Cup Spy March 14: Double capsize off Barcelona, Swiss struggle to foil in Jeddah

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 27 Mar 00:55 PDT 15 March 2024

American Magic - AC40 - Day 104 - March 14, 2024 - Barcelona © Job Vermeulen / America's Cup

Two teams sailed AC40s off Barcelona in fresh conditions. Both capsized - ending their training session. In Jeddah, Alinghi Red Bull Racing had winds at the lighter end of the scale - and sub-foiling conditions.

What happened in the Cup - March 14, 2024:

Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Sailed off Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the second successive day - with the emphasis on sail testing and race practice. Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin, sailed one AC40 (Red) with a Kiwi crew of Dean Barker and Phil Robertson combining to sail the other AC40 (Black). The funky breeze meant that some phases of the session were in self-foiling mode, while at the start and end of the session the AC40s need a tow to start foiling.
Orient Express Racing Team - also sailed in fresh winds, off Barcelona, but experienced some technical issues after a capsize two hours into the session, and towed home without resuming sailing.
American Magic - the US team sailed their two AC40s off Barcelona in a freshening breeze. America helmed by Paul Goodison and Tom Slingsby, had their rudder lose contact with the water, and the AC40 rounded up slowly before capsizing, triggering a long righting operation with the AC40 emerging with a lot of water on board and was towed back to the team base.
Emirates Team New Zealand - No report from the AC37 Joint Recon team - because they did not sail, or were in One Design mode.
INEOS Britannia - No report from the AC37 Joint Recon team - because they did not sail, or were in One Design mode.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - The Italian team have retired their LEQ12 test boat, which has served the team well. They have notified an April launch date for their AC75 raceboat.

AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:

Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40x2 - Day 83 - March 14, 2024 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Alinghi Red Bull Racing's continued their Jeddah trip with the AC40-7 (Black) and AC40-4 (Red) rolled out at 09:15hrs and 09:40hrs respectively. After standard systems checks, both boats docked out at 12:00, full LE sail plans. J1 sails were hoisted, with a LE J2’s and J3’s on each chaseboat. The crew combination remained the same, but on a different boat to yesterday.

In the first test session of the day, Red boat (Arnaud Psarofaghis/Max Bachelin) set off alone while Black (Phil Robertson/Dean Barker) continued with setups, stopping briefly to adjust jib sheet position on the clewboard. Black then joined, as they began sail testing upwind then downwind.

In the second test session of the day the team set off on a long upwind, sailing in a breeze of 5-8kts, with 20 fully foiling tacks observed of the Red boat, up to and around a stationary chase boat to windward. Red undershot the layline and pinched to make the rounding, but fell off the foils in the process, allowing Black to catch up and round cleanly, escaping downwind.

For the third test session, the breeze dropped to 5-9kts. With a decrease in wind, the yachts struggled to maintain flight, despite multiple tow start attempts. Three starts were run, with Black entering on port. Start 1 saw Black maintain flight as they entered the start box, but touched down while tacking back to the line a long distance away, which consequently saw them start far behind Red, who sailed close to the line in displacement mode from before the two minute signal. Start 2 saw both boats free foiling as the wind increased, with Black winning the start after pushing Red over the line and off the foils. The third start continued into a race, which was won by Red, who led from start to finish.

The wind decreased again for the fourth test session, as both boats were tow started and another start was attempted. Red fell off the foils while Black maintained flight and started on time, but touched down on the first tack at the boundary. Both boats continued to race upwind in displacement mode, but the race was abandoned and sails were dropped to end the day.

The yachts were towed back to base and the team docked in at 16:00hrs, with both boats craned out by 16:45hrs. The team spent four hours on the water, with 150 minutes spent sailing (including towing).

77 manoeuvres were observed of the Red boat, achieving a 91% fully foiling rate, despite the light wind conditions and a fairly flat sea state with a small wind chop. [Report from: Jose L. Piñana AC Recon/Edited by S-W NZ]

Crew: Sailing: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Nico Charbonnier, Bryan Mettraux, Dean Barker, Phil Robertson, Nico Rolaz, Jason Waterhouse

Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC40x2 - Day 83 - March 14, 2024 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Weather: 36° Cloudy
Wind Strength: 4-9kts
Wind Direction: 280°-295°
Sea State: 0.3mtr SW
Crane In: 0935hrs|1000hrs Dock Out: 1200hrs
Dock In: 1600hrs Crane out: 1620|1645hrs
Total Tacks: 51 Fully foiling: 46; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 3
Total Gybes: 26 Fully foiling: 24; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1

American Magic - AC40/LEQ12 x 2 - Day 104 - March 14, 2024 - Barcelona

The American Magic Team AC40-8 'Magic' was rolled out at 10:50hrs. The boat was prepared and craned into the water by 11:17hrs. AC40-5 'America' was rolled out at 11:20hrs and was ready to be craned into the water and moored at the dock by 11:50hrs.

America still has the cameras we commented on the past days, which are installed in the bottom of the side of the hull, a couple of meters forward from the foil arms (see pictures). No lidar devices installed today at any of the boats.

