RACING THE CLOCK
It has been ten long days since we last saw them on the water but the INEOS Britannia sailing programme came back to life today as the team launched ‘Athena’ the AC40 still very much in One Design mode for a profitable day offshore when the wind finally filled. On leaving the dock just before midday it was almost a glass-out, so the call was made to hunt for breeze some 14 miles offshore, far outside the Bay of Palma.
As the wind built and faded around the 8-9 knots mark it was an afternoon that called for accurate flight control from Leigh MacMillan and Bleddyn Mon to try and keep up on the foils whilst the mainsheet trim was exaggerated to fan the sail to try and get to the target speeds. Valuable training for Barcelona and once again, we saw the technique of one crew member crossing to the windward side to provide increased righting moment in the speed build pre-flight. Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher-Scott were steering accurately to stay in the breeze and their windward/leeward runs over an imaginary course were tidy and efficient with rapier fast turn-ups and good consistency downwind on the angles.
It was a long session today though, with the team docking in at 5pm having chased the afternoon breeze lines but with the daylight hours increasing, this is very much the norm now from here on in. Jeff Causey the Head of on-Water Operations for INEOS Britannia offered a fascinating insight into the team’s schedule over the past ten days and he teased that T6 the team’s LEQ12 prototype that suffered extensive damage in the now infamous capsize, is almost ready to come back as he said: “There's clearly some damage that we suffered in the capsize that we need to recover and we’re mostly through that but it lined up as it turned out the capsize with an upgrade period where literally two days after the capsize we were planning to shut the boat down for these last three weeks anyway so we're nearing the end of that period and hoping to get the boat on the water soon with a handful of upgrades and in the meantime it sort of made sense to continue sailing and get the training on the AC40 and commission that boat so we’re ready to go.”
And when probed about where Jeff felt the team were in terms of the overall programme, he offered: “You always feel like you're behind, that's my experience. This is a massive race against the clock, and you’d always like to be ahead of where you're at, but I think generally over the last couple of weeks, capsize included, we’re where we thought we'd be in terms of being able to launch some of these upgrades in the next few days.”
Talking about the lessons learned from the capsize of T6, it’s clear that the team took away a lot of positives and are largely un-fazed by the incident, as Jeff commented: “Definitely internally there's been a lot for us to take away both for the remainder of our training programme in the small boats and into the big boat as well, so it's good.”
T6 will hopefully roll out perhaps as early as this week, weather permitting as a new weather pattern comes in across the Balearic Islands bringing increased wind and certainly enough to curtail sailing tomorrow (Tuesday).
For the team, getting back in T6 will be a huge boost and with a raft of upgrades promised, it’s going to be fascinating to see the direction the INEOS Britannia/Mercedes Applied Science designers will be taking. As Jeff Causey says: “Watch this space…she's coming back soon.”
We can’t wait. (Magnus Wheatley)
On Water Recon Notes: After not sailing for 10 days the British Challenger of Record syndicate were back on the water for their tenth day of training aboard the team's AC40 one design.
The forecast called for flat calm conditions inside Palma Bay for the entire day, so, after hoisting the mainsail and the J1 in front of the city's waterfront cathedral, the crew (hemsmen Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher with trimmers Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon) were taken on a 14 nm foiling tow to the south west and out of the Bay to the open waters off Il Toro. Initial wind conditions out there were better but still on the lighter end of the scale, with winds of 7-8 knots from 090 with a 0.5 metre swell.
Getting airborne unassisted was not easy even as the breeze slowly ratcheted up to 8-9 knots but the crew seemed content to invest time in learning valuable lessons about that challenge. Over the afternoon there were numerous unassisted take-offs and two or three tow ups. Once up in the air, the crew engaged in a series of offshore windward/leeward laps with plenty of tacking and gybing as well as long straight line runs in what was becoming a moderately choppy training area (due in no small part to the three chase boats following the yacht).
The crew made the most of the best of the wind and were able to sail almost back into the Bay before stopping short of the Cala Figuera lighthouse that stands atop the Bay's westernmost headland. Sails were dropped at 1500 before a long foiling tow back to Palma for a dock in at 1700.
Strong winds are forecast for Palma tomorrow which will keep the team ashore.
Dock out: 1150 Dock-in: 1700
Conditions:
AM: Sunny with scattered cloud 15° – 18° c. PM: Sunny with scattered cloud with cloud increasing later 20° - 18° c
Onboard Today.
Helms: Giles Scott / Dylan Fletcher-Scott
Crew: Leigh McMillan / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail (M1-1): 3 hours
J1 (J1-1): 3 hours
Total Tacks: 23 – 12 foil-to foil, 3 touch & go, 8 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 19 – 13 foil-to-foil, 4 touch & go, 2 touchdowns.
Recon Notes: Two of the touch down tacks were in full slow speed displacement mode. Self-take-offs were often with three sailors on the windward side of the boat for additional righting moment.
Take-off speed: 18 knots at 60° TWA