Cup Spy August 17: Luna Rossa resume testing; 'Nasty' seas and 18-26kts winds hit Barcelona
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 18 Aug 2023 06:29 PDT
17 August 2023
Luna Rossa - AC40 - Day 53 - August 17, 2023 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
Only one of the six America's Cup team sailed on Thursday. Luna Rossa sailed off Cagliari, in idyllic conditions for America's Cup type foiling monohulls - a breeze estimated at 13-15kts, bright sunshine, and a seaway aligned with the breeze.
In Barcelona, two teams rolled out of their boatsheds, and then decided not to sail due to the sea-state. Wave height at that time (1200hrs) was recorded at 1.2metres, in ENE winds of 18kts gusting 26kts. Wave direction was calculated to be 15° off the wind direction. Wave buoy data does not measure a cross-sea.
What happened in the Cup - August 17 2023:
- Luna Rossa sailed off Cagliari, in their LEQ12 (12mtr long test boat). They sailed a three and a half hour session, without incident. Afterwards Team Director Max Sirena, made several interesting observations in a video interview with the Recon team.
- INEOS Britannia - There was no sailing today for the British team due to and a "nasty" 1.2mtr - 1.4mtr sea state in Barcelona.
- Emirates Team New Zealand - At 12.00 the team´s sailors and coach went out on one of their chase boats to check the conditions just out of the port. Once back, they decided to suspend sailing for the day.
- American Magic did not sail
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing did not sail.
- Orient Express Racing Team (formerly K-Challenge) did not sail after being splashed on Wednesday.
Commentary:
Luna Rossa, the six-times Challenger for the America's Cup was back out on their home waters on the Gulf of Cagliari, restarting their on-the-water testing and development program after participating in the Race Management test regatta in Barcelona, last week.
Team Director Max Sirena, was asked by the AC37 Joint Recon team for his assessment of the day and the Italian program generally.
"I think it was good to get back to home waters and go back to our LEQ12, which is where we're going to do most of the development of this campaign, "
"We had a pretty good and intense session in Barcelona, and it was good to have a chance to race against the other teams for the first time. So we came back from Barcelona with some pretty good feedback from the practice we had, and I think is going to be a pretty big learning curve for everyone for the first event in Villanova in a few weeks. In the meantime, we're going to sail here for a couple of weeks, or more, to keep going with our development and then we switch to a racing mode, finally.
Luna Rossa was running with two test wings - Wing 4 on the port foil arm and Wing 3 on the starboard arm, according to Sirena.
While the conditions were ideal for foiling, Luna Rossa certainly looked fast - as do most AC75-type foilers when they are sailing alone. The highlights video is quite representative of the full set of 22 videos of the day available in the AC37 Recon system - covering approximately 20 minutes - and it was a quality session.
"It was good, I think it's good to have all the boys on board and with the feedback of everyone," Sirena said. "In the previous session, we didn't have Jimmy [Spithill] and it's good to have feedback from the other guys as well - and again it's part of the process.
"I think everyone [in the Luna Rossa design team] is getting close to the final call in some of the departments."
He said he expected that some departments would say they needed more information, and with that, the team would be more confident when the time came to make the final design decision.
Michele Melis, of the AC37 Recon, who followed and reported on the session felt he had seen Luna Rossa inducing more windward heel than was usual.
Sirena's explanation was that in every on-the-water session, they were analysing the video, and wanted to try different setups and moding, to find the best combination which "we believe is going to be faster overall for the race."
"I think we will see these [analyses] going on until a few days before the Cup, because once you see a guy doing a different technique, or so on, you want to test it. You want to try it. And so I think it's part of it's part of the learning process for everyone."
The interview turned to the maybe rather sensitive issue of whether "the R & D of the [Luna Rossa] team is on point and on schedule."
"Well, I don't know - you should ask some of them who went on holiday," Sirena replied a little testily. "Lucky them."
"The only thing you cannot buy is the time - so everyone is pushing, and is rushing, to try to make as much as possible out on the water."
"Obviously you need to look for quality as well - not just hours in the water just for fun. So again, I think the next couple of months are going to be pretty intense for everyone, because next year we're going to launch the boat and everyone needs to be more focused on their racing."
"The fact is that you can only build one big boat, and you need to be spot-on," he said, concluding the interview with some comments in Italian.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Report:
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - DB1 - August 17, 2023 - Cagliari
The Italian team LRPP rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:00hrs and quickly proceeded with the mast stepping procedure craning the yacht in by 11:15hrs.
On the boat configuration side it has been noticed that what seems to be an updated wing03 was mounted on starboard arm while the anhedral updated wing02 remained mounted on port arm. This is yet to be confirmed in the upcoming sailing days as the interview revealed perhaps a wing04 on port. Routine checks followed and dockout was scheduled for 12:30hrs after having locked in the newest mainsail M1-2 in the mast fittings.
Just outside the harbour the main was fully hoisted and then paired to the J1.5. Forecast looked light and flat at the beginning, approximately 7-9kts from 150° TWA with increasing light chop and mid range wind intensity towards the afternoon. Once released from towline, the LEQ12 performed two displacement tacks before setting the boat up for actual take off on port tack with usual crews hanging on windward and crossing right before reaching dynamic take off speed at 17-18kn on 85° TWA.
The first foiling stint lasted a complete hour and began with a series of tacks before bearing away, heading downwind for a series of gybes, finally alternating between hard bear-aways and turn ups. After the latter, the LEQ12 has been observed testing some upwind performance flying low for end-plating before tacking.
On this day, while entering the tacks the crew seemed to induce more windward heel then usually before dropping the windward board, perhaps trying new maneuvers protocols. After a final long straight line downwind run, the LEQ12 stopped, Chase2 laid out the usual race track and the J1.5 has been lowered to hoist the J2 as the breeze had increased to 12-14kts 145° TWA. Once back up foilborne via a tow-to-fly, the LEQ12 engaged the racetrack from the windward mark sailing one leg before practicing a first prestart with time on distance followed by fours legs and coming to a stop shortly after.
During this break some crew swapping between helmsmen and passengers have been observed. Once again foilborne via self take off, a second prestart has been observed while the distance between the marks seemed to have been increased for some final laps before recovering the marks while the LEQ12 sailed for a short while closer to shore focusing on maneuvers. The LEQ12 came to a stop close to the harbour gate, sails were lowered and the day was called with approx. 131 minutes of foiling out of 203 minutes total, two starts, nine legs, 33 tacks and 31 gybes [Michele Melis AC Recon].
Crew: (Co-Helms): Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei, Umberto Molineris
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - August 17, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunshine, 29°
- Wind Strength 7-13kts
- Wind Direction: 145° - 150°
- Sea State: No report
- Dockout: 1230hrs Dock In: 1600hrs
- Total Tacks: 33 - Fully foiling: 29; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 31 - Fully foiling: 28; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
Session Statistics: Emirates Team NZ - AC40 - Day BD5 - August 17, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:
ETNZ rolled out their AC40 at 11.30.
The shore team set the mast as usual, and worked on the boat tunning of “Te Kakahi” for approximately thirty minutes. They controlled the loads on the shrouds and on the lowers (D1s).
First, only the shrouds were connected, the forestay was set and the tension was measured.
Then, the forestay got released to connect the lowers (D1s) and then the tension was checked again.
Nothing specific or special, just classic boat tuning checks.
In the meantime, at 12.00 the team´s sailors and coach went out on one of their chase boats to check the conditions just out of the port. Once back, they decided to suspend sailing for the day.
Once the shore team finished their checks, the mast was removed and the boat was back in the shed at 13:06.
The plan for the following three days is to sail on the AC40 on one design configuration.
Sebastian Peri Brusa - Recon on ETNZ
Session Statistics: Emirates Team NZ - AC40 - Day BD5 - August 17, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny 30°C
- Wind Strength 18-21kts, Gusting 24-26kts
- Wind Direction:60°-80°
- Sea State: 1.4mtr - from East
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 69 - August 17, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team (Justin Chisholm)
There was no sailing today for the British team due to windy conditions and an unpleasant sea state in Barcelona.
The team's original plan for a second day of two boat testing with the T6 LEQ12 and the AC40 were scaled back this morning to a single boat day using T6. The boat was rolled out on time at 1100 and launched at shortly after midday.
At this point the team's Chase 2 support boat was sent out to assess the wind and sea state with the description coming back that breeze had ramped up slightly and that the sea state was 'nasty' – particularly off the harbour breakwater.
This prompted the decision to cancel sailing for the day, with a call on the schedule for tomorrow (Friday August 18) to be made this evening.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 69 - August 17, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny 30°C
- Wind Strength 17-24kts
- Sea State: Reported to be "Nasty"
Weather conditions at Barcelona August 17, 2023:
Although there was no sailing at Barcelona on Thursday, the weather pattern has changed.
On Thursday the breeze was 12-15kts at noon, from 090°.
The sea-state according to the Barcelona Buoy peaked at around 1.2metres at 1500hrs from a calculated direction of 095°
The forecast for the Friday and the weekend is for light winds below foiling strength.
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.
Additional Images: