Cup Spy July 28: Another day at the office for Emirates Team New Zealand?
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 28 Jul 2023 20:00 PDT
28 July 2023
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 27 - July 28, 2023 - Barcelona © Job Vermeulen / America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand were the only team to sail with a Recon Team tailing them on Friday. We expect to see all teams except the French sailing next week.
What happened in the Cup - July 28, 2023:
- Emirates Team New Zealand were the only team to sail with AC37 Recon Team on their tail. They appeared to have a regular sailing day, with a couple of incidents around halyard locks and through mast halyard exits. This is not unusual for the team when they are trying a mod/new gear. For those wondering what Emirates Team NZ sailor Glenn Ashby is current doing, Radio New Zealand caught up with him late in the week. The interview can be heard here
- American Magic - were not reported as sailing. There has been no indication of damage from the nosedive by Magic, on Thursday.
- INEOS Britannia are expected to start two boat testing with an AC40 against their test boat T6
- Luna Rossa - were not reported as sailing from either their Cagliari or Barcelona bases.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing were not reported as sailing. 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 28, 2023:
On the water the AC37 Recon teams reported a breeze of 5-10kts from 140°-180°.
At the real-time observation station at Port Olimpic, the real-time recordings (see image above) showed a breeze
The above image is of a 48 hour period and can be aligned with the dock out and dock in times recorded in the AC37 Recon report. It shows that there was a trend for the breeze to increase from 5-10kts in the time period in which ETNZ was sailing, the wind direction on the Port Olimpic move from 135° at 1200hrs to 180° at 1500hrs. That is similar to what the AC37 Recon team saw the breeze clock from 145° at 1200hrs to 180° at 1518hrs.
Interestingly there is little difference between the two sets of readings despite the different heights for reading - 9ft (2.75mtrs) for the AC37 Joint Recon crews and 12 metres - midway up the 23 metre AC75 rig for the readings taken at Port Olimpic.
It is also interesting to see on the 48hrs map the similarity in breeze growth across the two days, when yesterday American Magic had winds of 20-25kts at 1500hrs, and today the winds showed the same build trend , but not to the same strength. Direction remains similar.
In 12 months, we will be two weeks away from the start of the Challenger Selection Series for the America's Cup. The period we are in now shows what could be in store for the final workup period when final decisions are being made as to what gear to measure in for the first round of the Challenger Selection Series. Increasingly this would seem to be a requirement for gear which performs across the wind range and sea states, instead of moding the boat for a particular, reliable set of wind conditions.
Commentary:
Emirates Team New Zealand were the only team reported as sailing in light 5-10kt breeze that was reasonably steady. The conditions made for a regular "day at the office". Aside from some halyard lock and through mast halyard exit issues, plus a reported wing elevator flap issue, little time was lost and the team focussed on working through their individual tests for this test block, which started this week.
The Emirates Team NZ power team consists of athletes that are mostly from a rowing or cycling background - or both - in the case of triple Olympic Gold medalist, multiple world champion rower, and Commonwealth Games cycling time trial Bronze medalist Hamish Bond.
Cam Webster started his rowing career in 2008 at Westlake Boys High School, on Auckland's North Shore - over the years Westlake BHS has contributed more America's Cup sailors than any other in NZ. Webster is a double international champion at Age group level, and was in the Rowing New Zealand development program until 2020.
How the cyclors work is an interesting topic, as Emirates Team New Zealand are the only team in the current America's Cup who have previously used cyclors to provide the power to pressurise the hydraulic systems on board. There are no sheets (ropes) or running rigging, and therefore no winches on an AC75.
In Bermuda, where the Kiwis were the only team running cyclors in their six man crew, Olympic Gold medal winning cyclist, Simon van Velthoven was at the front of the peloton, and was a familiar sight, with his head resting on the foredeck, and providing most of the power. He was backed up by other sailors turned cyclors.
The advantage of the cyclors lay obviously in the better strength in their legs, but also that the combined power enabled to Kiwis to cut down on the accumulators on board, and could refresh pressure faster than the arm-grinders used by the other teams. The difference was significant in the 2017 Cup with the cyclor advantage winning a crucial race in the Challenger Final.
The two images above show part of the different approach between 2017 and 2024 with cyclors. In 2017 they were well above deck level - contributing to aero-drag - which they tried to minimise. In both images there are the same number of cyclors, except that a check on head count shows there are five crew visible - when the assumption has been that there will be four per side. In 2024 the cyclors are positioned aft of the helm and trimmer/flight control, while in 2017 all the cyclors were forward of the sailing crew - blocking their vision.
With the AC75s in the current Cup there are more restrictions on the cycling systems, and the opportunities for weight reduction are not there. The other advantage of the cyclors in 2017, was that the leg power freed sailor/cyclor hands to perform other functions on the boat, such as sail trim and flight control - that factor may come into play, closer to the Cup.
