Cup Spy Jan 17: Swiss return to Jeddah. Italians two-boat train with 'de-tuned' LEQ12
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 17 Jan 05:28 PST
18 January 2024
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 112 - January 17, 2024 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
Three America's Cup teams trained on the Mediterranean. Two of them USA and Great Britain suffered breakdowns early in the session. In Cagliari Luna Rossa pitched their AC40-OD against their allegedly detuned LEQ12. The Swiss returned to Jeddah for two boat testing in the AC40s. On the Hauraki Gulf, the Kiwis had a minor issue with what appeared to be wing flap control causing to belly flop - the following day a similar issue reappeared with more spectacular consequences
What happened in the Cup - January 17, 2024:
- American Magic - A blown seal on a hydraulic ram on board NYYC American Magic's second generation AC75 Patriot halted today's sailing session within five minutes of it having begun.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - Returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for what is expected to be a week of sailing in their two AC40s.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - Sailed their LEQ12, against their AC40 sailing One Design mode. The Italians claim they have had to detune their LEQ12 to make it a useful benchmark against the AC40 OD. It is likely that the focus of the session is sail testing.
- Emirates Team New Zealand - Sailed for the first time in 2024, after towing on Tuesday Wednesday's session is covered in an earlier report. They are sailing alone, pending the arrival from Jeddah and roll-out of their AC40-OD.
- INEOS Britannia - Set up to match race their two AC40s, however initially the breeze was a no-show, but arrived after a couple of stutter-starts at 14-15kts, when the two boats started match race practice. Unfortunately there was an issue on Sienna with one of the activators, and she was towed home. Athena continued to train alone for the rest of the session.
- Orient Express Racing Team - No report.
American Magic - AC75 - Day 68 - January 17, 2024 - Barcelona
A blown seal on a hydraulic ram on board NYYC American Magic's second generation AC75 Patriot halted today's sailing session within five minutes of it having begun.
Wary of a forecast of strong winds this afternoon the Americans rolled Patriot out of the shed at 0750hrs and had the boat rigged and launched ready to dock out on time at 1000hrs.
After towing a couple of miles offshore the MN7 mainsail and J1.5-2 headsail were hoisted and the boat set off on starboard upwind at 1040hrs in 7-8kts of breeze from 220° and a long interval chop of about 0.6 metres.
Despite the seastate Patriot looked to be stable in flight as it powered upwind at over 30Kts. However, after a tack to port the boat dropped off the foils and stopped after just five minutes sailing. After 15 minutes the headsail was dropped and bagged and taken off the boat.
A further 15 minutes later and the process of dropping the mainsail began. The boat was towed back to the harbour on foils where the team original planned to carry out repairs on the dock (estimated to take two hours). However, after another assessment – and given the darkening skies and worsening weather – the decision was made to cancel sailing for the day.
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Michael Menniger, Riley Gibbs, Andrew Campbell, John Croom, Colten Hall, Tim Hornsby, James Wright, Ashton Lambie, Trevor Bird
Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 - Day 68 - January 17, 2024 - Barcelona
- Weather: Overcast 11° C
- Wind Strength: 7-11kts
- Wind Direction: 220° - 230°
- Sea State: 0.6mtr Swell
- Crane In: Dock Out: 1000hrs
- Dock In: 1133hrs Crane out: 1155hrs
- Distance sailed: 46.0nm
- Session duration: 226min (3hr 46min)
- Total Tacks: 1 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40x2 - Day 66 - January 17, 2024 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Alinghi Red Bull Racing embarked on their third trip to Jeddah, rolling out their AC40-4 (Red) and AC40-7 (Black) at 09:00 and 09:40 respectively. Routine systems checks were conducted, with no new components observed except for a longer media mast on the Black boat. Both boats carried One Design sails, and the J3-2 LE jib was on Chase Bravo.
Arnaud Psarofaghis and Nico Charbonnier helmed the Red boat, with Bryan Mettraux and Nico Rolaz trimming. Phil Robertson and Maxime Bachelin helmed the Black boat, with Jason Waterhouse and Yves Detrey trimming.
Stint 1 (12:40hrs - 12:50hrs)
A quick downwind warmup to the race course set in front of the Jeddah Waterfront. The 1NM course was set at 310 degrees, remaining at this heading for the whole day.
Stint 2 (12:55hrs - 13:05hrs, 15-19kts 325° @ 12:50hrs)
Both boats sailed two warmup laps of the course independently in preparation for pre-start practice.
Stint 3 (13:10hrs - 13:25hrs, 15-19kts 320-325° @ 13:15hrs)
The first pre-start practice saw the Black boat starting on time, while the Red boat started almost 10 seconds later. A more aggressive pre-start battle occurred in the second start, with the Black boat holding out the Red and starting ahead. Both boats sailed back to the start and stopped to debrief, with a hydraulics technician temporarily on board the Red boat.
