SILVER DREAM MACHINE
Sir Ben Ainslie was back in Palma today having travelled back from his favourite sailing venue of Sydney, Australia to take charge of INEOS Britannia’s box-fresh AC40 with a clear remit to get stuck in and start throwing some shapes on the flat dancefloor of the Bay of Palma. Ben didn’t disappoint. The team threw in almost 60 manoeuvres with a 97% foil-to foil success rate on some thirty tacks and a more than respectable 89% foil-to-foil success rate on the gybes.
The fact that one of the world’s greatest sailors can jump into the AC40 and hit numbers like that is testament to the design but also the superb team around him in Giles Scott, Dylan Fletcher-Scott, Leigh MacMillan and Bleddyn Mon. They had to be patient for it though as Palma was dishing up its persistent weather pattern, due to change tomorrow thankfully, of light breezes in the morning before glamour conditions into the late afternoon. As the breeze filled, the team switched from the J1 headsail down to the J2 and pressed play on the AC40 for a thoroughly entertaining afternoon of what’s known in the game as: ‘time in the boat.’
The playground was flat, the wind was fair and gusting in at 12 knots at times, but the pervading sense of the racing sailors was that they are itching for more to really put some miles on the clock in Athena. A tow-up in the morning as the pervading boredom of waiting finally cracked, offered the first flight for Ainslie who liked what he saw, saying: “Yeah it's a great boat I'm really impressed…it was relatively easy to sail for these kind of boats and performed really well in this light to medium breeze so yeah I had a great time. I think it will be a great asset for all of the teams and of course looking forward to the Youth & Women’s Cup next year in Barcelona - great tool.”
With so much foiling grand prix experience, who better than Ben Ainslie to assess the merits of the AC40 against T6, the AC75 and the F50s. He offered a super line in response: “It's a little bit different yeah, I have to say the seating’s nice, plenty of leg room just need a coffee holder and you'll be away.”
As for the goals for the day, Ben was honest saying: “Really just trying to get some time on the on the water in in this boat…it was the first time for me, and Dylan (Fletcher-Scott) was out with us as well so it's good to get to sail with him for the first time and you know just trying lots of different things, manoeuvres, different setups and so on and like I say I’m impressed with the performance of the boat and now it will be good to see it in some different conditions with a bit more wind, different sea state and so on.”
Dylan Fletcher-Scott again impressed when he swapped out for Giles Scott and auditioned for the first time with the boss, Ben Ainslie, helming in the alternate pod. Tacks were rapier sharp with the paused board hike working effectively to achieve speed through the turn and windward heel was easily induced by the flight controllers. Lots of traveller action to maintain flight and all in all a great day of commissioning the boat and getting the team’s principle skipper up to speed on the platform.
Ben offered an update on the LEQ12 prototype following the capsize and planned upgrade schedule, saying: “T6 is coming along well, actually we're really pleased with the progress on that with the planned upgrades and then the repairs from the capsize so yeah we should be ready to go on the water reasonably soon and looking forward to ticking off those remaining tests on the list as we come into the summer and then moving to Barcelona later on in the summer.”
And asked whether we might get the spectacle of seeing T6 lined up in Palma against the AC40, Ben said: “We might do, we haven’t really set up strategy around that but of course it's always interesting to put boats up against one another. For sure this boat, performance wise, would be streets ahead of T6, but T6 isn't designed as a raceboat, of course, it’s designed as test boat, but we might do that at some point, it would be quite interesting.”
INEOS Britannia are certainly looking good on the water and it’s a race now to get T6 back for those final key design decisions ahead of the new build starting in the next few months. Busy time for the team. Great day in Palma again. (Magnus Wheatley)
On Water Recon Notes: The persistent weather pattern in Palma Bay over the last 10 days of ultra-light winds in the morning and early afternoon, followed by the emergence of a southerly 7 - 10 knot mid-to-late afternoon continued today for the British team’s thirtieth sailing day.
After rolling out at a few minutes after 1130, the rig was set up and the boat launched by 1210. However, with Palma Bay still mirror flat and not a sail to be seen in the now retreating fog of earlier in the day, the team held off on docking out until 1345.
Out on the water, after the mainsail was hoisted there was more waiting around for the expected breeze to appear. Perhaps losing a little patience, the crew – Ben Ainslie, Giles Scott as helmsmen and Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon on sail trim – hoisted the J1 and tried valiantly to get foiling in what we had measured as 6 knots of breeze.
That was to no avail, but after a short foiling tow over towards Arenal on the northeast side of the Bay the AC40 set off on a 21-minute flight featuring six foiling tacks and six foiling gybes. With the breeze building to around 12 knots over the next couple of hours saw extended foiling runs with another (estimated) 52 foiling tacks and gybes.
Late in the day Scott swapped out for trialist Dylan Fletcher on the helm opposite Ainslie.
Dock out: 1344 Dock-in: 1745
Conditions:
PM: 7 - 12 knots 190 degrees. Sunny 12°c - 15°c
Onboard Today
Helms: Ben Ainslie / Giles Scott / Dylan Fletcher-Scott
Crew: Leigh McMillan / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail (M1-1): 3 hours 30 minutes
J1 (J1-1): 1 hour
J2 (J2-1): 2 hours
Total Tacks: 30 – 29 foil-to foil, 1 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 28 – 25 foil-to-foil, 1 touch & go, 2 touchdowns.
Recon Notes: One tow and then all self-take-offs. Take-off speed: 18 knots at 50° TWA