"There is only one hydraulic system, on the AC75," says Webster. "We power all of the above water functions, including the main traveller and adjusting the jib. At times, it's a lot harder than others, depending on how many functions the boys on the helm and flight controller are requiring - but mainly it's just building the hydraulic pressure for the boys."
So far we have not seen the emergence of the sailor/cyclor role, and in the eight man crew most seem to be carrying four sailors and four cyclors, in what is known as the power group.
Asked to explain the difference in output between international rowing and as a cyclor on an AC75, Webster put it down to peaks.
"I guess the the main differences would be here, it's quite peaky efforts. There's a lot of Max efforts and a lot of rest. In a rowing boat, it is very consistent, you sort of ramp into the effort over a long period of time. (Rowing races typically last for six minutes and AC75 racing can last up to 45 minutes.)
"Here you warm up and then during the different manoeuvres, you have a lot of peaking efforts where you have to provide a lot of hydraulic pressure. Most of the time, it's just a slight difference in terms of the the peak of the effort. In rowing it is a consistent effort in rowing."
The cyclors are cycling independently with individual cycle positions, rather than being four cyclists on a tandem bike.
"We do need to stay connected to each other, otherwise, you can get into a free spin. There a lot of nuances to being in this boat - just like in rowing, there's a lot of timing cues and a lot of things about being together. It's very similar here. It's just a different version of a similar sort of technical cue," Webster explains.
The outputs for each cyclor are different - with each having to maintain and manage individual pace - to avoid the phenomenon of "blowing up" during a race - if unsustainable effort is applied, which cannot be maintained.
"We have access to power and heart rate and cadence readouts.
"We try and link up together at a specific cadence. That's to ensure that we don't over spin each other. Most of the time, we're pretty good at that. We all have our individual heart rates to ensure that we're not going too fast and gassing ourselves out early in the day."
In the 2024 America's Cup racing it is expected that the cyclor teams will be switched out between races, and a new group used for power in the second race.
Acclimatisation to the temperatures in Spain are also a significant factor - hitting over 30°C most days - a particular issue for the New Zealand team who have been training in much colder temperature during the "Summer" and Autumn down under.
As we move into the mirrored 2024 Cup period which starts in mid-August, it will be interesting to see how many teams use AC75s to train. The AC75 is the only boat that can run four cyclors, with the AC40's and LEQ12 test boats being electrically powered for all functions.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 27 - July 28, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
ETNZ rolled out their B2 AC75 from the shed at 10.33 am. The boat was craned to the water at 11:05 and the team docked out at 12.00. The M1 and the J1 were hoisted at 12:11, inside the harbor.
The first part of the training consisted of sailing upwind on numbers in a straight line.
It seemed that they were testing to sail with the boat slightly heeled forward, with the bow closer to the waterline than the stern. The lower shrouds were pretty loose in today´s configuration and the forestay looked tighter than yesterday.
At 12:40 there was a short stop to fix something on the starboard side foil flap, that seemed to be obstructing its movement. Two team members had to work using tools sitting on the starboard arm, for three minutes approximately. Just a minor thing.
Afterwards, the training continued with a long downwind leg practicing some head-ups and bear-aways.
At 14:03, when the J1 had to be replaced for the J3 due to the increase of the true wind speed, an unexpected issue arose. The jib halyard seemed to be stuck in the jib halyard mast case and block.
The running rigger manager had to climb up on the mast to try to release it. Finally, six minutes afterwards, the J3 was up and the training continued.
After a couple more gybes, head-ups and bear-aways and once closer to the shore, ETNZ practiced an upwind-downwind three lap virtual course, performing three tacks and gybes per leg.
ETNZ did approximately 17 tacks and 27 gybes today, foiling on almost all of them, consolidating another day of strong boat handling and maneuvering performance.
At the end of the day, when the J3 had to be dropped, the jib halyard had to be released from the discontinuous point, as it was not possible to release it completely from the top, confirming some trouble on the jib mast case and block.
It was another good day for ETNZ on the water training, that seemed to be able to check their boxes of objectives for the day, despite those minor issues.
Sailing conditions: Five to ten knots of true wind speed at sea level prevailed today, direction 140/145 turning to 160/165 and reaching as far right as 185, increasing and turning right during the day.
Mostly flat sea state, just a slight 0,4m organized swell.
Sails were lowered at 15:35, the boat was back in the dock at 16:00, craned out at 16:20 and back in the shed at 16:50.
Sebastian Peri Brusa - AC37 Recon on ETNZ
Session Statistics - Emirates Team NZ - AC75 - Day 27 - July 28, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: 30°C Sunny
- Wind Strength: 5-10kts
- Wind Direction: 140° - 180° (SE-S)
- Sea State: 0.84metres
- Crane In: 1105hrs Dock Out: 1200hrs
- Dock In: 1603hrs Crane out: 1625hrs
- Total Tacks: 17 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 27 - Fully foiling: 25; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Nathan Outteridge, Peter Burling, Andy Maloney, Blair Tuke
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.