Cup Spy July 26: Finding the Groove

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 27 Jul 2023 06:22 PDT 28 July 2023

Emirates Team New Zealand, American Magic and INEOS Britannia ventured out in light to moderate winds at Barcelona. They encountered the notorious Barcelona Backwash which affected the AC40s more than the underpowered AC75.

What happened in the Cup - July 26, 2023:

• American Magic - sailed both their AC40 hulls, both in LEQ12 mode, with different test wings on each, with both carrying a One-Design wing foil on the other foil arm.
• Emirates Team New Zealand sailed their AC75 light to moderate winds and an awkward seastate and appeared to handle the conditions without an issue - including self-launching in the light including using a J3 jib.
• INEOS Britannia have set up in their new base in Barcelona and sailed today in their AC40-One Design. Under the Protocol they are not required to have the company of the AC37 Joint Recon team.
• Luna Rossa - did not sail from either their Cagliari or Barcelona bases.
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing did not sail. The team are moving into their new permanent base, in Port Vell.
• No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).

Weather conditions at Barcelona July 26, 2023:

On the water the AC37 Recon teams reported a breeze of 6-14kts from 160 degrees (American Magic) and 6-14kts from 160 degrees (Emirates Team NZ). At the real-time observation station at Port Olimpic, at American Magic's dock out tie of 1130hrs and TNZ's dock out time (1200hrs) the breeze at Port Olimpic was flicking around an average of 6-8kts from 170 degrees-195 degrees the wind stayed at that strength while the boats were training, increasing later

The difference between the two sets of reading can be cause by the different heights for reading - 8ft (2.5mtrs) for the AC37 Joint Recon crews and 12 metres - midway up the 23 metre AC75 rig.

Commentary:

Three teams sailed today. American Magic sailed their two AC40 hulls in LEQ12 mode, with different development wing foils on the starboard wing arm, and with the One Design foil on the port wing arm.

They appear to have sailed with One Design rigs. This configuration for both boats meant that they could be checked in one design mode sailing on port tack and then the performance checked on starboard with the development wing foils immersed.

From the report of the AC37 Recon team it is not clear whether one foil was definitively better than the other, with the variables being the crews, and the sea state, which with the fluctuating breeze resulted in a marginal foiling condition. It will be interesting to see how long American Magic persist with testing using this AC40/LEQ12 combination.

Emirates Team New Zealand sailed their AC75, in a sea condition that was such that one of the teams was able to identify and estimate height direction and frequency of the three sea states prevailing today.

After reviewing all the 28 videos in the RFS (Reconnaissance File System) for the Kiwis, which were of varying length, it did not seem that that the sea state, with waves just under a metre high, affected the AC75 too much. They were able to get foiling using their J2, and latter with a wind increase with the J3.

Today was described by Severin Gramm one of American Magic's Youth Team as "probably the waviest we have had. And in combination with the lighter breeze, it provided a challenge both up and down wind."

It seems that in the AC75 they had a better experience - Emirates Team NZ's Andy Maloney: "Another awesome day of learning here in Barcelona. We had the breeze from south/southeast and a big sea state from a bit more to the east. The breeze was around seven to 11 knots of wind, and just a really good day for learning for us."

"The hardest part is probably the takeoffs," said Severin Gramm. "Managing the heel with the waves coming across your beam will roll you over a lot to leeward or a lot to windward. Trying to have a consistent heel for takeoff was the most challenging."

"The unsteady breeze just added to the challenge. But once you're up and foiling, typically you're working in the groove and it was more manageable.

Keeping the AC40 "in the groove" wasn't easy, particularly with today's swell.

"We experimented with a lot of different settings," Severin explained. "Eventually we landed on a combination that felt more stable for us, but it was definitely more of a head out of the boat kind of day than the most."

Some comment was made in the AC37 Joint Recon program report about the soft forestay on Emirates Team New Zealand. When asked about this, Andy Maloney didn't say much. "Nothing in particular is just super dynamic out there with the waves. We were just trimming around it."

For a team that didn't win the America's Cup, a lot has been copied off Luna Rossa. One idea is the split helm positions using to co-helmsmen, instead of one sailor running between helm positions to sail the boat on a new tack or gybe. Another is the removal of running backstays, which saves weight, reduces drag, and means there is nothing to bang against the mainsail or aloft. However the downside of that is that there is no backstay to tension the forestay and jib luff. When the mainsail is sheeted hard the carbon in the leach transmits the pressure from the mainsheet hydraulic to the mast to tension the forestay, and allows the jib luff to be tightened.

When the AC75's are trying to take off in light airs the rig is set to generate maximum power and is quite soft. Amazingly these boats will get up to 15kts plus to get foiling in just 5-6kts of wind, and then when foil-borne everything is sheeted on as the apparent wind takes over, and the sails have to be sheeted for 30-35kts of apparent wind speed - using the same sails that were set up for light winds a few seconds previously.

AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:

Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 26 - July 26, 2023 - Barcelona

From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:

ETNZ rolled out their B2 AC75 from the shed at 10.30 am. The boat was craned to the water at 11:07 and the team docked out at 12.00.

The M1 and the J3 were hoisted at 12:13, inside the harbor.

Today's training consisted of "a bit of everything". Some straight-line training at the beginning, then a couple maneuvers and a few pre-start simulations at the end of the day without using marks.

During the first part of the day, ETNZ sailed with their J3 for 53 minutes. They did three stops in which they performed different adjustments under the deck. The front and back deck hatches were removed, and different people went inside, under the deck, including team members coming from the chase boats.

