America's Cup Recon: French have two light days in Naples
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World NZ 7 Nov 20:18 PST
La Roche-Posay Racing Team - Day 19 - November 5, 2026 - Naples, Italy © Pierre Bouras / America's Cup
La Roche-Posay Racing Team representing the Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, is the first and so far only America's Cup Challenger to be sailing on the Golfo di Napoli.
The French team experienced two successive light days, when sailing was only possible in the morning. They didn't make life any easier hoisting a #3 mainsail and #3 jib. However the wind was fresher when they began sailing - and this was the correct rig. Unsurprisingly, they needed a tow up for each run.
Diego Botin said of the day: "It was a tricky day to sail this boat, and the wind was very up and down, also in the marginal side and coming from all over the place."
On the Friday session, the French stopped sailing and put a diver into the water (see 1m 30secs into the highlights video), apparently to clean off a hull window through which the team were shooting a wingfoil, while the other teams use foil-mounted cameras. The Recon Unit explains at length their theories on the reasons for the stoppage, and also why the camera is positioned in this way.
On Thursday, the French flew the same M3 mainsail, but with a #2 jib.
La Roche-Posay Racing Team - Sailing Day 19, November 5, 2026 – Naples, Italy
Weather Conditions:
- Weather: Sunny with sparse cloud
- Wind: AM 8-13kts dying after 1015hrs to 4-7kts
- Shifted from 030° - 050° to 180°. Large shift to 110° at 1145hrs
- Sea State: Flat sea.
Crew List:
- Port Helm: Diego Botin (ESP)
- Starboard Helm: Quentin Delapierre (FRA)
- Trimmer/Flight Control: Jason Saunders (NZL)
- Trimmer/Flight Control: Leigh McMillan (GBR)
- Position 5: Maelenn Lemaitre (FRA) Position 6: Florian Trittel (ESP)
Sailing Stats:
- Dock Out: 0903hrs. Dock In: 1216hrs
- Time Sailed: 1hrs 10mins
- Tacks: 18; Fully Foiling - 13; Touch & Go: 1 ; Touch Down: 4
- Gybes: 8; Fully Foiling - 2; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 5
How the Recon Unit saw the day:
La Roche-Posay Racing Team sailed B1 for an early morning session off Naples, the team having notified a 07:45 mast roll out the evening before, apparently to make use of the morning breeze before it died. The morning was sunny with patches of cloud and noticeably cooler than recent days, with puddles across the base after the rain of the previous days. The mast rolled out at 07:45 and B1 at 08:00. As on previous days, electronics engineer Thibaut Campas sat on the foredeck during the mast stepping. The stepping, lift and launch appeared quicker than on the previous sailing days, B1 being in the water around 08:30, with no sign of the rig tune work seen during the D19 to D21 steppings. The patches on the upper surface of both elevator semi-wings near the root, first seen on D21, were still present and appeared darker than the rest of the elevator in the morning light. MN3-1 was loaded on B1, with J2-1 and J4-3 loaded on the chase boat.
B1 docked out at 09:27. The second chase boat had left the dock ahead of B1 with only a driver and one team member, apparently heading out to read the breeze, and rejoined B1 shortly before the hoist. J2-1 and MN3-1 were hoisted just outside the marina around 09:42, in very light air at the base, with the usual crew and Leigh McMillan in the starboard aft guest pod. Run 1 was released downwind on starboard in a north easterly, heading west past Nisida, with three gybes (two fully foiling, one touch down). Run 2 was released upwind on port south west of Nisida and was sailed as windward leeward laps between a windward gate around 2.7 NM south south west of Nisida (around 40.753 N, 14.142 E) and a leeward gate around 3.8 NM south west of Nisida (around 40.751 N, 14.103 E), a course of around 1.75 NM along the wind axis, in an east north easterly of around 6 to 7 kt with gusts of around 8 kt.
B1 completed three and a half laps, upwind legs taking around 5 to 6.5 minutes and downwind legs around 4 to 5 minutes, with 18 tacks (15 fully foiling, 1 touch and go, 2 touch down) and 10 gybes (9 fully foiling, 1 touch down), stopping at the windward gate at 10:43. Run 3 repeated the format after a pause: released upwind on starboard, B1 bore away into a long downwind, rounded the leeward gate around 11:07 and sailed back upwind to the windward gate, all 6 tacks and 5 gybes fully foiling. During a downwind on starboard, McMillan leaned out of the guest pod and appeared to look up towards the mainsail or rig.
From around 11:00 the breeze softened and became patchy, with lulls that brought B1 close to the foiling limit. Some tack exits were sailed very low, close to a reach, and some gybe exits very high, apparently to keep the boat on the foils, and the average leg speeds dropped on run 3. Run 4 was a two minute run in a dying breeze, with one fully foiling tack. After a long tow to the east and back towards Bagnoli, apparently looking for wind, the tow was still released for run 5, a short upwind on starboard in around 3 to 4 kt, consistent with the team making use of every possible minute on the foils in each session. Sailing ran from 09:53 to 11:50, for a total sailing time of 1 hour 8 minutes. The breeze then turned southerly, battery transfers appeared to take place, but the sails ended up being dropped around 12:00, announcing the end of today's session, and B1 docked in at 12:16.
The lift out was delayed by an apparent issue with the forward lifting support of the trailer. Then later B1 was held on the crane above the trailer while the shore team inspected and cleaned the part of the hull that rests on the aft trailer support. From around 14:10, with the mast still stepped and B1 on the trailer, a new rig session focused on the lower shrouds. The forestay was eased, the mast held on the jib halyard tensioned with the hydraulic pump used for the mast stepping, and a shore crew member was hoisted up the mast to the lower shroud to mast fittings, where he appeared to fit a sensor at the starboard fitting, most plausibly to measure the lower shroud load. Campas was on deck. B1 was back in the shed at 14:30.
In the interview, boat captain Antoine Rucard said that this was the team's earliest dock out so far, a test of the technical team's process, the morning checks being compressed to sail in the morning breeze. He said the dock tune requires accurate numbers, describing a complex set up with fibre optics and load cells throughout, and said the team was trying to match the target numbers and getting closer. He joked that he no longer sails as guest because the last time he was aboard the boat capsized, adding that he boards when something new and risky is tested. From the chase boat, he said heel worries him most, as it brings the rudder close to the surface with the risk of losing it.
The session appeared aimed at sailing structured windward leeward legs in the morning breeze, possibly to collect comparable leg by leg data for performance analysis with MN3-1 and J2-1. The mainsheet traveller appeared central to high to windward on most gybe exits and low on tack exits, consistent with recent Naples sessions in similar conditions with the same sails. The afternoon lower shroud work, after the cap shroud loads read during the D20 rig tune, together with Rucard's comments on matching the dock tune numbers, would be consistent with the rig characterisation still being underway, now extended to the lower shrouds, possibly making use of the early finish.
La Roche-Posay Racing Team - Sailing Day 18, November 4, 2026 – Naples, Italy
- Weather: Sunny
- Wind: AM 6-8kts
- Shifted from 40° - 060° to 180° from 1000hrs-1200hrs
- Sea State: Residual chop – at right angles to the wind.
Crew List:
- Port Helm: Diego Botin (ESP)
- Starboard Helm: Quentin Delapierre (FRA)
- Trimmer/Flight Control: Jason Saunders (NZL)
- Trimmer/Flight Control: Florian Trittel (ESP)
- Position 5: Maelenn Lemaitre (FRA) Position 6: Leigh McMillan
Sailing Stats:
- Dock Out: 0927hrs. Dock In: 1216hrs
- Time Sailed: 1hrs 53mins
- Started sailing: 0953hrs Sailing End 1150hrs. 5 runs sailed – 5 tow starts
- Tacks: 25; Fully Foiling - 22; Touch & Go: 1 ; Touch Down: 2
- Gybes: 18; Fully Foiling - 16; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 2
How the Recon Unit saw the day:
La Roche-Posay Racing Team sailed B1 for an early morning session off Naples, the team having notified a 07:45 mast roll out the evening before, apparently to make use of the morning breeze before it died. The morning was sunny with patches of cloud and noticeably cooler than recent days, with puddles across the base after the rain of the previous days. The mast rolled out at 07:45 and B1 at 08:00. As on previous days, electronics engineer Thibaut Campas sat on the foredeck during the mast stepping. The stepping, lift and launch appeared quicker than on the previous sailing days, B1 being in the water around 08:30, with no sign of the rig tune work seen during the D19 to D21 steppings. The patches on the upper surface of both elevator semi-wings near the root, first seen on D21, were still present and appeared darker than the rest of the elevator in the morning light. MN3-1 was loaded on B1, with J2-1 and J4-3 loaded on the chase boat.
