RAGGED EDGE TESTING
There’s been some wild and unpredictable weather in New Zealand this summer season and with yet another rain band moving in for the weekend, Emirates Team New Zealand opted to only sail the LEQ12 on Friday with a forecast for building wind. The meteorologists were right, and it was a grey, uncompromising session for the senior test team of Nathan Outteridge, Pete Burling, Andy Maloney and Blair Tuke who were put to sea with a few little modifications to test out.
The recon spy shots from the dockside revealed a new, slender fin dangling off the underside of the port, single span anhedral foil that for all the world looks like it should have pride of place in a future Guggenheim Museum modern-art show. It’s a beauty and probably the most analysed foil in this America’s Cup cycle – and note the built-in cameras on the foil arm, no ugly, flow destroying, agricultural camera additions for New Zealand. Stunning.
Now the Kiwis have stepped on and the fin below looked from certain angles aft to be offset rather than square. It’s all in the details and one that the recon photo team will keep on snapping. Questions coming in from the other teams to the shared recon portal request detailed shots of the join mid-flap and for daily photos of the foil. Everyone is looking at it, hungry for info.
Out on the water, the usual batten fiddle at the headboard of the mainsail ensued with six crew-members wrestling with Burns Fallow’s latest thinking and a lot of time was sucked up connecting controls at the foot of the sail towards the mast once the sail was three-quarters launched. One of the crew was buried in the double-skinned sail for an age, forward towards the mainsail tack and it’s clear that ETNZ are well into the detail of up-top sail control.
Today, with the gusts topping out at 22 knots and a confused sea-state at times, the accepted wisdom would be to de-power that top section, invert it if possible and trim the traveller like a banshee. However, what we saw was quite different. Yes, the headboard area, demarked handily by a large yellow sticker, was flat – not inverted - in the really heavy stuff but the trimmers were inducing a depth and twist there whilst flattening the second third of the sail to produce a sail shape partly reminiscent of the speed windsurfers on timed runs at the Luderitz Speed Challenge trench in Namibia. The mainsail looked highly effective and more efficient whilst reducing the extreme traveller pumping that we’ve seen before. Interesting.
Andy Maloney and Blair Tuke were keeping the boat low in flight on long, relatively settled test runs whilst the helms sought flatter water. In the waves, there were a few spills on the ragged edge as the LEQ12 got buffeted and the fine line between additional height to clear the tops and low flight for stability was a tricky dance throughout the morning session. On balance they did a great job. Once flat water was found in the lee of Rangitoto, the recon RIB which has a top speed of 46 knots, struggled to keep up. Did the Kiwis hit 50 knots? There’s a suspicion they did or at least got mightily close to the magic number.
In the conditions, over 21 manoeuvres, the ETNZ LEQ12 recorded a 76% success rate foil-to-foil which was, by any measure, a result but as the weather front closed in, the team dropped sails before midday to head back to the shelter of the harbour and protect the asset. Wise move.
It has been another amazing week for the Defenders. Plenty to take-away, especially with the on-water combat that we saw earlier in the week between the LEQ12 and the AC40 but for the design team, the data collected today on the new foil and mainsail set-up will be invaluable. The mighty Kiwi programme continues next week with a sailing schedule confirmed for Monday morning and the eyes of the Cup world are firmly on the developments now trickling through this innovative team.
One further bit of good news delivered overnight, was the arrival in Pensacola of the first of two AC40s for the New York Yacht Club American Magic Team. In short order, we will have four of the six teams sailing the AC40s.
What a great time for the America’s Cup. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: A one boat day today under grey, cold for summer conditions. The LEQ12 was on the dock edge by 9am sporting a winglet/fin off the bottom of the anhedral foil, rigged and in the pen by 09.20am. With only one boat sailing there was fewer people on the dock with a calm sense of purpose coming from the base.
The yacht was towed from her berth at 10.00 and taken down to Mechanics Bay where sails were loaded and bent on. The headboard was loaded by 10.15am and she was sailing by 10.31am with the #2 jib. It still took at least 6 people to hoist and rig the main.
The LEQ12 now did two runs on starboard out to Northern Leading and two on port in towards Compass Dolphin. She stopped sailing at 10.48am and changed to the #3 jib.
The boys got her going again at 10.57am and headed out between Northern Leading and the southern end of Takapuna beach. Here we had long runs on starboard looking to test speed and control. After a gybe off Takapuna there was a lay through-one sided beat back to Northern Leading mainly on Port tack. Over this bit of water there was a very changeable sea state, with wind against tide waves off the SW end of Rangitoto and into the Motukorea Channel.
Once north of Saltworks-Cheltnam it was flat with only small wind and waves. We witnessed two or three moments after a manoeuvre where the boat looked nearly out of control. Leaping into the sky and the crashing back down. After four laps of this piece of water and with the tide on the turn, the LEQ12 made her run for home stopping off Mechanics Bay at 11.48am to drop sails.
Dock out: 1000 Dock-in: 1200
Onboard the Boats Today
Helms LEQ12: Nathan Outteridge / Pete Burling
Crews LEQ12: Andy Maloney / Blair Tuke
Sail Used onboard LEQ12:
M2 Mainsail: 1 hours 20 minutes
Recon Notes: Full range of shape witnessed today with signs of negative shape in the head at times
J2 Jib: 16 minutes
J3 Jib: 1 hour
Recon Notes: Very flat, no leach flutter
Total Tacks: 11 – 8 foil-to-foil, 2 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 10 – 8 foil-to-foil, 2 touch & go.
Wind Strength: SE 6-15 knots. Building to 14-22 knots SE, Puffy and shifting up to 18 degrees Weather AM: 65% cloud cover, 8-16 knots SW, flat sea. PM: 100% cloud, rain and showers. 7-13 knots SW 15-degree oscillation.
Take off speed: 13 knots at 75 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle)