Cup Spy August 28: Kiwis versus the Swiss in AC40's to start a challenging week
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 29 Aug 2023 09:29 AEST
2-3 September 2023
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 - Day 50 - Barcelona - August 28, 2023 © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
Two Cup teams sailed off Barcelona - the Swiss had an excellent day and great start to the week. Gremlins hit the British early in the session of the test boat T6.
What happened in the Cup - August 28 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed two AC40's in one design mode with a New Zealand helmed AC40 being pitched against the Swiss helmed boat.
- INEOS Britannia - set up to sail their AC40 One Design against their Test Boat T6, but had an unidentified issue on board which curtailed the two boat practice. Their other AC40 sailed out the day alone.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail.
- American Magic did not sail.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli did not sail out of Sardinia
- Orient Express Racing Team - no report - but the recon teams got shots of the French team sailing today.
Commentary: Swiss set a high bar
Alinghi Red Bull Racing stepped up their training by pitching a Kiwi-helmed AC40 against the top Swiss combination. This will likely be their program for the rest of the week, in what should be an intensive and challenging learning process in conjunction with their sailor-coaches.
Dean Barker and Phil Robertson bring extensive experience from the America's Cup and SailGP circuits, as well as being top match racers.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing planned an intense day with two AC40s in One Design mode, and Barker and Robertson pitched against the Swiss helming combination of Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin. The four-man, largely Antipodean crew was rounded out by Australian Olympic Silver medalist and SailGP flight controller Jason Waterhouse along with Swiss national Nico Rolaz (23yrs), former Optimist World Champion and youngest member of the Alinghi Red Bull Sailing team.
On paper the Yellow team of Barker and Robertson won more than they lost in the practice racing. However in our experience unless you know that the race is genuine and not being run to a script, then drawing conclusions on outcome is a fraught exercise. To tell if the race is, or is not scripted, the Recon team has to be linked to the live onboard conversations - which the two boats and chase boat certainly are, and the Recon boat (which is effectively that of a competitive team) is almost certainly not.
One of the key aspects of any test racing is breaking through rig turbulence - either your own (which can happen in mark roundings), and that of your opponent. One of the surprising aspects of the last Cup was the extensive nature of the turbulence and how long it can linger. This was really not known until the Cup itself, sailed in much lighter winds than much of the other racing.
In the Recon report, the team reports that there were two instances, in two "races" in which a boat had to stop to clear plastic from the wingfoils. We have always suspected that plastic debris would be an issue for the AC40s and 75s, and it will be interesting to see if the crews bring back the weedstick, or similar which were a feature of racing to clear rudders in the good old days when monohulls contested the Cup from 1992-2007.
"We are doing our racing programme now. And Phil, Dean and Jason are here to help us to improve and to push us to the limit. And today, we almost found the limit on the boat and the good things to improve and to work on for tomorrow and the rest of the week," skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis remarked after the session.
"Today was a really good day to start the week. We had the offshore breeze in the beginning that died off really quickly. But we got super lucky to get the Southwest breeze coming back in. And it was a perfect way to start the week."
The Brits had similar intentions, with their test boat T6 set to be pitted against their AC40 in One Design mode. However, breakdowns at the session outset spiked the two-boat testing plan.
"We had a couple of bugs on board, which we tried to resolve. We sent a couple of Chase boats in with some replacement parts that were in the debugging process. And by the time we were closing in on a fix to it, the breeze actually turned off and went back to this offshore land breeze. So it was a bit of an opportunity missed," explained Ben Cornish, co-helm of T6, after the team came ashore.
The upside was that the likely British "A" Team of Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott, who are expected to co-helm the AC40 in the first Preliminary Regatta, a fortnight away, got in a solid day of training in the AC40. The pair have six Olympic Gold medals between them, and at this stage of their career, further fleet racing practice seems a little redundant. While racing a foiling 40ft monohull is somewhat different from the una-rigged Finn, Ainslie and Scott do have some solid SailGP experience in the F50, a couple of America's Cup campaigns in foilers. They will be looking to come out of the first regatta in AC40s, with an improvement on their AC75 effort in Auckland in 2021.
The event in Vilanora consists of three days of fleet racing in the six-boat fleet, followed by a Match Race final. And as other teams have commented, their sailing efforts at this stage are perhaps better applied to testing to keep their design process fueled for their AC75 Race boat, construction of which is well underway - and as the precious European Summer winds into Autumn and Winter.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 x2 - Day 50 - August 28, 2023 - Barcelona
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40-4 (YELLOW) at 08:45hrs, with the prototype foils being replaced by the one-design foils. The AC40-7 (RED) was rolled out at 09:30hrs in one design mode. Both boats were equipped with one-design sails and were prepared for dockout at 11:00hrs.
The Red boat was driven by Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin, while Phil Robertson and Dean Barker drove the Yellow Boat.
Sailing commenced at 11:30hrs, in the offshore, northwest 'Mestral' winds. The 'Mestral' winds gave way to the 'Garbi' afternoon thermal winds, with shifts noted at specific intervals. A residual East swell was present, with a light chop that grew from the south with the thermal wind.
