TECHNICAL ISSUES FOR LUNA ROSSA
For Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli it was ‘one of those days’ out on a choppy Bay of Cagliari with technical issues curtailing the sailing day without a tack or a gybe thrown in anger. Almost immediately after exiting the harbour, an electronic issue was identified, and the technicians came aboard quickly to work below decks.
It was not an easy fix and several hours passed before a resolution was found but the early afternoon gentle Mistral had suddenly built into a chunky 15-17 knots and the team towed over to the Sella del Diavolo to try and find flatter water. It never came, and with issues on the mainsail at hoist, particularly on the lower third starboard skin, the team called an end to the session with a pretty despondent chase boat team watching on.
Speaking afterwards Marco Donati, the electronics supremo within Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli saw positives in the day as he described the issues, saying: “The issue was a little thing, but it just takes time to fix it because there’s a lot of stuff that you have to remove to access to that…it was something that we couldn't sail without, so let's say it was not a major thing that will stop us sailing but, because we are not in a regatta, you want to have the data to analyse so sometimes it doesn't really make sense to go sailing without getting the data to analyse what you want to try. Otherwise, it's a waste of time. So, we knew that the breeze was getting up, but we wanted to try the exercise of fixing something outside (the harbour) and it's also something that we should train for, for when we arrive at a regatta and understand not sailing-wise but maintenance-wise what we can do outside (on the water). So, it has been, by the way, a good exercise and we learn from that too.”
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli are now running a dual programme with the delivery of the team’s AC40 which they have unpacked and checked over ahead of a maiden sail which is, as yet, unscheduled. Marco Donati was clear though that the testing work on the team’s LEQ12 is of prime precedence at the moment, saying: “We just unpacked the boat and we started looking at those systems…we just turned on the boat to see that everything is functional, but for us at the moment we are little bit more concentrated on finishing testing what we want to test on our boat and in parallel we are trying to make the boat sailable as soon as possible. So let's say we are running the two boats in parallel but at the moment we give a little bit more priority to our LEQ12.”
New technology was spotted on the LEQ12 with an upgraded mast base and gooseneck arrangement which is the area the team appeared to be struggling with on the starboard skin hoist, whilst cameras were also seen and photographed on the new port wing to measure and capture flow data. The team had also removed the aft ride-height sensor on the port side of the LEQ12.
No real sailing today with no jib hoisted, the Italians were under tow all afternoon. Better days ahead for sure but it underlines just how complex and inter-connected these prototype boats are and why all the teams employ first class shore crew, engineers, electronics experts and design teams to be able to hit the water day after day. More to come, for sure, this week from the Italians.
On Water Recon Unit Notes: After several stormy Maestrale days, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team found a good window and rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 11:15, stepped the mast and craned in starting the usual protocol checks. While the LEQ12 was sitting in the cradle, some changes were noticed by the recon unit: new/different fittings at mast mase, Go-Pro cases on suction and pressure sides of the portside wing while the ride height sensor aft on the portside has been removed.
The sailor’s checks, testing each sail control device/button seemed to last longer than usually. Dock-out was scheduled at 13:00 and right before that, the main M1 was locked in the mast fittings. Exiting the harbour, the team found some rest breeze of the usual morning Maestrale not exceeding 5 knots.
Before awaiting the sea-breeze to hoist sails, an electronic issue had to be fixed below deck by the shore crew lasting several hours. Exactly as suggested by forecast model, the southerly sea breeze from S-SSW started to fill in at 14:00 increasing and shifting in the following hours.
At 16:00 the electronic issue below decks seemed to be fixed and the LEQ12 was towed towards La Sella del Diavolo to fully hoist the mainsail. However, the conditions changed significantly with pressure shifting to the SE measuring 15-17kn with gusts up to 25kn along with the usual significant and sudden chop coming from SE. The mainsail was fully hoisted at 16:10 and lowered shortly after to head back to base.
Dock out: 1300 Dock-in: 1700
Onboard Today
Helms: Francesco Bruni / Jimmy Spithill
Crew: Andrea Tesei / Umberto Molineris
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1 (MN1-1S): 20 minutes
Total Tacks: 0
Total Gybes: 0
Conditions: 13:10 NW 5-7kn/ 14:35 S 14-16kn / 16:10 SE 18-20kn
Weather PM: 14-22°c Sunny.
Sea-State: 1.3m @ 4 seconds period. Beaufort 5