FAST STARTS – FAST LAPS
A simply beautiful day in Auckland greeted Emirates Team New Zealand’s LEQ12 and AC40 for a full-on afternoon of rapid-fire practice starts and short one-lappers once the breeze filled in. The biggest take-away has to be that in these foiling machines, in semi-marginal conditions the likes of which we could well see in Barcelona on any given race days, the pre-start is all about staying on the foils and nailing time-on-distance. Perhaps better to be late, but staying in flight is crucial and although the AC40’s have huge manoeuvrability, large duck-aways or rounding-ups on the final approach are fatal to the outcome. As Josh Junior and Liv Mackay proved, once ahead in the AC40, passing lanes are almost non-existent and even with a boat that’s certainly a smidge faster in the LEQ12, it’s still a tall order to make the move and get past.
However, the LEQ12 with Nathan Outteridge and Pete Burling sailing it like they stole it today, looked very sharp. There was a co-ordination that we haven’t seen in recent sessions, coming to the fore and the boat looked stable in its overly rocked-to-windward upwind set-up with a very full mainsail all the way to the headboard requiring only a minimum of traveller trim to maintain flight. The team on the LEQ12 set a J2 for most of the racing and pre-start training whilst the AC40 had its J1 up. Often, we’ve heard the sailors saying that once they are up on the foils, the headsail is simply drag and it was an interesting exercise for the two boats to have different sail set-ups. From the visuals, it was almost impossible to see the speed difference and as the afternoon breeze came in at 12 knots, you could barely separate the two.
Blair Tuke, the senior Flight Controller for ETNZ, gave a glimpse of the difficulty in the pre-start when boat-on-boat saying: “Today was a bit easier and it’s quite fun at the bottom end just trying to control the boats. It’s quite difficult to keep them foiling and then in the pre-start with the other team there you’ve got to manage them but also stay on the foil so yeah really good challenge and you know the team’s taken a lot out of it.”
Certainly, the team look more than happy with progress. The dockside chatter is super-positive but grimly and ominously determined to keep on pushing. Blair summed up the overall team efforts saying: “I think we're starting to sail really well as a group now, obviously Pete, Andy and I have sailed a lot together in the AC75 and the F50 before that but now also with SailGP as well and Nathe’s (Nathan Outteridge) fitting in really nicely to that group so yeah we're working on the communication loop, working on making sure the boat’s going fast, in the modes we want, it’s working well - we’re getting a heap out of these boats so it’s been a good last couple of months for us.”
And that’s an understatement. Emirates Team New Zealand have looked imperious in recent sessions and the eyes of the America’s Cup world are trained onto the team, watching their every move. Questions into the shared recon portal from the other teams in recent days are asking for full pre-start coverage, pictures of the new mainsail battens on the LEQ12 and leeward/aft shots of the sail set-up as well as detailed shots of the J4 next time it’s used in anger. The Kiwis are the team to beat, and everyone knows it. Fascinating to watch them train and enthralling to see the two boats going against each other hard in combat over short courses as the racing confidence builds into the programme. New Zealand is not giving up the America’s Cup without a serious fight. More to come this week. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Both yachts were rigged and floating by 11.10, the usual team brief was given by Ray Davies with the team all assembled on the dock around Chase 1. At midday on the dot the AC40 and LEQ12 we released from the dock and towed the short distance down to Mechanics Bay to hoist sails.
The headboard was loaded at 12.23 and the main was on the lock at full hoist on 12.28. The #3 jib was now hoisted, well down range for it but the LEQ got herself up onto her foils, this first session was very light with the yacht tacking and gybing through very large angles to stay foil borne. At around 13.30 the breeze faded so both boats stopped and changed head sails. The AC 40 going with a #1 and the LEQ on her #2.
After a little bit more waiting the breeze built and moved a little more south. At 13.50 the yacht was off the chase boat and looking to line up against the AC40 for some pre-start practice. We had 2 pre-starts in light patchy conditions requiring the AC40 to be towed up to enter (a little late). 1st pre-start was about 13.54 with the second going into a one lap race around a 1.8 NM course. The second start entered about 14.04 with the LEQ12 having port entry. After this the yachts stopped with the chase boats alongside for approximately 10 minutes.
At 14.30 the yachts dropped their chase boats and started sailing in a few more knots of breeze. The pre-start practice continued with another 4, with the first start in this block entering the box about 14.34. Of these four the LEQ12 won 3 and lost one. The yachts had another 10-minute break with chase boats alongside but were up and foiling again at 15.15 for another two practice starts. The first of these two had an entry time of around 15.19 with the 8th and final one entering the box about 15.24. I scored the last two one each. A lot of sailing in a short amount of time today. Feel the LEQ12 gets faster and more predictable each day.
Dock out: 1200 Dock-in: 1615
Onboard the Boats Today
Helms LEQ12: Nathan Outteridge / Pete Burling
Crews LEQ12: Andy Maloney / Blair Tuke
Helms AC40: Josh Junior / Liv Mackay
Crews AC40: Sam Meech / Marcus Hansen
Sail Used onboard LEQ12:
M2 Mainsail: 3 hours 15 minutes (Very full all the way to the top)
J2 Jib: 2 hours 35 minutes
J3 Jib: 30 minutes (Very flat, no leech flutter)
Recon Notes: Main looked almost baggy full at times today.
Total Tacks: 36 – 30 foil-to-foil, 5 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 37 – 34 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go.
Wind Strength: 3-8 Knots SSE dropping away about 13.30. then slowly building to a max of 12 knots from the SSW. Up and down in strength, direction stable. Weather AM:
10-20% cloud, fine, 23 degrees. PM: 10% cloud. Fine 25 degrees Sea State: Calm
Take off speed: 13 knots at 75 degrees TWA (True Wind Angle)