THE BULL’S GOT WINGS

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A crew rotation saw Maxime Bachelin and Nicolas Charbonnier take the helm supported by Yves Detrey and Nicolas Rolaz on trim and it was a blistering session conducted at rapid pace with the breeze filling in through midday and delivering a 15-18 knot ‘Garbi’ thermal and some aggressive chop to push the sailors to the max. The confidence that the team have built in recent sessions is unquestioned and the sailors are happy to push into uncomfortable scenarios more and more with plenty of practice today on the fast, single-board head-ups that more than focus attention.

After multiple successful round-ups that were eye-wateringly fast to watch, the sailors just kept on pushing harder and harder to find the inevitable limit and the headline-grabbing sky-rockets on two occasions mask what, on balance, was an amazing session for the Swiss. The fact that neither of the sky-rockets resulted in a capsize was testament to the skill on the water and over three hours they were almost faultless.

Big windward heel was induced both upwind and down and the crew co-ordination was out of the top drawer. Fantastic transitions between the pods, near-perfect co-ordination through the tacks and gybes and a huge variety of modes tested. Low and fast upwind with windward heel and bow down dominated the early part before midday but as the waves built, Yves Detrey and Nicolas Rolaz adjusted to slight bow-up to keep the Bull charging and stop it from nosediving.

A terrific session on balance that proved the strength in depth that Alinghi Red Bull Racing have at their disposal and the technical foiling excellence that they are building through relentless hours on the water in Barcelona. The hugely experienced Yves Detrey speaking afterwards walked through the day saying: “Yeah pretty good day, we quickly changed to the J3 because the wind was increasing, and I think we had more than 18 knots wind speed and the sea-state was getting higher and higher but yeah pretty good day I think we reached about 40 (knots) for a while…happy with that.”

Talking about the sky-rockets, Yves put it into perspective saying: “Obviously like any other boat when it gets windy, it's a little bit scary so we were learning a little bit how to handle the boat in a proper way and obviously on the two luff ups with it today they were not very slick or very nice so we need to improve that and obviously we we're trying to find the best trim to improve that.”

And responding to a question about the windward heel technique that has crept more and more into the sailing style of Alinghi Red Bull Racing in recent sessions, Yves commented: “We were trying different stuff out there and we will review our data and make sure we we're going from there, but yeah obviously we are trying  that mode because we believe there is potential but it might depend on the wind speed and the sea states as well so we need to review that.”

The review session will have been fascinating back on the dock. Plenty to dig into but the over-riding sense that Alinghi Red Bull Racing are meeting the challenge of the America’s Cup is all encompassing.

They look good, very good.

On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40 at 08:10, anticipating the strong wind forecast to start at midday. By 10:00am, the team docked out and the sails were hoisted in port. The wind strength increased fairly quickly and by midday, the wind was averaging 16 knots, with gusts up to 18 knots. The sea grew into an aggressive chop very quickly, making it difficult for the boats chasing to keep up with the yacht, which was able to fly above.

The sailors warmed up with a downwind and a lap around a windward/leeward course, followed by bear aways/heading up, mark roundings and a few tacks/gybes. After 35 minutes, the first stint was paused to exchange the J2 for the J3 and adjustment of the mainsail clew/mainsheet system, as well as the jib tack. The second stint saw long stints upwind and downwind, with the yacht getting airborne on two occasions, both when heading upwind from downwind. The speed downwind was estimated to be around 42 knots when the recon boat managed to keep up alongside for a short period of time in the flatter water close to the Badalona shore. As the yacht continued towards Montgat, the conditions grew increasingly more difficult for the chase boats and recon to keep up.

The third stint commenced after the second crash, as the team took 10 minutes to collect themselves. They sailed a long upwind south to the freeport, followed by another short downwind and upwind back to the port.

Phil Robertson made an appearance at the base and joined for the day on Chase Alpha, however it was confirmed in the interview with Yves Detrey that he was just visiting and has no involvement in the team. In post sailing discussion with sailors, it was admitted that they could have achieved higher speeds, though they were focusing on sailing at low angles.

In just over three hours on the water, they covered over 56 NM and performed a total of 33 manoeuvres, 94% fully foiling, their second most consistent day with respect to manoeuvre quality. A wet and bumpy day for those chasing the AC4

Onboard Today

Driving Group: Maxime Bachelin / Nicolas Charbonnier

Flight Control: Yves Detrey / Nicolas Rolaz

Additional Notes: Starboard: Maxime Bachelin + Yves Detrey, Port: Nicolas Charbonnier + Nicolas Rolaz

Conditions: 'Garbi Wind' - Thermal Wind - 13-16kn SSW @ 11:05, 15-18kn SW @ 12:10

Weather AM: 15°C, Intermittent Clouds.

Weather PM: 15°C, Sunny.

Sea State AM: Beaufort 1-3

Sea State PM: Beaufort 3 – 0.5m aggressive chop.

Sails Used:

Mainsail M1 (M1-1): 3 hours

Jib (J2-1): 50 minutes

Jib (J3-1): 1 hour 50 minutes

Total Tacks: 17 – 17 foil-to-foil.

Total Gybes: 16 – 14 foil-to-foil, 2 touch & go.

Recon Notes:

10:25 – 11:00 Sailing (5 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 7 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)

11:25 – 12:05 Sailing (4 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 4 Gybes - Fully Foiling)

12:15 – 12:50 Sailing (8 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 3 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)

Dock-Out: 1000 Dock-In: 1320