The first stint saw both boats performing split gybes downwind while the course was being set under the forum. In the second stint, the team sailed an upwind tacking drill to the course start. The shift in winds, becoming negligible at 12:30, prompted both boats to swap for the J1 jibs.
The third stint began with both boats being tow-started, followed by another upwind tacking duel. During this phase, the red boat picked up a plastic bag on its foil, removed by quickly dipping the foil into the water when the foil was on windward. After sailing upwind, both vessels touched down due to diminished winds further offshore.
In the fourth stint, the boats were towed closer to the shore to take advantage of the prevailing breezes. They engaged in a race warm-up, using chase boats as makeshift markers. Notably, the red boat performed a tack and gybe after its windward rounding, allowing the yellow boat to reduce the lead distance. Debris removal from the foils was again necessary during this session.
The fifth stint featured a single lap of the course, with the Yellow boat establishing and maintaining a lead from the start. Both boats circled the leeward finish gate, executing a brief upwind sail before halting.
The following two races were won again by the Yellow boat. Both boats more often than not opted for the right side of the course during both upwind and downwind legs. The final race was one and a half laps, with the Red boat taking their only win of the day, owing to their start on port tack towards the right side of the course. Sailing continued upwind towards the port entrance. The sails were lowered and
the yachts towed back to base, docking in at 16:00.
The recon boat logged 55nm over Alinghi Red Bull Racing's five-hour water session, wherein 155 minutes were active sailing. A total of 93 manoeuvres were documented, 91% fully foiling mode.
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Phil Robertson, Dean Barker, Nico Rolaz, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey, Jason Waterhouse
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40 x2 - Day 50 - August 28, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny 30°C
- Wind Strength 8kts-13kts
- Wind Direction: 170° -290°
- Sea State: 0.5mtr
- Dockout:1100hrshrs Dock In: 1600hrs
- Total Tacks: 59 - Fully foiling: 55; Touch & Go:1; Touch Down: 3
- Total Gybes: 34- Fully foiling: 30; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 2
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12/AC40 - Day 72 - August 28, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team (Justin Chisholm)
The British team had a frustrating start to their week after a technical issue on board their LEQ12 test boat T6 put paid to a planned day of two boat testing against their AC40.
T6 was the first boat to roll out of the hangar this morning at a couple of minutes shy of 0900. The silver hulled test boat was rigged and launched by 0948 and shortly after the British AC40 emerged and was put together and in the water by 1035. T6 docked out at 1107 and had sails up (M2-2 mainsail and J3-2 headsail) by 1140.
However a 50 minute wait ensued before she was bow towed out of the harbour at 1220. With the British AC40 – sailed by helmsmen Ben Ainslie Giles Scott with Leigh Mc Millan and Bleddyn Mon as flight controllers / trimmers – already up and foiling around in no more than 6 knots of breeze, T6 was towed onto its foils for a two minute run that featured one foiling gybe before ending in a touch down gybe.
The support boat came alongside shortly after at the beginning of a two hour 40 minute wait while members of the technical team worked down below to remedy an issue. Two parts were brought from ashore during this time but with the now 10 - 13 knot breeze beginning to become very patchy time was called at 1600 with the boat towed ashore on foils for a dock in 1645hrs.
One consolation for the team was that the AC40 crew were able to get in plenty of practice time in a range of breezes.
The expectation from the team is that the issue will be fixed overnight in time for T6 to sail again tomorrow (Tuesday August 29) although this had not been confirmed by the time this report was completed.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12/AC40 - Day 72 - August 28, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny 29°C
- Wind Strength 6-13kts
- Wind Direction: 120°-180°
- Sea State: 0.5mtr - confused chop
- Crane In: 0948hrs Dock Out: 1107hrs
- Dock In: 1645hrs Crane out: 1715hrs
- Total Tacks: 1 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 3 - Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Ben Ainslie, Giles Scott, Bleddyn Mon, Luke Parkinson, Ben Cornish, Dylan Fletcher, Iain Jensen, Neil Hunter
Weather conditions at Barcelona August 28, 2023:
- According to the Predictwind readings taken at the entrance to Olimpic Port the breeze peaked at an average of 13kts gusting 15kts or so - around 1500hrs.The direction fluctuated through a big range, starting as a NW wind in the morning, becoming a "Garbi" afternoon thermal breeze from the South.
- Sea state: 0.5metre.
- Conditions: 29°-30° Sunny
The interesting feature of the Port Olimpic wind readings is that the breeze cracked in on Sunday hitting an average of 35kts plus and gusting to over 40kts from the NE. That is easily the strongest breeze we have seen yet in Barcelona. Waves at that time (around noon), recorded on a wave buoy off Barcelona, hit a height of 2.25metres at around 1600hrs, but dropping to almost nothing 12 hours later, and remaining near flat through Monday's sailing session.
Additional Images:
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.