gate were getting better and better as the day went by.
There were plenty of tacks (47) and gybes (27), executed as well but not all of them clean as the waves were still there to complicate things.
Again, many crash-splashes, four were due to either ventilation or to dropping the hull to windward that required a complete restart of the boat.
This is the list of races with times including prestart periods:
- Race 1 & 2: 1229hrs to 1258hrs, one lap each.
- Race 3: 1313hrs to 1328hrs, one lap.
- Race 4: 1338hrs to 1404hrs, two laps.
- Race 5: 1429hrs to 1504hrs, one lap.
- Race 6: 1517hrs to 1533hrs, one lap.
- Race 7 & back to port: 1541hrs to 1607hrs, one lap.
Dock in was at 1626hrs.
- Lea Sitjà (AC37 Joint Recon team)
Session Statistics: American Magic - LEQ12 - Day 43 - July 22, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny
- Wind Strength 7-12kts
- Wind Direction: 160°-170°
- Sea State: Beaufort 4
- Crane In: 0915hrs Dock Out: 1156hrs
- Dock In: 1625hrs Crane out: 1710hrs
- Total Tacks: 47 - Fully foiling: 30; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 27 - Fully foiling: 21; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 6
Crew:Lucas Calabrese, Harry Melges, Paul Goodison, Finn Rowe, Riley Gibbs, Severin Gramm, Andrew Campbell, Michael Menninger - Two sailing squads rotated through the four available positions.
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.