Stint 4 (13:35hrs - 13:55hrs, 14-17kts 325° @ 13:35hrs)
In the third start, the Black boat entered on port while the Red boat entered on starboard. Both boats managed to start on time at the pin end, with the Black boat slightly in front. The Red boat, positioned to windward, was able to sail over the Black boats tack at the boundary. A tacking battle ensued halfway upwind, with the Red boat successfully leveraging its windward position to stay on top of the Black boat.
The fourth start began with the Black boat entering on port and the Red boat on starboard. Red chases Black from behind, eventually forcing an error from the Black boat, allowing Red to sail ahead to clear start. A short upwind leg followed, with the Red boat maintaining its lead before turning downwind. The stint concluded with another break for debriefing.
Stint 5 (14:00hrs - 14:15hrs, 15-19kts 305-315° @ 14:00hrs)
The fifth start saw the Red boat entering on port and the Black boat on starboard. The Red boat kept space between the boats and defended its position well from the front, maintaining two boards down as the Black boat attempted to catch up. Red controlled from the start, leading the short upwind. As the boats prepared for another start, the Red boat experienced a handling error in the chop, causing a significant touchdown. This incident resulted in a 10-minute pause in sailing, allowing time for the team to regroup and address any potential issues.
Stint 6 (14:30hrs - 14:50hrs, 14-18kts 310° @ 14:15hrs)
The first race was closely contested, with the Red boat controlling and finishing ahead. The recon boat experienced an issue, losing the lower cowling of the port outboard, and slowly returned to base.
Stint 7 (14:55hrs - 15:10hrs)
A second race to the windward gate was carried out, with the Red boat leading at the gate.
The team spent three hours on the water, with 95 minutes of sailing time. A total of 52 manoeuvres were observed, with an 87% fully foiling rate. The day focused heavily on pre-starts and and a bit of race practice.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40x2 - Day 66 - January 17, 2024 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Weather: 28C°. Sunny
- Wind Strength 14-19kts
- Wind Direction: 310° - 325°
- Sea State: 0.4 - 0.7mtr
- Crane In: 0935/1030hrs Dock Out: 1220hrs
- Dock In: 1530hrs Crane out: 1545hrs/1645hrs
- Total Tacks: 28 - Fully foiling: 26; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 24 - Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
Crew:Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Nico Charbonnier, Phil Robertson, Bryan Mettraux, Yves Detrey, Jason Waterhouse, Nico Rolaz
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 108 - January 9, 2023 - Cagliari
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) rolled out their AC40 (White) at 12:00hrs and their LEQ12(Red) at 12:30hrs, stepped masts and craned in respectively at 12:20hrs and 12:45hrs.
Both wingfoils of the red yacht were mounted with two gopros monitoring flow on the wings.
Once the respective crew members boarded the pods, both yachts were docked out at 13:50hrs. The forecast looked similar to previous day and the team had to chase down the southwesterly breeze and waves offshore of Pula.
As sails were being hoisted, M2-1 + J4 on the LEQ12 and OD M1 + J4 on AC40-OD, the pressure was measured 12-14kts from 225° then shifting slightly to the right and increasing to 15-17kts with some short period seastate of approx .4m from 190° overlapped to some wind chop.
On the first stint, the AC40-OD was quickly foilborne self-launching, while the LEQ12 was towed up, tacked on starboard tack and bore away heading to the AC40-OD. Even if the AC40-OD yacht had approx 15 seconds advantage the LEQ12 seemed to be much quicker downwind pointing deeper. However, for any precise boat speed comparison, the seastate of the day provides some uncertainties.
Overall the LEQ12 looked more stable and successful on maneuvers and finding stability sailing in the seastate downwind, presumably due to its higher righting moment.
As both yachts came hullborne trimming up after the downwind run, the wind had dropped there and so the team towed both yachts further south.
With a decent split between the two, the LEQ12 and AC40-OD were on same tacks for a while and from that perspective similar boat speed seemed to be achieved with the LEQ12 not fully powered. While the white yacht kept on sailing, the LEQ12 was decelerated and subsequently towed up twice.
At 14:35hrs the LEQ12 was back foilborne and seemed to be sailing around a virtual course without engaging closely with white for two upwind and two legs. Then two pre-starts with time on distance were observed with white on starboard and red on port entries, the first one won by the AC40OD while the second saw the LEQ12 leading after the AC40-OD nose dived.
While sailing its own race, the LEQ12 suddenly splashed down when the leeward appendage seemed to broach through the water exiting a tack manouevre.
At 15:05hrs both yachts were towed up and the wind shifted further to the right, now with 12-14kts from 235°.
