TOW DAY FOR ITALIANS AND SWISS

For the Swiss sailors though, a day that promised much with the first outing of the new deck configuration complete with cyclor station (now confirmed) was not to be. BoatZero was craned in to undergo extensive tests on all the new systems, which had the tech team onboard for some four hours, before eventually the call was made not to sail. The chase boat took the boat out of the harbour for one tow run out and back again to run through systems analysis before calling it a day and craning out.

The recon unit reported that, when in position in the cyclor pods, the cyclors were extremely aero – and this Cup cycle is all about ‘aero’ – we wait to see the team sailing to get a better understanding of where Alinghi Red Bull Racing are headed. Also spotted was the old sculptural American Magic rudder and elevator foil which, back in the day, was a thing of extreme beauty with its anhedral foils, pinched arched run off and pointy nosecone. Still looks fabulous and it will be interesting to see how it performs and indeed how BoatZero performs if they do indeed, as expected, reduce crew numbers to eight for upcoming sailing sessions.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli meanwhile set out from their Cagliari base in the early morning with high hopes of a decent day on the water, even setting the smaller M2 mainsail in the expectation of a fluid north-westerly but it was a fickle wind with vast holes that struggled to bother the anemometer above 7 knots. After three failed tow-ups with the J1 set, the team repaired to just off the beautiful Sella del Diavolo beach where legend has it that Lucifer upon seeing the beauty of Cagliari’s Gulf, decided to try and conquer the land, and was promptly stopped by God, who sent his angels to fight him! A perfect spot for lunch and perhaps one of the most beautiful spots in Sardinia.

With the breeze resolutely not playing ball – the team repaired back to base and remained on stand-by, but were stood down at 3pm and called it a day. The recon unit’s Michele Melis manged to catch Philippe Presti, the French ‘supercoach’ to the Italian team for a broad interview afterwards where he talked about the campaign so far, saying: “The campaign to now is very exciting. I think the boats are very exciting especially the little one (LEQ12) we designed and built, and we are super happy with the outcome of this experiment and we believe it's going to translate into good results on the big boat…I think we learned from Auckland quite a bit. In Auckland everyday was an improvement from the next and all the designers reflected for almost two years, and I think now the boats are way more agile and do all the manoeuvres very, very, quickly and the performance are astonishing at times.”

Talking about how he debriefs the team after sailing, Philippe offered: “We try to capture all the information on the boat that we can so it's all the media we can collect like GoPro, audio and pictures and also all the data, everything is synchronised, and we try to animate the debrief so no stone will be unturned. We look at all the problems, all the good things, and try to come back with solutions that we can share with our designers eventually or that can be changing our technique. So that's a little bit of our mentality and I mean there's nothing hidden you know. This is good.”

And looking at the recon from around the world is clearly benefitting the team as Philippe alluded, saying: “I think this is great stuff, every morning we're looking at what's happening around the world. We used to have this sort of service from our internal ‘spies’ but now we have to use the rules like they are, so every morning we just look at what's happening on the other side of the world try to find ideas, try to understand what is in the mind of the opposition and that's great because it make us think and react eventually…it’s a new thing we have to adapt with that and we try to use it as a as an advantage.”

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Alinghi Red Bull Racing will be attempting to sail again on Friday and both teams have sailing sessions booked over the weekend – weather permitting.

Europe has been a tricky place to sail this winter. (Magnus Wheatley)

LRPP Recon Unit Notes: The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team rolled out their LEQ12 at 8:00am, stepped the mast and craned in 20 minutes later while the shore crew ran the usual onboard checks.

Regarding the boat configuration a new pair of portside and starboard side wings were declared with no major detectable changes.

As the forecast looked quite promising with upper range NW pressure, the smaller mainsail M2-1 was locked into the mast fittings with a higher positioned carbon fibre cover on sail tack jointed with a sail patch when hoisted, between the upper battens the usual inflatable tube was pumped.

Unfortunately, the forecast revealed itself to be quite lighter than expected while the team docked out and headed just outside of the Cagliari harbour to fully hoist the main + J1-5.1 as the breeze never reached values above 7 knots on the Recon anemometer.

The LEQ12 was towed up on its foils three times and slowly transited back to hull borne not finding enough breeze to power up the mainsail. After completing one foiling gybe the team towed the LEQ12 in front of the Sella del Diavolo for lunch break while awaiting for stronger puffs.

As the wind shifted to the west and decreased completely slightly afterwards, the team dropped sails at midday and headed back to the dock, remaining on stand-by for a second dock out until, at 3pm, calling it a day.

ARBR Recon Unit Notes: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out the AC75 at 08:45. The day was mostly cloudy. After stepping the mast, the yacht was craned in alongside chase boat Alpha, and kept at the dock.

After four hours of tuning systems, the team docked out and hoisted the M1 mainsail in the port. The main was up for just under an hour, though it was then dropped, and the team returned to the dock. The sails were carried off deck and the team dispersed.

According to Steven Robert (Structural Lead) in the interview, the team dealt with communication issues and decided to play safe by calling off sailing. A decision was made for a quick tow out and back to test onboard systems.

It was confirmed that the new rudder is an American Magic legacy rudder and elevator, as well as the addition of cyclor systems in the new interior pods of the AC75. During tow testing, crew members were assuming the aero tuck position in the pods. It is worth noting that two sailors were taken off the yacht for tow testing, so the crew positioning in the cockpit is still yet to be asserted.

During the interview, Steven Robert also confirmed the inspection hatch simply delaminated, however he did not say whether the AC40 will be converted to an LEQ12.

Today, the team also celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Swiss first win of the America’s Cup in 2003. A party was thrown in the AC40 tent. Recon not invited.