Cup Spy Oct 24: Confused seas hit Swiss and Kiwis in AC75s. USA cancels AC40 training session
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 24 Oct 2023 15:20 PDT
25 October 2023
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 54 - Barcelona - October 24, 2023 © Ugo Fonolla / America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand had their final hit-out in Barcelona for 2023. They along with Alinghi Red Bull Racing, both in their AC75s, were tested by the fresh breeze and off axis 1.4metre sea way. The past two days have been a big learning curve for the America's Cup champions. The Swiss were not as comfortable as the Kiwis, but are still going up the learning curve - and will probably get a few more days like this to refine their sailing technique, sail combinations and settings.
What happened in the Cup - October 24, 2023:
- Emirates Team New Zealand - the Kiwis sailed a two hour session out of Barcelona in conditions that were slightly below what was experienced yesterday. This was Emirates Team New Zealand's last sail in their AC75, Te Rehutai, and the team now heads for Auckland, leaving the AC75 in Barcelona, and exporting an AC40 to Jeddah for next months second Preliminary Regatta.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - No report from the AC37 Joint Recon team
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - sailed their AC75 for a two and a half hour session, in confused seas that increased to 1.4metres.
- INEOS Britannia - No report from the AC37 Joint Recon team. Their test boat T6 is still in the shed after the catastrophic destruction of their rudder and rudder assembly during a towing session.
- American Magic - the AC37 Joint Recon team reported that the US team intended to sail their AC40 America, and launched. The coaching team did a quick check on the water and felt that the seastate of 1.45 metres has too high for getting accurate test data from the AC40.
- Orient Express Racing Team - No report from the AC37 Joint Recon team
- All teams are shipping AC40s to Jeddah for the second Preliminary Events at the end of November. Organisers will obviously be monitoring the security and war situation in the surrounding territories, before giving the teams a green light to travel to the venue.
Commentary: Adieu to a Champion
Today marked the end of an era with the retirement of the current America's Cup champion.
Te Rehutai has done her bit for New Zealand - with the work up into the 2021 America's Cup, defending the trophy, and then undergoing some major deck and internal surgery, and then doing a lot of the heavy lifting for New Zealand's fourth defence of the America's Cup.
"Te Rehutai has been absolutely incredible," coach Ray Davies told AC37 Joint Recon team observer Justin Chisholm.
"We just had a pretty special team photo with everyone on board. It's always a bit emotional when you're in a boat like that, which has given so much to the team - and it's the end of an era with it for us."
Te Rehutai went out on a high - a workout consisting of two days of very hard sailing in a two-metre high confused seaway, running at 90° off-axis to the 20kt breeze.
"They were quite different days, for sure."
"Yesterday was quite dynamic. The wind had shifted from the morning breeze from the northeast, so we ended up with a southwesterly breeze.
"The sea state was quite different to the wind - and there's a lot more breeze offshore - but very light near the beach.
"It would have been a very tricky day to have raced a very significant but manageable seaway.
"And then again today, we had a big sea state running up around two metres. And again, the offshore breeze was anything from 24 knots at one point down to 13kts knots.
"The breeze is pretty tricky when it's blowing off the shore.."
For the crew in those conditions, Davies says it is back to basics - they have to keep their heads out of the boat and look for the shifts and changes in pressure.
Davies says the team heads back to New Zealand, Davies says he's pleased with the progress made.
"I think we're through pretty much on track - but I don't think we're miles ahead."
"We had a bunch of testing goals we wanted to do here, and we got through those. But it wasn't a long list."
Davies says the Kiwi program will change gears now - expect to see their LEQ12 sprouting test wing foils, rudders, and new sail designs.
"We're going back to New Zealand now with a substantial amount of equipment to test," Davies explained. It's been hard, here seeing other teams pulling out a lot of new equipment all the time.
"This has been a busy time for them. Now, we're going into that phase."
"We've learned a huge amount about the venue. So that's been priceless.
"We've done a lot of good sailing and learning how to sail on the course here. So that's been invaluable, too."
"It's pretty much where we hope to have been. I don't think we're miles ahead. But we're certainly not behind where we wanted to be," he concluded.
From here, Te Rehutai will be packed away in Barcelona. As the Kiwis have done with all their test boats previously, some of the gear will be removed and taken across to the new AC75 raceboat.
No date has been announced for the launch of Emirates Team New Zealand's new AC75, but based on the logistics required to get on the startline in Barcelona, and ready for the third Preliminary Event, when the teams have to sail their AC75 raceboats, we expecting to see Te Rehitai's successor in January of February 2024.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona from Justin Chisholm - ETNZ Recon Unit
Emirates Team New Zealand's final day of sailing in Barcelona for 2023 saw the team take on gusty and wavy conditions with a strengthening westerly offshore breeze building up a confused state during the three-hour afternoon session aboard their America's Cup winning AC75 - possibly for the last time ever.
The Kiwi AC75 was rolled out of the shed on time at 1030 with the mast setup complete by 1100 and the boat touching down in the water by 1110. The team left the dock bang on time at 1200 and - like yesterday - hoisted sails (the M2-3 mainsail and the J4-6) in the inner basin of Port Vell, before sailing out of the harbour at 1225 into a 13 knot north-westerly breeze and a rolling swell sea state offset to the left of the wind direction by some thirty to 40 degrees.
Once again, the sea state made it impossible to chase the boat upwind or downwind.
After taking off port upwind the boat soon bore away on two foils (really one and a half) as it began a long fast downwind run with five gybes before turning back upwind at 1235 for a beat with three tacks. After another downwind / upwind lap the boat came to a stop at 1300 by which time the chase boat had set a windward / leeward course with the windward mark up close to the shore by the W Hotel.
From what we observed the increasingly confused sea state and the shifty offshore breeze (particularly in-close to the shore at the top of the beat) was making life difficult for the sailors, with numerous splash downs and a number of somewhat unsteady tacks and gybes. The boat set off again at 1320 for the first of two practice starts and two-lap 'races'.
After the finish of the second of these races the boat headed upwind back to the harbour entrance where it sailed in at 1410. Sails were dropped in the inner basin and the boat docked in at 1425.
To recognise what might well be the end of Te Rehutai's sailing programme the entire team gathered aboard the boat for a final commemorative photograph. Today's sailing session marks the end of Emirates Team New Zealand's time in Barcelona for 2023, with the team expected to return to the city in the Spring of 2024.
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Sunny and Cloudy 22°C
- Wind Strength 14-20kts
- Wind Direction: 270-300°
- Sea State: Rolling swell 0.75metres, becoming confused 1.5metres
- Crane In: 1110hrs Dock Out: 1200hrs
- Dock In: 1435hrs Crane out: 1520hrs
- Total Tacks: 16 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 11 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Peter Burling (Starboard) Nathan Outteridge (Port), Andy Maloney and Blair Tuke, Cyclors on rotation, including: Louis Sinclair, Sam Meech, Dougal Allan, Marcus Hansen; Cameron Webster, Louis Crosby, Simon Van Velthoven
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona - from Elia Miquel- ARBR Recon Unit
Alinghi Red Bull Racing team had a short session with high winds from shore and a complicated sea state.
ARBR team rolled out their AC75 at 9:00hrs. The yacht was craned in, and the usual pre-sailing checks were carried out, with engineers onboard testing on the hydraulics, as last Saturday they experienced some problems.
The team docked out at 11:00hrs and the chase boat towed the yacht heading to El Forum, where they hoisted the M2-2 mainsail and the J3-3 headsail by 11:15hrs. The wind conditions outside were 9 - 11kts from shore 270 degrees, and big waves with a very short period between wave peaks. Only team New Zealand and Alinghi were spotted sailing today in Barcelona with their AC75's.
Alinghi started sailing in displacement mode on both of their foils upwind and downwind. At 12:02hrs, they did two laps, again with both foil arms down during all the run, testing the different shaped foils and trying different cant angles.
Twenty minutes later, with gusts of 20 knts, the team stopped for a battery change.
At 13:00hrs, they did six manoeuvres upwind with several touches-down and a lot of displacement mode, ending the session by the port entrance, where they lowered their sails at 13:32hrs.
The team covered a total of 25 nautical miles over two and a half hours on the water, 44min were spend sailing with eight manoeuvres performed, 60% fully foiling.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Partly cloudy 21 C
- Wind Strength 9-20kts
- Wind Direction: 265 degrees - 270 degrees
- Sea State: 0.9 - 1.4metres from 190 degrees
- Crane In: 0900hrs Dock Out: 1100hrs
- Dock In: 1400hrs Crane out: 15000hrs
- Total Tacks: 5 - Fully foiling: 3; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 3 - Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Maxime Bachelin, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey, Florian Trüb, Arthur Cevey, Nils Theuninck, Barnabé Delarze
American Magic - AC40 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona - from Sebastian Peri Brusa - NYYC AM Recon Unit
NYYC AM rolled out their AC40-5 America at 12:40hrs on LEQ12 mode, half an hour later than planned, due to container and shore team movements that were taking place this morning at the base. On top of that, Magic was seen packed, ready to be loaded in the container. (S-W: we assume Magic is headed for Jeddah.)
America was rolled out with foil wing and flap #4 on the starboard side, and with foil wing and flap #3 on the port side. In addition, a piece of hardware was added to the starboard side wing. Possibly, containing cameras inside to record the fluid dynamics of the water going over and under the foil wing and flap.
America was craned to the water at 13:12hrs
At 13:40hrs the coach together with some of the core sailing team members headed out on Chase Boat #3 to check on the sailing conditions. When they came back at 13:55hrs, they decided to cancel the training day.
America was craned out at 14:30hrs and training is planned for tomorrow.
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC40 - October 24, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Part sunny 22 degrees C
- Wind Strength: No sailing
- Wind Direction: No sailing
- Sea State: 1.45 metre swell
- Crane In: 1312hrs Dock Out: No sailing
- Dock In: No sailing Crane out: No sailing
- Total Tacks: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Weather Observations - Port Olimpic - 23 October, 2023
Emirates Team New Zealand left Port Vell at 1200hrs, about an hour after Alinghi Red Bull Racing and returned 30 minutes after the Swiss at 1435hrs. When reading the wind charts look at a sailing window between 1100hrs and 1430hrs
The breeze is recorded at Port Olimpic at a point 12 metres above water level, and adjacent to the America's Cup course.
The strength of the breeze today lacked the spikes of yesterday, and appeared to be more consistent, with a median strength between 10-15kts in the sailing period. The wind pressure was quite variable as the chart shows, however it was steady in direction at 270° (W).
According to wave buoy data, the seaway was running at a lower height than yesterday "only" about 1.2- 1.3metres However the swell was running from around 180° off axis by 90° to the wind direction of 270°.
The data from Olimpic Port needs to be read against the AC37 Joint Recon comments and readings taken much closer to the water surface - and also the team comments.
The last day for racing in the 2024 America's Cup is October 27, 2023 - so Tuesday's conditions are well within the 12 month window for the upcoming Match, which starts on October 12, 2024.
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