After that first hour, they changed the J3 for the J2, which looked much more appropriate for the wind intensity conditions they had from the beginning of the day up to that moment.

The same routine continued with the J2 up, that stayed for another half an hour. Some further adjustments were done on the lower back part of the mainsail, in between the two skins, using tools.

Later on, as the wind increased the J3 was re-hoisted in replacement of the J2, and some maneuvers were performed.

As regards maneuvers, ETNZ did approximately 22 tacks and 18 gybes, with some ups and downs.

Landing completely at least on two gybes and tacks, touching and going on six and five, respectively; and flying on the rest.

When talking about boat tuning, an important amount of sag could be noticed on the forestay, being very active moving considerably.

The consistent main pumping continues while sailing both, upwind and downwind, and when coming off from the tacks and gybes.

Sailing conditions: Five to ten knots of true wind speed at sea level prevailed today, direction 140/145 to 160/165, increasing and turning right towards the afternoon.

There was a disorganized swell of 0,9m to 0,8m that added some difficulties for tacking and gybing and for the chase boats to keep up with Te-Rehutai's speed.

Sails were lowered at 15:05, the boat was craned out at 15:43 and put back in the shed at 16:15.

No breakdowns.

Sebastian Peri Brusa - AC37 Recon on ETNZ

Session Statistics - Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 26 - July 26, 2023 - Barcelona

• Weather: 27 degrees Partially sunny
• Wind Strength: 4.5kts - 10kts
• Wind Direction: 140 degrees-165 degrees (SSE-SSW)
• Sea State: 0.8metres ESE disorganised seaway
• Crane In: 1107hrs Dock Out: 1200hrs
• Dock In: 1516hrs Crane out: 1543hrs
• Total Tacks: 22 - Fully foiling: 14; Touch & Go: 6; Touch Down: 2
• Total Gybes: 18 - Fully foiling: 11; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 2

Crew: Nathan Outteridge, Peter Burling, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke

American Magic - LEQ12 x 2 - Day 45 - July 26, 2023 - Barcelona

From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:

Wavy two boat testing day with both boats on LEQ12 configuration.

Today has been so far the roughest sea state American Magic has seen in Barna with wind chop of 1m, 4sec periods from 160 degrees and three swells in the mix (1.7m, 5secs from 130 degrees / 0.8m, 5.2secs, from 100 degrees / 1m, 6secs at 050 degrees) that made life difficult for the crew.

Roll out was at 08:45hrs for Magic and at 10:03hrs for America both with the same foil configuration as yesterday, i.e. One Design foils on port and silver foils on starboard. Tom Slingsby was back on board after missing some days.

Dock out was at 11:26hrs and out of the port at 12:02hrs where we had 7-9kt of patchy wind from 160 degrees.

Magic rigged up MN-3 main and jib #2 sails while America had MN-2 with jib #2.

Sailing began at 12:08hrs upwind on starboard trying to get both boats lined-up but America struggled to take off while Magic was gracefully sailing around her waiting for her take off.

They lined up eventually but it was noticeable harder for America to take off when dropping off the foils, which happened regularly for both of them. Take off speed was 16kt BSP (Boat SPeed) and they sailed upwind on starboard tack at 24kt BSP, 100 degrees COG (Course Over the Ground) when in the pressure, and 20kt BSP, 80 degrees COG when in the lulls.

They stopped 12:29hrs for a jib change to #1 probably looking for earlier and easier take offs.

After a quick debrief they resumed sailing at 12:42hrs and after 15 minutes of straight line sailing on starboard tack (25kt BSP 110 degrees COG), America from leeward had gained a considerable distance ahead of Magic, same height. This was interesting as this is the tack in which both boats sailed on the One Design foils, so whichever was the contributing factor, it should not be credited to the foils.

Again, it was noticeably harder for America to take off when, too often, dropping off the foils and Magic looked always more under control. The wind had picked up to 12-14kts and they went on a short port tack upwind (24kt BSP, 200 degrees COG) to bear away and gybe into long a starboard reach downwind (35kt BSP, 360 degrees COG) in which I couldn't notice significant speed differences.

America stopped at 13:45hrs while Magic sailed straight back into port to finish her day, apparently due to low batteries.

America resumed her downwind sailing at 13:58hrs on a port tack (35kt BSP, 300 degrees COG) followed by a couple of short beats during which they seemed to be much more under control and having more fun than earlier in the day. They went back to port at 14:35hrs to dock in at 15:03hrs.

Lea Sitjà.

Session Statistics: American Magic - LEQ12 x 2 - Day 45 - July 26, 2023 - Barcelona

• Weather: Sunny
• Wind Strength: 6-14kts
• Wind Direction: 160 degrees
• Sea State: 5
• Crane In: 0845hrs Dock Out: 1126hrs
• Dock In: 1503hrs Crane out: 1735hrs
• Total Tacks: 12 - Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
• Total Gybes: 10 - Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1

Crew: America: Tom Slingsby, Lucas Calabrese, Riley Gibbs, Andrew Campbell; Magic: Paul Goodison, Harry Melges, Michael Menninger/Severin Gramm

This commentary was written and compiled from video, still images and statistical content extracted from the AC37">www.americascup.com/en/news/1481_THE-JOINT-RECONNAISSANCE-PROGRAMME-NEW-FOR-AC37-IN-BARCELONA">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.

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