SWISS HIT CENTURY IN BARCELONA
The beautiful sailing waters off Barcelona are about to become a crowded place with the arrival of all the America’s Cup teams in short order for the summer season, but for now Alinghi Red Bull Racing has the run of the place and put on a superb display today (Thursday) for the early-season sun-bathers dotted along the La Barceloneta beach.
Ernesto Bertarelli thoroughly enjoyed his third day of the week on the water having sailed the AC40 on Tuesday, followed by the AC75 in Wednesday’s blistering session and today was very much in command in the starboard pod, helming the AC40 in near-perfect 10-12 knot conditions. No stranger to competing onboard his America’s Cup boats, and why not, Ernesto is also a top foiling sailor on the Swiss Lakes in the GC32 and TF35 classes, not to mention a seven-time Bol D’Or winner.
And today he barely missed a beat, partnering with Nicolas Charbonnier on helming duties (later rotated for Maxime Bachelin), the team recorded their biggest day for manoeuvres with the magic 100 counted across 61 tacks and 39 gybes. Even more remarkable was the overall percentage foil-to-foil at 92%. Brilliant.
The Chase Boat team dropped in a short course in the afternoon as the ‘Garbi’ thermal breeze beautifully filtered along the beachfront of the America’s Cup course and immediately the sailors were into sharp angles, good laylines, rapid flat bear-aways, deep VMG and whippet-fast tacks. It was impressive to watch and their ease at the windward heel / bow down technique both upwind and down, executed automatically, was next-level stuff.
Speaking afterwards, Nicolas Charbonnier spoke about having the Team Principal onboard and was impressed saying: “I think he's a having a lot of fun sailing this boat and he’s learning really quickly so it's amazing to have him onboard and I think we can see on his face when he’s jumping off how happy he was with the day… there is no difference to like a full-time professional sailor and Ernesto is just there sailing and we don’t change anything. He’s as good as any of us, and he's a steering the boat and nothing is different.”
The experience that the team has now built-up sailing in Barcelona is really paying dividends with Alinghi Red Bull Racing more than comfortable to rotate crew and see minimal performance differences. Charbonnier was clear when talking about the communication loops onboard both the AC40 and AC75: “Yeah I mean everybody knows the boat better, so knows what he's got to do onboard, so we are trying to make sure we are only talking about the important things.”
With the team now effectively running a two-boat programme on alternate days, and shortly to take delivery of their second AC40 to start two-boat testing in race mode, Charbonnier gave a reminder of the differences when he said: “They are two different boats. One is a really powerful and really heavy and the other one is super light and reactive, the feeling is different but they are both super-fast and super-enjoyable to sail. Every day we are on the water with either of these boats, it’s a great day for us.”
Sailing continues for Alinghi Red Bull Racing on Friday indicated and proclaimed for all to see in and across Barcelona by the landmark W-Hotel being lit-up tonight in red. Great session from a settled and happy team really coming to the fore and enjoying themselves in this America’s Cup cycle.
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40 at 08:45, prepared the yacht and docked out at 11:30, with the M1 and J2 one-design mainsail and jib raised in the port. Another day of ‘Garbi’ thermal wind; though lighter than the previous day, reached around 10-12 knots. The sea state was relatively flat, without any crests breaking on the light chop.
The yacht was released from the towline right out of the port entrance, with an upwind/downwind warmup, followed by a couple of laps of the 1NM windward/leeward course, windward mark and leeward gate. Four more stints were sailed, each roughly 30 minutes long, consisting mostly of 5-minute pre-starts and laps of the course. Nico Charbonnier sailed the first three stints, before swapping out the port helm for
Maxime Bachelin for the final two stints. Ernesto Bertarelli helmed on starboard for the full five stints.
The team sailed well, with 100 tacks and gybes observed throughout the day, the most and highest rate of any day so far on the AC40. 92% of moves were fully foiling, with better performance tacking than gybing. The recon boat covered 40NM over 3.5 hours on the water. Overall, a seamless day on the water, with the yacht craned out before 15:30.
Onboard Today
Driving Group: Nicolas Charbonnier / Ernesto Bertarelli
Flight Control: Nicolas Rolaz / Bryan Mettraux
Additional Notes: Starboard: Ernesto Bertarelli + Bryan Mettraux, Port: Nicolas Charbonnier + Nicolas Rolaz (Crew Change: Nicolas Charbonnier out, Maxime Bachelin in)
Conditions: 'Garbi' - Afternoon Thermal Wind - 7-9kn S @ 12:15 , 8-10kn S @ 13:00 , 10-12kn S @ 14:20
Weather AM: 17°C, Sunny.
Weather PM: 17°C, Intermittent Clouds..
Sea State AM: Beaufort 2
Sea State PM: Beaufort 2-3
Dock-Out: 1130 Dock-In: 1505
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1 (M1-1): 3 hours 20 minutes
Jib J2 (J2-1): 3 hours 5 minutes
Total Tacks: 61 – 59 foil-to-foil, 1 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Total Gybes: 39 – 33 foil-to-foil, 5 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Take off: 17 knots at 90° TWA (True Wind Angle)
Recon Notes:
11:55 – 12:40 Sailing (20 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 12 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 3 Gybes - Touch & Go, 1 Gybe - Touch Down)
12:50 – 13:20 Sailing (11 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 6 Gybes - Fully Foiling)
13:25 – 13:35 Sailing (5 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 2 Gybes - Fully Foiling)
13:45 – 14:15 Sailing (14 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch & Go, 8 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)
14:20 – 14:45 Sailing (9 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch Down, 5 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)