B1 docked out at 09:27. The second chase boat had left the dock ahead of B1 with only a driver and one team member, apparently heading out to read the breeze, and rejoined B1 shortly before the hoist. J2-1 and MN3-1 were hoisted just outside the marina around 09:42, in very light air at the base, with the usual crew and Leigh McMillan in the starboard aft guest pod. Run 1 was released downwind on starboard in a north easterly, heading west past Nisida, with three gybes (two fully foiling, one touch down). Run 2 was released upwind on port south west of Nisida and was sailed as windward leeward laps between a windward gate around 2.7 NM south south west of Nisida (around 40.753 N, 14.142 E) and a leeward gate around 3.8 NM south west of Nisida (around 40.751 N, 14.103 E), a course of around 1.75 NM along the wind axis, in an east north easterly of around 6 to 7 kt with gusts of around 8 kt.
B1 completed three and a half laps, upwind legs taking around 5 to 6.5 minutes and downwind legs around 4 to 5 minutes, with 18 tacks (15 fully foiling, 1 touch and go, 2 touch down) and 10 gybes (9 fully foiling, 1 touch down), stopping at the windward gate at 10:43. Run 3 repeated the format after a pause: released upwind on starboard, B1 bore away into a long downwind, rounded the leeward gate around 11:07 and sailed back upwind to the windward gate, all 6 tacks and 5 gybes fully foiling. During a downwind on starboard, McMillan leaned out of the guest pod and appeared to look up towards the mainsail or rig.
From around 11:00 the breeze softened and became patchy, with lulls that brought B1 close to the foiling limit. Some tack exits were sailed very low, close to a reach, and some gybe exits very high, apparently to keep the boat on the foils, and the average leg speeds dropped on run 3. Run 4 was a two minute run in a dying breeze, with one fully foiling tack. After a long tow to the east and back towards Bagnoli, apparently looking for wind, the tow was still released for run 5, a short upwind on starboard in around 3 to 4 kt, consistent with the team making use of every possible minute on the foils in each session. Sailing ran from 09:53 to 11:50, for a total sailing time of 1 hour 8 minutes. The breeze then turned southerly, battery transfers appeared to take place, but the sails ended up being dropped around 12:00, announcing the end of today's session, and B1 docked in at 12:16.
The lift out was delayed by an apparent issue with the forward lifting support of the trailer. Then later B1 was held on the crane above the trailer while the shore team inspected and cleaned the part of the hull that rests on the aft trailer support. From around 14:10, with the mast still stepped and B1 on the trailer, a new rig session focused on the lower shrouds. The forestay was eased, the mast held on the jib halyard tensioned with the hydraulic pump used for the mast stepping, and a shore crew member was hoisted up the mast to the lower shroud to mast fittings, where he appeared to fit a sensor at the starboard fitting, most plausibly to measure the lower shroud load. Campas was on deck. B1 was back in the shed at 14:30.
In the interview, boat captain Antoine Rucard said that this was the team's earliest dock out so far, a test of the technical team's process, the morning checks being compressed to sail in the morning breeze. He said the dock tune requires accurate numbers, describing a complex set up with fibre optics and load cells throughout, and said the team was trying to match the target numbers and getting closer. He joked that he no longer sails as guest because the last time he was aboard the boat capsized, adding that he boards when something new and risky is tested. From the chase boat, he said heel worries him most, as it brings the rudder close to the surface with the risk of losing it.
The session appeared aimed at sailing structured windward leeward legs in the morning breeze, possibly to collect comparable leg by leg data for performance analysis with MN3-1 and J2-1. The mainsheet traveller appeared central to high to windward on most gybe exits and low on tack exits, consistent with recent Naples sessions in similar conditions with the same sails. The afternoon lower shroud work, after the cap shroud loads read during the D20 rig tune, together with Rucard's comments on matching the dock tune numbers, would be consistent with the rig characterisation still being under way, now extended to the lower shrouds, possibly making use of the early finish.
Additional Images - November 4: