MATRIX COMPLETED
Compelling, absorbing, authentic, the real deal. INEOS Britannia had a blistering session today out in the Bay of Palma with T6, their LEQ12 prototype that is more of a data gathering tool, sucking numbers and vital information from every angle to feed back into the overall design process in Brackley, Northamptonshire, home of Mercedes AMG-F1 Applied Science.
The satellite transmitting the live data would have been in virtual meltdown today as Giles Scott and Ben Cornish put the hammer down, popped the boat up in flight and kept it there for stunning flight times -with one recorded run of 50 minutes alone – the biggest number we’ve seen to date from any of the contenders for the 37th America’s Cup.
The data being sucked off the boat would have been gold-dust to the design team, and it was great to have Will Bakewell in interview afterwards. Will is officially the British team’s ‘Testing and Validation Lead’ providing the bridge between the sailors and the technicians and analysts back shoreside and he was more than pleased with the stunning day, saying: “We have a test programme that we write down in the morning and we go out there and obviously it changes dependant on the sea state, wind and the conditions and the runway and all of those sorts of things, but we get through a matrix of sailing configurations and we did we did most of what we set out to do, and it's a rare day that you tick all of those things off.”
The matrix was more than completed in a lengthy session that saw the team dock-out just after 10.30am, not returning back to base until dusk at 5.30pm. Sir Ben Ainslie, monitoring progress from Singapore, would have been delighted with how this week’s test team have adapted to the boat with Leigh MacMillan and Bleddyn Mon once again in the Flight Control and trimming positions achieving ultra-stable flight across multiple modes upwind and downwind – most notable today was the success of the high-flying upwind mode. Tacks and gybes still need work to get T6 going smoothly from foil-to-foil but it’s coming and it’s hard not to suspect that the team weren’t pushing it through those manoeuvres as they would at race pace - today was all about long runs and providing the digital oil of data.
Palma certainly played its part today, serving up perfect conditions for the session – bluebird skies, 16 degrees and a breeze that built in the afternoon to 9-12 knots with gusts occasionally a smidge higher. In those breezes the British were sending T6 at speeds in excess of 35 knots and take-offs were all self. The pre-flight protocol sees the team aggressively fanning the mainsail to promote flight and it’s highly noticeable just how much the team make micro adjustments to the mainsail once in flight to maintain a beautiful windward heel and keep the boat powered up.
These are hugely valuable days both for the sailors and the designers as T6 delivers the numbers that will inform the next stage of design and towards the end of the session we saw the chase boat come in and deliver one of the newly declared mainsails. INEOS Britannia made three additions on their declaration – two mainsails (MN-2-1P and MN 2-1S) as well as a new J5 jib (J5-1). The team ran up one of the mainsails to check and then lowered before tow back to the dock without sailing.
Will Bakewell summed up the day accurately as can be expected from a technician, saying: “When we were actually up and running it felt like any of our other days, but we just managed to up our efficiency again, and really the big takeaway from today is that we can go out there and do those long days.”
Long days indeed. Very valuable. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: From an observer’s point of view the British team’s third consecutive sailing day this week looked to be a huge one with multiple prolonged fast foiling runs of up to 50 minutes, as well plenty of foiling tacks and gybes. Well over 60 nautical miles were sailed using the length and breadth of Palma Bay.
There appeared to be no issues with the boat and this week’s consistent crew of helmsmen Giles Scott and Ben Cornish with new water Bleddyn Mon and Leigh McMillan on trimming and flight control appeared to be relishing in pushing the boat to speeds above 35 knots downwind and as high as 28 knots upwind.
The bulk of this sailing was carried out in 12 - 13 knots of breeze, and a light chop sea state, using a J3 headsail, but a J5 was substituted in for the final part of the day. This switch appeared to increase the top end speeds upwind and down for the same wind strength.
A slight issue with the port foil was suspected in the final part of the day and the crew sailed the boat back towards the port in displacement mode on port with that foil raised – although no issue has been confirmed.
The final hour of the day was spent trying a second mainsail pairing up the British LEQ12’s mast but this took place head to wind and while on a side tow with their support boat and no sailing took place with this new sail.
Dock out: 1042 Dock-in: 1730
Onboard Today
Helms: Giles Scott / Ben Cornish
Crew: Leigh MacMillan / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail (MN1-1): 3 hours
Jib (J3-1): 3 hours 50 minutes
J5 (J5-1): 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Tacks: 7 - 6 touch & go, 1 touchdown
Total Gybes: 5 – 5 touch & go
Multiple prolonged runs of up to 50 minutes including brief splashdowns and touch downs. Multiple attempts at foiling gybes and tacks. Top speed estimated to be 35 knots +
Wind Strength: AM 0 - 2 knots for rigging and launch. PM Outside harbour, initial 6 - 7 knots building steadily to 9 - 12 knots with occasional gusts to 13 knots
Take-off speed: 12-14 knots (estimate) at 40 degrees TWA
(All foiling runs were self-take off)