SUNDAY BEST
The question most posed around the British yachting scene invariably goes: “How’s INEOS doing?” Well for the fans, after today’s performance out at the team’s winter training base in Palma, they can be pretty assured that the most comprehensive British challenge ever for the America’s Cup, is right on the money.
After some stunning practice sessions in recent weeks, the team have steadily built on the considerable progress being made and simply look better and better with an assured confidence all around the team as the LEQ12 prototype is pushed through its testing protocols in order to gather the maximum amount of data.
In some respects, yes this is a sailing programme, but step back from that and right now it’s a data validation exercise. T6 is fully loaded with sensors from the bow to the stern, underwater, on the foils, on the hull to most noticeably up aloft at the mast tip with cameras capturing everything. High-tech science is the name of the game but refreshingly, Giles Scott, Head of Sailing Operations, isn’t getting too bogged down in the shinier tech being utilised and gave an insight into the sailor’s mind-set when asked just what the GPS aerial crane ‘crown’ at the masthead was: “You know what? Honestly your guess is as good as mine. Yeah, I think it's some kind of telemetry device what exactly it is, like, I don't know.”
Scott is a master in interview, highly relatable and more than happy to allow fans into the sailing programme. When asked about the cross-overs between the J1 jib and the J3, it was another superb response given, saying: “With these boats as soon as you’re really up and foiling you'll take almost as little sail area as you can, so the jump onto the J3 for us is pretty low down the wind range and the J1 is really a light wind sail, so as soon as we are consistently up and foiling we want to be on the J3…the boat just feels way better as soon as you get on the smaller headsails when you're up and foiling but obviously if you're looking to get up and out of the water you need the area so it's that trade off.”
And it was a Sunday when the wind just couldn’t decide what it wanted to do: “The conditions were pretty tricky we thought we’d get out there and have a very quickly building north-westerly but as it turned out there was a north-easterly that came in, we got becalmed, then a south-easterly and then the last hour or so the breeze did come in from the north-west and we got a little bit in.”
That “little bit in” was surely the understatement of the day as INEOS Britannia ripped around the Bay playing with different ride heights, angles and pitch in a remarkable show of boat-handling from the crew who looked more than up for it all afternoon. Some hair-raising high flights downwind with T6 right on the edge were electric to watch whilst upwind, the team had this pocket rocket magnificently under control, sending it at speeds in excess of 35 knots. Mainsail control looked accurate with the weave of batten technology in the lower third performing well and the jib carrier system on the bow appears to give the trimmers a lot of pre-sets and play to work through. As Scott said afterwards: “We had a few goals to achieve and but there wasn't too much VMG sailing today we were trying to have a good look at look at the foils, did some tow testing to try and pull some more data off those, the designers are after a bit more there, which hopefully we were able to give them but we will find out how we did in capture later.”
The days are getting longer in Palma and so too the INEOS Britannia sessions. Dock in was at 5.40pm this evening with Scott summing up the day saying: “I think it was a good day on the water, long, frustrating but I think we ticked off some good items today.” And when asked where the INEOS programme is overall at the moment, he added: “Well I think you're always looking ahead, and you’d always want to be 2-3-4 steps in front of where you are, and we are certainly no different to that.”
Honest. Genuine. The real deal. Another great day for the British team. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: The British team had a productive day but had to be patient at times to make the best of a shifting breeze that regularly shut down in one part of Palma Bay only to spring up in another part from a completely different direction.
With virtual flat calm conditions when the boat exited the harbour this morning at 1100 the crew opted for a couple of no-sails towed foiling runs before hoisting the mainsail at midday as the breeze started to fill from the northeast. That breeze built to around 8 knots to allow tow foiling runs before shutting down and reappearing as a 12-13 knot wind from the northeast. Two more upwind runs followed before the J1 was swapped for the J3. Six more foiling runs followed, three upwind and three downwind (where speeds reached 30 knots.
With the breeze dropping to 5-7 knots from the east the crew swapped back to the J1 but did not hoist it immediately as they towed slowly to the middle of the Bay where (after a 20-minute wait) the wind eventually filled in at 13 gusting 16 knots from the NE. An eight-minute run was made with the J1 (including a 35-knot downwind section) before the J3 was swapped back on to the boat for the final five runs that included a foiling tack and a scrappy foiling gybe. The fast downwind runs included at least two spectacular splashdowns but there were no reports of damage or problems with the boat. On those downwinds the helmsmen seemed to be experimenting with sailing angle and heel angle with the boat several times seeming to heel precariously before a sharp bear away levelled it out.
Dock out: 1048 Dock-in: 1740
Conditions: (AM) 5 knots from North locally for rigging and launch. (PM) 3 - 13 knots from a variety of directions over the day. Cloudy with sunny spells 9C.
Onboard Today
Helms: Giles Scott / Leigh McMillan
Crew: Luke Parkinson / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail (MN1-1P): 5 hours 30 minutes
J1 (J1-1): 1 hours 15 minutes
J5 (J5-1): 1 hours 45 minutes
Recon Unit Notes: At one point what we thought may be the J5 began to be attached before (perhaps because of an issue?) being re-bagged and the J3 hoisted.
Total Tacks: 9- 1 foil-to-foil, 8 touchdowns
Total Gybes: 1 – 1 touch & go
One foiling tack and all others were slow speed displacement mode.
Take-off speed: 10-16 knots (estimate)