PRESSING T6 HARD
It was an interesting crew swap today for INEOS Britannia out in Palma with Leigh McMillan coming into the driving seat on the port side, taking control of flight on the starboard-hung W-Foil, whilst Giles Scott switched over to the port pod cockpit rifling through an aggressive testing schedule on the T-Foil.
The exact reasons for the switch remain within the team but the day saw a lot of testing through fast manoeuvres on the T-Foil with arguably more emphasis going into data gathering on that side. A suspected major upgrade in the coming weeks for ‘T6’ will reveal much about the team’s thinking. The straight-line data gathering certainly appears largely done and the goals now appear to be to push ‘T6’ into ‘virtual’ race scenarios whilst playing with ride height pre, post and through manoeuvres. Some high height on the T-Foil was induced downwind – the junction height on the W-Foil largely precludes this and the recon team noted all angles of heel – flat, windward and leeward – as the British went through the full gambit of lighter-air modes.
For Leigh McMillan, a double Olympian in the Tornado class (2004 & 2008), and a fine foiling sailor in his own right, he was excused from his usual role as one of the team’s go-to Flight Controllers for a highly productive test session that saw both helms increasingly pushing harder and harder through manoeuvres. Early falls off the W-Foil were correlated to lighter winds but as the breeze built into the afternoon, the new helming duo barely missed a transition and with the very experienced Luke Parkinson and Bleddyn Mon doing trim and Flight Control, they looked totally in control. Mainsail trim again saw big twist induced and, similar to all the top teams at the moment, control of the head was masterful to keep ‘T6’ flying for long stints and powering through the lulls effectively.
After a great session that was full-stopped by a very entertaining fast reach back into the harbour, Leigh McMillan, always the model of professionalism, gave a superb interview afterwards and began by addressing a batten issue that the team had early on in the day saying: “We're not quite sure how, but we broke off the front end of the batten right as it sits up against the mast. It was a small detail, but it cost us 30 minutes to get it repaired with the guys turning it around quickly and then we were straight into action. We didn't miss much as the wind was pretty light at that point anyway, so kind of built nicely and we got straight into it.”
Talking about steering on the W-Foil in comparison with the T-Foil, Leigh commented: “They're just a bit different in, I guess, mainly in the manoeuvres and just how you can load them up and then turning onto them, things like that. The junction height is a clear difference between the two and how that feels when it's close to the surface, you get a bit of a different sensation, but I think Giles is probably better placed to answer that having kind of switched more between the two, but we’re getting good information out of it and we're learning a lot for our raceboat which is great.”
Leigh then went on to confirm the new emphasis on training saying: “It was nice to get ‘T6’ kind of more into the racing style. Yesterday we were putting it around the course quite a lot and at end the day just starting to kind of get all the controls and all the systems and just put them through their paces a bit and checking on our speeds of the controls on the boat and making sure that we got it kind of dialled in nicely. So yeah, we're just having a look at that and I'm sure we’ll see more and more of that kind of stuff as the days roll on and we start pushing the boat more into the manoeuvring side of it and kind of less straight line.”
Another great session for the British in beautiful afternoon sea-breeze conditions. The mood shoreside is super-positive and proactive with an assured confidence in the air. The Brits are well into their stride now and just looking better and better.
On-Water Recon Notes: The British team encountered a one hour delay out on the water first thing today caused by an issue with one of the upper mainsail battens. The issue arose around 1245, shortly after the double skin mainsail (M1-2) had been fully hoisted, when a loud bang like something failing under tension was heard from the rig. The team quickly dropped and bagged both mainsail skins and a man was hoisted up to check the mast for damage while a chase boat was dispatched ashore to bring out a sailmaker to remedy the situation.
By 1345 the main was back up and once the J2-1 headsail had been plugged in the crew were ready for action by 1400. In reality, no sailing time was lost as the southerly thermal breeze was still establishing itself at this stage and the first 50 minutes of sailing took place in no more than 8 knots of wind. Perhaps, as a consequence of the lighter breeze, in this early session the tacks seemed less polished than the previous day.
As the breeze steadily increased to an average of 10-12 knots the crew – helmsmen Giles Scott (starboard) and Leigh McMillan (port) with flight controllers/sail trimmers Bleddyn Mon and Luke Parkinson – put the boat through its paces as they once more checked off a list of data gathering exercises for the design team. This appeared to include experimenting with ride height, bow to stern pitch (bow up), as well as windward (and at times a touch of leeward heel)
In fast mode the silver T6 LEQ12 was travelling at 30+ knots upwind and mid to high thirties downwind. Once again copious amounts of mainsail twist was regularly in evidence.
Towards the end of the day, they switched to what looked to be prestart match racing manoeuvres with a series of aggressive high-speed bear-aways and round ups. Following this, a fast power-reach to the harbour entrance was followed by sails down at 1645 with dock in taking place shortly after 1700.
Dock-out: 1200 Dock-in: 1705
Conditions: 1340: 180 6-7 knots; 1543:180 11-12 knots; 1600: 150 8 knots.
Weather AM: Sunny with scattered high-level clouds 19-24°C.
Weather PM: Sunny with scattered high-level clouds 24° C.
Sea state AM-PM: Slight Chop.
Onboard Today:
Helms: Giles Scott / Leigh McMillan
Crew: Luke Parkinson / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1-2: 3 hours
Jib (J1-2): 2 hours 40 minutes
Total Tacks: 16 – 8 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go, 5 touchdowns.
Total Gybes: 17 – 14 foil-to-foil, 1 touch & go, 2 touchdowns.
Take off Speed: 20 knots at 50-60° TWA (True Wind Angle).