SOLID DAY FOR INEOS BRITANNIA
They called off the planned Friday session due to some unseasonal conditions in Palma but a new week and the INEOS Britannia team were back out in the Bay to put in a solid sail and foil testing schedule in a building breeze. ‘T6’ – the team’s LEQ12 prototype platform looked bang on the money today with superb technique on display from Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher-Scott sailing her like an International Moth with plenty of windward heel and desperately low-flight upwind ‘bustle-skimming’ to get the end-plating effect.
Always worth listening to, Dylan Fletcher-Scott broke down the day and talked through the sail programme – we saw the underused J3 for a while today – and the shapes that the sailors are generating to hit the pre-ordained target speeds. Dylan looks forward to the week ahead as the British schedule continues before serious design and systems decisions are taken for the boat they are dubbing ‘RB3’ – the team’s one-build AC75 for the America’s Cup in Barcelona.
The British look rock-solid at the moment and continue their momentum from a very productive May in Palma. More to come this week, weather conditions permitting.
On-Water Recon Notes: The showery with sunny spells weekend weather in Mallorca gave way on Monday morning to uniform grey low cloud first thing. With the extensive cloud preventing the interior of the island from heating up enough to generate a southerly sea breeze, the solid northerly gradient breeze was able to prevail with its velocity ramping up over the day from 8-9 knots at midday to 15-16 knots during the afternoon.
Like the team's previous sailing day on Friday the land breeze was extremely shifty and gusty throughout the day, making life difficult on more than one occasion for the British crew – helmsmen Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher with trimmers/flight controllers Bleddyn Mon and Iain Jensen.
The team started off on the J2-1 headsail for the 45-minute long first session which began with an unstable take-off in the flat water, gusty conditions. Having changed to the little-seen J3-2 headsail the crew launched into a second session which lasted an hour and 45 minutes during which the boat was constantly airborne other than for a five minute stop to remedy a minor onboard issue.
The crew performed multiple windward/leeward laps of the Bay during which they dived down to the southerly and south-westerly extremities of Palma Bay. A second stop for new batteries and a change to the workhorse J4-1 headsail, the team set off on a final 40 minutes session which involved more windward leeward work.
Tacks and gybes over the day were crisp and fast in the main and the crew also performed two straight separate line runs during which the starboard foil was repeatedly raised and lowered. During one stop a crew member climbed out on to the starboard foil and appeared to be doing something with the cameras on its upper and lower wing surfaces. The boat was flown low to the water most of the day with periods of windward heel recorded.
Top speeds later in the day were around 32 knots upwind and over 45 knots down wind. Time was called at 16:15 with sails down by 16:30 and dock in at 16:45.
Recon Notes:
Dock-out: 1200 Dock-in: 1645
Conditions: 12:20: 8-9 knots 100; 13:10 350 13-16 knots; 15:16: 075 15-16 knots; 15:35 090 15-16 knots
Weather AM: Low cloud 15-20°C.
Weather PM: Clearing skies 23°C.
Sea state PM: Flat inshore. Light to moderate chop offshore
Onboard Today:
Helms: Giles Scott / Dylan Fletcher-Scott
Crew: Iain Jensen / Bleddyn Mon
Sails Used:
Mainsail M1-2: 4 hours 15 minutes
Jib (J2-1): 1 hour
Jib (J4-1): 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Tacks: 26 – 25 foil-to-foil, 0 touch & go, 1 touchdowns.
Total Gybes: 18 – 16 foil-to-foil, 2 touch & go, 0 touchdowns.
Take off Speed: 19 knots at 60° TWA (True Wind Angle). Take-offs were all ‘self’ today.