After a short briefing from all the team involved in the sailing session all the crew went to each respective AC40’s and chase boats. Dock out was done at 13.00hrs.

At 13.30hrs America had MC-3 mainsail already hoisted and paired to a one design jib J3. Magic had it’s MC-4 mainsail hoisted and paired to a one design jib J3. At that time the wind was around 12 -20 kts from 220º.

The two AC40s sailed two practice sessions, without incident.

The third took place from 14:35hrs to 16:20hrs: As in the previous prestart, America crossed first the line in starboard tack, and Magic came after in port tack. Just after crossing the line, America gybed, and it seemed (we had the focus in Magic at that moment) that she lost the rudder at some point, lost control and lost foiling ability and then after started luffing upwind in slow motion with quite a lot of heeling until they capsized.

The team took almost half an hour to upright the boat. When they did, they found that it was quite full of water and probably had some systems that were not working properly. They dropped the sails and worked on taking water out of the boat. Unfortunately, this meant the end of today's sailing session.

Magic sailed back to port together with its chase boat and performed around 4 tacks on her way back.

America came back to port towed by the chase boat at very slow speed. Dock-in was completed at 15:25hrs for Magic and 16:35hrs for America. As a Summary, America today foiled for 45 minutes, performed around 27 manoeuvres: 85 % fully foiling, and Magic foiled around 60 minutes, performed around 31 manoeuvres: 85 % fully foiling. Both did one-speed test upwind/downwind, one prestart and one upwind/downwind course against each other.

Jose Piñana AC Recon

Crew: Co-Helms: America: Tom Slingsby / Paul Goodison; Magic: Lucas Calabrese / Harry Melges.

Flight Control Trimmers: America: Andrew Campbell / Michael Menninger; Magic: Riley Gibbs / Kyle Langford

Session Statistics: American Magic - AC40/LEQ12 x 2 - Day 104 - March 14, 2024 - Barcelona

Weather: 16 degrees C - Sunny.
Wind Strength: 12kts-21kts
Wind Direction: 220 degrees
Sea State: 0.4 - 0.8mtrs 220°
Crane In: 1117|1150hrs Dock Out: 1300hrs
Dock In: 1525|1635hrs Crane out: 1610|1720hrs
Total Tacks: 12 (America) 16 (Magic) 85% Foiling
Total Gybes: 15 (America) 15 (Magic) 85% Foiling

Orient Express Racing Team - AC40 - Day 13 - March 14, 2024 - Barcelona

OE Racing Team craned their AC40 to the water at 09:20hrs, after performing minor maintenance works on the starboard side arm. Once on the water, besides the usual routine activities, non-skid tape was added to the deck between the jib track and the front hatch. The camera on the top of the mast, looking down to the front face of the mast, the jib and possibly the foils, was set in the same position as the previous days.

The team docked out at 10.40, ten minutes later than planned.

The custom design LEQ12-J3 jib and the LEQ12-MN-A mainsail were hoisted while heading out of the harbor at 10:53hrs and 11:00hrs, respectively, and were the only sails used during the day.

A strong southwesterly prevailed during today´s session, combined with a short-wave pattern, providing great conditions for sailing and making it difficult for the recon unit to keep up with the AC40. As a result, the quality and quantity of today´s content are limited because the chase boat provided was not suitable for performing our duties in these conditions.

Orient Express Racing Team warmed up for the first forty-five minutes, executing two long upwind-downwind legs, performing a few tacks and gybes, and practicing to bear-away a couple times.

After a five-minute break, the AC40 did two very long upwind-downwind legs, with the focus on the boat handling and maneuvers, doing lots of tacks and gybes. A large percentage counted as fully foiling.

At 13:05hrs there was a fifteen-minute break with a batteries substitution.

Then, the team resumed the session, switching into racing mode. They performed a two-lap upwind-downwind race with a virtual starting line, marks, and boundaries, executing two to three tacks and gybes per leg. On the second downwind, the team nosedived after a gybe, and the boat was forced to stop, heading into the wind.

At that point, OERT faced technical difficulties and ended the training to avoid assuming further risks. The source of the problem could not be identified, however, the team was able to head back to the harbor sailing, foiling, with no assistance.

Once close to the breakwater, the AC40 got on the tow to help the boat to stay heading into the wind, while both sails were lowered.

OE entered the port on the tow with no sails at 14.15 and docked at 14:20. Twenty minutes later, the boat was craned out, indicating the end of the day.

Sebastian Peri Brusa - Recon on OE Racing Team

Crew: Quentin de la Pierre, Kevin Pepponet, Matthieu Vandame, Jason Saunders

Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on OE Racing Team

Session Statistics: Orient Express Racing Team - AC40 - Day 13 - March 14, 2024 - Barcelona

Weather: 19-22° C. Sunny
Wind Strength 19-22 kts
Wind Direction: 210° - 215°
Sea State: 0.45mtr
Crane In: 0940hrs Dock Out: 1040hrs
Dock In: 1420hrs Crane out: 1440hrs
Total Tacks: 48 - Fully foiling: 42; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 5
Total Gybes: 26 - Fully foiling: 20; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 5

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, and 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.