OVER-ACHIEVING IN PALMA
A big testing day for the INEOS Britannia team who were out on a picture-perfect Palma Bay with the bit between their teeth to rocket-forward their testing programme. Long runs, with one recorded at a whopping 48 minutes airborne, will have Mission Control back in Brackley, Northamptonshire high-fiving tonight as they sort through an absolute barrage of premium data.
With the wind just perfect at 8-12 knots, Ben Ainslie & Giles Scott took the wheels initially and had T6 – the ‘Silver Bullet’ – up on its foils quickly and then through the early afternoon pushed harder and harder with dynamic sail control and a lot of variability of angle sailing, round-ups, blast reaches, and manoeuvres.
It was a day to tick-off the check lists and please the analysts whilst showcasing some real foiling ability and flight control all day. The change to the J3 as the wind came in more consistently, gave the test team the chance to try out different flight modes and one of the more notable scenarios was the high-flight, bow up mode that saw T6 literally on tiptoes with the foils just submerged. That’s confidence right there (even a small crashdown didn’t dint the mood) and it’s clear that the team are high on ability and thoroughly enjoying pushing ‘T6’ through its paces.
Speaking afterwards, Leigh McMillan who swapped in off the chase boat for Ben Ainslie and steered for the late afternoon part of the session gave a terrific interview to the Recon Unit’s Justin Chisholm, saying: I certainly think we overachieved today, over- achieved on miles covered and we got through all the list and then some today, so yeah it's a really good day out.”
And talking about the modes they were trialling, McMillan offered: “We focus on just keeping the boat in the right kind of modes for the specific tests that we’re trying to do and keeping good eyes on boat speeds and VMGs and how it’s performing and at different times with different modes and things like that. We’re trying to get a feel for how the boat’s responding to different things, in different states that we put the boat in, and some things also feel better than others and we can give subjective feedback to the guys on the Chase Boat on how it's feeling.”
That feel for the boat has come remarkably quickly for the sailors who are clearly operating on a very high level. McMillan summed it up saying: “We’re just looking at covering all of the ranges on the boat so we can have it gather the data in all the different ranges and we’re just seeing how everything feels and kind of how sensitive the boat is to the different pitches and things like that…We’re just data collecting like anyone else. We’ve got all the usual stuff on the boat, we're just trying to get a handle on the rig, sails, foils, everything and putting it through its paces and then just gathering all that data so the guys back in Brackley and here at the base can chew through all that data and give us some answers.”
Days like today certainly help in finding those answers. Stunning execution from the sailors and they’re raring to go again tomorrow. “Yeah, no reason not to,” as McMillan opined.
Spot on for INEOS Britannia today.
On Water Recon Notes: Palma Bay served up a spectacular set of perfect data gathering conditions aboard the British LEQ12. The wind was in the range of 8-12 knots over the day, starting at 190 and moving steadily right over the day to 210. Sea state was pleasantly flat making for easy take-offs. The boat looked to be in normal configuration with the frequently seen pair of masthead GPS aerials. New though was an extended wand for the Windex on the stub bowsprit. The crew took full advantage of the conditions and after one tow up in the early light winds at the beginning of the afternoon session executed multiple airborne laps of the Bay pulling off multiple foiling tacks and gybes as well as fast round ups and bear aways. Later in the day – after changing down from the J1 to the J3 the boat was spotted sailing in a pronounced bow up inclination – resulting once in a significant splash down. Other than a brief issue with the headsail halyard lock, the boat looked to be performing very well with the crew seemingly able to pull off whatever was required to tick off the testing list. The longest airborne run was an impressive 48 minutes.
Dock out: 1201 Dock-in: 1751
Conditions: 8 knots from 190 at 1234, 11-12 knots from 240 at 1335, 10 knots from 230 at 1545, 5.5-6 knots 200-210 at 1725
Onboard Today
Helms: Giles Scott / Ben Ainslie who swapped out for Leigh McMillan
Crew: Iain Jensen / Bleddyn Mon who swapped out for Luke Parkinson
Sails Used:
Mainsail (MN1-1P): 5 hours 30 minutes
J1 (J1-1): 1 hour
J3 (J3-1): 3 hours 50 minutes
Total Tacks: 9 – 2 foil-to foil, 4 touch & go, 3 touchdowns
Total Gybes: 9 – 4 foil-to-foil, 5 touch & go
Recon Notes: Multiple self-take-offs with 1 tow up.
Take-off speed: 10-18 knots (estimated) self at 50-80 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle)