THE ITALIAN JOB
For the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailors, the mission is very clear in Cagliari at the moment. The design team are now into the final stretch before signing off on the AC75 and going into build in the next few months so the crucial calibration of the now switched foils to validate the direction of travel for the big boat is absolutely key.
What happens when you switch foils? On face-value the answer would appear “not a lot” but in reality and in practice, everything changes. Is the data gathered when the foil is on one side, the same, similar or different when you switch it? Do the sailors operate the control systems differently and outside of their comfort zone? These are the questions that the design and engineering teams are seeking answers for but from what we saw today, the Italian LEQ12 looked majestic in flight with the sailing team in full flow, seemingly able to alter pitch, rake, cant angles and ride height with ease. The Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team are operating on a very, very high level now both on the water and off – and there’s still an awful lot more development to come.
Cagliari was everything and more today that the team could hope for. A building breeze that offered flat water to begin the session with, rising to a testing 15-17 knots of southeasterly by late afternoon – perfect for another crucial day of foil and systems checking. Francesco Bruni was joined on the helm by the future superstars of the America’s Cup Ruggero Tita and Marco Gradoni for a brilliant session that lasted just over four hours and saw everything from data collection to time-on-distance starting runs. The sailors are pushing the bar ever higher and the now established Flight Control team of Umberto Molineris, Andrea Tesei and Vittorio Bissaro looked utterly masterful playing with ride heights and windward heel, keeping the power on and totally in control. It’s poetry in motion when you see the Italians at full flight.
In interview afterwards, Round the World race winner and four-time Cup campaigner, Haracio Carabelli, gave his usual insightful interview as Design Co-Ordinator for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and he seemed more than pleased with where the team are at and the levels they’re hitting, saying: “I think we’re pretty happy. Just in time, the big boat is coming along in terms of design and all the teams will be closing up final decisions on it so we're pretty happy with what we’ve achieved so far and looking forward for the next month when we will also be coming with new stuff.”
Asked about when the team’s AC75 will be signed off and go into build, Horacio didn’t give too much away and hinted that the development pathway still has a way to run, saying: “Difficult question to answer, all the teams are in the final phase of design but we still have some months of investigation, we want to take our time a little bit, until we start the real building and also depends also on what’s going to be the launch of every team.”
When asked about the foil switch, Horacio confirmed the pure engineering standard practice aspect, saying: “Switching is part of being in a hull where you have symmetric foils and its good always to switch around and also investigate a little bit any kind of asymmetry that could be there. We’re pretty happy to do that as well as an exercise and we also have a pretty nice outcome from all of the latest testing that we have been doing…I think the foils are behaving as we’re expecting now so we’re pretty happy with what we’re doing and what we’re testing and the way we’re going to be taking on to the next level.”
On a busy day on the Sella del Diavolo, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli completed 37 manoeuvres and were up on the foils for a combined time of 122 minutes. Data was gathered, the Italians did their job and it looked sensational.
The team are scheduled to sail on Friday. Forza Italia! (Magnus Wheatley)
On Water Recon Unit Notes: After several stormy Maestrale days in Cagliari, the LRPP team finally found an acceptable window to sail and rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 10:45am, stepped the mast and craned in undergoing the usual protocol checks in addition to some calibration checks employing an aluminium bar fixed on the mast base across beam.
As for the boat configuration it has been again observed that the foil wings have been swapped between starboard and portside while new versions of these have been updated as declared.
As dockout was scheduled for 1:05pm, the team started hoisting the main M1+ J1.5.1 already while exiting the harbour gate and at first sight the forecast looked quite light with filling in SSE sea-breeze not exceeding 8kn with flat water. The sailing action started with a tow-to-fly take off resulting in a first foiling stint of 35min executing the first six foiling tacks while building boat speed, reaching before bearing away and heading back towards shore for some additional light wind gybes.
After another foiling stint of 24 minutes, the forecasted sea breeze increased to 10kn and manoeuvres started to look more slick with less two board time and quicker cant arm raising. As the chase boat dropped two marks for a leeward gate and one windward mark, the prototype began picking up pace on the race course with steadily increasing SSE pressure of 13-15kn before stopping to lower the J1.5 opting for a J2.
Besides one upwind and one downwind leg, only one time on distance practice was observed and recorded on video by the Recon Unit before the marks were removed. During several occasions of the day, it seemed that some foiling modes were tested. With swapped crew members, another foiling stint of 35 minutes was recorded before stopping to replace the malfunctioning anemometer device on the bow of the prototype. Meanwhile the sea-breeze had reached 14-16 knots with choppy sea state in which the Italian LEQ12 sailed impressively stable before the team called it a day with a total of 122 foiling minutes, 22 tacks and 15 gybes.
Dock out: 1305 Dock-in: 1725
Onboard Today
Helms: Ruggero Tita / Marco Gradoni/ Francesco Bruni
Crew: Andrea Tesei / Umberto Molineris / Vittorio Bissaro
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1 (MN1-1S): 4 hours
J1 (J1.5-1-A): 1 hour 45 minutes
J2 (J2-1-B): 1 hour 40 minutes
Total Tacks: 22 - 17 foil-to-foil, 4 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 15 – 11 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Wind Strength: 13:10 SSE 7-8kn/ 14:15 SSE 9-11kn/ 15:14 SSE 12-14kn /16:20 SE 15-17kn. Weather AM:13°c Sunny. PM: 18°c sunny. Sea State: PM: Chop SSE 0.5m