HAPPY DAYS IN PALMA
INEOS Britannia looked scintillating on Wednesday as the team took to the water with their new slight-anhedral, long-span, port foil replete with its barrage of mounted cameras for a superb day of commissioning that will certainly have raised a smile with the design office and data engineers back at Mercedes Applied Science HQ in Brackley, Northamptonshire.
What we saw later in the session after the usual high-speed tow-testing protocols were completed, was the British LEQ12 ‘T6’ test platform seemingly a step change on in terms of user-friendly with beautiful low-flight, end-plating the bustle and the surface of the water and far smoother tacks and gybes.
Upwind on either foil, T6 looked stable in flight and gave the Flight Controllers, Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon, the ability to sail super-accurately to ride height targets (clue: low) whilst offwind with marginally less apparent wind to contend with, the ride height was higher for speed with some stunning gybe-to-gybe success numbers fully foiling.
The air of ‘cautious optimism’ around INEOS Britannia perhaps masks ‘real’ optimism as the performance today on the water was a marked improvement from when the team were running different junction height foils with the W-Foil concept hanging off a shortened starboard foil arm. Yes, there were a few ventilations that caused the inevitable splashdown but in this commissioning phase as the team push into what Giles Scott famously called “corner cases” of flight, cant, trim and pitch, it’s to be expected but coming ashore the team looked more than happy with their solid afternoon out on the Bay of Palma.
Bleddyn Mon, arguably the key link within the INEOS Britannia team between the sailing and technical sides of the programme, was trimming and flight controlling from the port side of ‘T6’ today and he gave a terrific run down of the new foil profile saying: “It's kind of a concept that we’ve seen across a few of the teams so yeah early days for sure for us, very much a commissioning day really to be honest, making sure that it's kind of actuating as expected and everything and we’ll have to have a look at the data tonight and see what we can see with it.”
Asked whether the new foil was angled squarely at the expected swells in Barcelona, Bleddyn offered: “We obviously saw the Kiwis last time round with a slight curve into their foil and it seems like most teams are kind of leaning that way. The challenge is obviously choosing where to stick the junction and how confident you are with that in a sea-state, so we have seen a few variations across the teams and hopefully over the next few weeks we’ll draw our own conclusions from it.”
Getting that junction height right on these foiling monohulls is perhaps one of the key decisions of this America’s Cup cycle and the ventilation that INEOS Britannia has experienced is clearly something that the team will be looking to iron out completely in the coming days of testing as Bleddyn confirmed, saying: “Often you get a bit of a splash if you get quite a big vent and I guess as our control refines and obviously particularly in harder sea states, they potentially get a bit more frequent, but yeah not desirable.”
INEOS Britannia are forging a new path now in this America’s Cup cycle and on this, day one of a new dawn, the manoeuvre numbers were high with a 96% success rate foil-to-foil through the gybes and a 58% success rate foil-to-foil through the tacks in a breeze that barely got above 10 knots.
The coming days will be fascinating as the sailors get increasingly confident with the new foil and push harder through this exciting testing phase. Sailing is scheduled for Thursday.
On-Water Recon Notes: INEOS Britannia's T6 LEQ12 test boat returned to sailing action today after the latest upgrade to its systems. The team opted for an early rollout (0900) and were able to dock out on time at 1130 to take advantage of the light winds in flat to slight chop in Palma Bay for some initial tow testing to check the boat's systems and get a feel for the functionality of the new starboard 'banana' shaped foil wing – on which tell tales were spotted before launch on its upper inner surface.
After an hour and 15 minutes of towing – during which the boat at times reached speeds in the low 30 knot range – the bow tow was cut to prepare for sailing. The M1-2 mainsail and the J2-1 headsail were hoisted by 1400 ready for an initial sailing session which began with what appeared to be displacement mode systems check in 6-7 knots of wind, before the crew coaxed T6 into the air for roughly an hour of flight.
Initial tacks from starboard to port saw the boat touch down but as the breeze built the crew looked increasingly comfortable tacking onto the new starboard foil. Likewise, downwind the sailors appeared to have few issues sailing the boat on the starboard foil and gybes appeared smooth in general.
As with the previous w-foil, there were notable splashes of spray coming from the banana foil when it at times broke the surface. A stop at 1530 for new batteries was followed by an hour-long session that saw the boat almost constantly in the air and completing numerous tacks and gybes. After a fast downwind run towards Palma Cathedral the boat stopped at 1650 and sails were dropped by 1700 with the team docking in at 1715. Another sailing day is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday May 11).
Recon Notes:
Dock-out: 1130 Dock-in: 1715
Conditions: AM: 3-5 knots 220; PM: 6-10 knots 160-180.
Weather AM: Low cloud early then sunny 19-21°C.
Weather PM: Sunny 21-22° Celsius.
Sea state: Slight chop in the Bay, medium chop and slight swell offshore
Onboard Today:
Helms: Dylan Fletcher-Scott / Giles Scott
Crew: Leigh McMillan / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1-1: 3 hours 15 minutes
Jib (J2-1): 3 hours
Total Tacks: 19 – 11 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go, 5 touchdowns.
Total Gybes: 24 – 23 foil-to-foil, 0 touch & go, 1 touchdown.
Take off Speed: 15-18 knots at 60° TWA (True Wind Angle). All take-offs were ‘self’ today.