Both yachts practiced some tacks without engaging before decelerating and stopping both again. Then the AC40-OD and the LEQ12 engaged in a short tacking duel in which the LEQ12 seemed again to point higher and faster compared to the AC40-OD.
According to the team, the LEQ12 yacht has been tuned slowing it down achieving two comparable boats for these days.
The chaseboats then stopped and were used as marks to practice a series of pre-starts while the pressure had shifted further to the right.
Out of three starts the first one was led by the LEQ12, the second by the AC40-OD and the last one by the LEQ12 again after the AC40-OD nose-dived bearing away. After that, the LEQ12 kept on practicing manouevres spending more two boards time in the transition while being definitely more consistent in foil-to-foil rate compared to the AC40-OD which had retired for the day.
The pressure had decreased further and the team towed the LEQ12 up and sailed a little longer downwind, pumping and oversheeting occasionally the main, before coming hullborne in a lull and calling it a day.
Sails were lowered at 16:40hrs with approx 108 minutes foiling time and approx 25 tacks and 23 gybes for the LEQ12.
[Michele Melis AC Recon].
Crew: Marco Gradoni, Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, Umberto Mollineris, Vittorio Bissaro, Andrea Tesel, Ruggero Tita, Frederico Colaninno
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 112 - January 17, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Partly Cloudy 17°C
- Wind Strength 12-17kts
- Wind Direction: 220°-230°
- Sea State: 0.5m from 190°
- Crane In: 1220hrs Dock Out: 1330hrs
- Dock In: 1705hrs Crane out:
- Total Tacks: 25 - Fully foiling: 20; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 23 - Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 1
INEOS Britannia (IB) - AC-2 and AC-10 - Day 3 - January 17, 2023 - Barcelona - AC37 Joint Recon Unit
Team INEOS Britannia craned to the water their two AC40s, Sienna(b) (AC-10) at 06.45 am and Athena(a) (AC-2) at 07:05hrs, on one-design configuration. Both boats had been left out of the shed with the mast rigged overnight. At 07.58hrs the team docked out, with the intention to avoid the strong winds that were forecasted for later during the day.
One-design mainsails and J2s were hoisted while coming out of the harbor at 08:06hrs and 08:15hrs, respectively, just before sunrise. At the same time, Chase one set an upwind-downwind course at the racing area.
Unfortunately, once we got to the race area the five knots breeze that prevailed at that time, had died completely and the waiting began.
At 09.45hrs the team decided to head further offshore with both boats on the tow, looking for the breeze. Finally, at 10.00hrs the breeze filled in and both boats started to speed test.
Two long upwinds and one long downwind were carried out. None of the two boats can be said to be was dominant in speed or angle today. During these speed tests 5-10kts of breeze prevailed with lots of ups and downs in pressure, a lot of instability, combined with an uncomfortable swell. It seemed like both boats were trying to always sail at maximum VMG.
By 10.55hrs the wind died, and the team decided to tow back both boats towards the racing area.
On the way there, the wind increased again and they were released to continue to sail downwind.
At 11.30hrs we were back at the race course, with a stable and steady southwesterly of 14-15kts intensity that remained until the end of the session.
The first match race got underway, but unfortunately AC40 (AC-10 Sienna) was forced to abandon at the top mark, apparently due to issues on one of the activators. This marked the end of the day for Sienna that had to be towed back to the base on displacement mode.
AC40(AC-2 Athena) continued with the session on their own, after replacing the J2 for the J3, doing three more races that included the pre start, plus a one-lap upwind-downwind, performing three to four tacks on the upwinds and two to three gybes on the downwinds.
To close the training, Athena did two long upwinds and one long downwind practicing some tacks and gybes, before heading back to the port.
Athena entered the port at 13:15hrs, sails were lowered a few minutes after and the team docked at 13:30hrs. By that time,AC40 (AC-10 Sienna) was already out of the water and in the shed.
By 13.50hrs AC40(AC-2 Athena) was out of the water and ready to be de-rigged.
Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on INEOS Britannia
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - AC-2 and AC-10 - Day 3 - January 17, 2023 - Barcelona
- Weather: Cloudy, 17°.
- Wind Strength 5-15kts
- Wind Direction: 220°-260°
- Sea State: 0.0mtr slight chop
- Crane In: 0645hrs & 0705hrs Dock Out: 0758hrs
- Dock In: 1330hrs Crane out: 1350hrs
- Total Tacks: 36 - Fully foiling: 36; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 21 - Fully foiling: 17; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 4
Crew: AC-2: Ben Ainslie, Giles Scott, Iain Jensen, Luke Parkinson; AC-10: Dylan Fletcher, Ben Cornish, Leigh McMillan, Bledyn Mon
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.