SHADOW BOXING IN PALMA

Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher-Scott put in a solid shift on the wheels today supported by Iain Jensen and Bleddyn Mon on Flight Control and the early part of the session saw the team playing with modes more than ride height which is firmly low and fast. Lots of sail control settings being selected and tested and the bow-up mode, which looks odd at best, was back in at times. Chris Schirmer, the INEOS Britannia boat captain, was called in with a paintbrush and pot and was seen climbing out on the new starboard foil arm to apply what the recon team described as a ‘rectangular patch’ to the outboard part of the underside of the foil. After a couple of gybes, the patch looked to have been sacrificed to the briny.

On the pre-start practice there was plenty of down-speed moves on show, with the helms slowing in the final approaches before sheeting on hard, dropping the flight and exiting the start at pace. Great practice for the team who seem remarkably good at judging time-on-distance and getting T6 off the line fast. However, with the storm clouds gathering, the call was made to protect the asset and Schirmer’s chase team were in quickly for the fast tow back to dock – sensible decision.

Speaking afterwards, Iain Jensen gave a great insight into the team speaking about the differences between this campaign and the last: “I guess the team feels much bigger this time and to me it feels like we're in a much better spot. Mercedes are reasonably new to the to America's Cup but that they're learning things quickly and I think moving forward we're going to be really well placed.”

This is Iain’s first campaign as a Flight Controller, something that he looks more than masterful at, and he commented about the work done in the team’s simulator that all the sailors dedicate long hours to: “You work as a crew, you've got basically the controls you have on a normal boat and you work as a crew with I guess the boat model and it really gives you a leg up, a little bit of muscle memory as to which controls you need to press and when and what reaction the boat will give you when you when you do a certain thing… you can you can do a lot on the SIM before you get on the water which is which is great because there's always build schedules and maintenance days and you can really get a leg up.”

And speaking about the thrilling two-boat session that INEOS Britannia conducted this week pitching the AC40 against the LEQ12, Iain commented: “I think we'll get a lot out of it, it’s obvious for anyone who's watching that the AC40 as it gets down range is going pretty well but I think in a little bit more breeze the boats will be close enough that we can try things and we can get good at the racing side as well.”

INEOS Britannia have looked more than ‘good’ this week and have the weekend off before coming back out on Monday. Great days for a team high on the learning and testing curves.

On-Water Recon Notes: Proving the old adage that 'timing is everything' the British America's Cup syndicate squeezed in a useful two-hour session – this time just with their T6 LEQ12 test boat – this afternoon ahead of another influx of thunder cells along the southern coast of Mallorca.

Having rolled T6 out of the hangar at 0930 the silver test boat was rigged and launched by 1045 – although dock-out was delayed by 20 minutes to 1150. Once out of the harbour the M1-1 mainsail and J3-2 headsail were quickly hoisted and T6 was soon airborne in around 10 knots of southerly breeze.

Soon after this first half hour flight ended boat captain Chris Schirmer was dropped aboard to work on the underneath surface of the starboard foil. When he had finished a rectangular 'patch' could be seen close to the wing's trailing edge. A brief – sub 5 minutes – downwind flight followed, during which the 'patch' looked to have disappeared.

Another 20 minutes of windward-leeward sailing was followed by another stop while coach Xabi Fernandez laid a practice course with a single windward mark and leeward gate. Three two lap practice sessions were staged featuring some crisp windward and leeward mark roundings and some powerful prestart 'shadow boxing' manoeuvres. With the claps of thunder getting steadily louder and the lightning flashes over the land coming closer to the coast, time was called at 1415.

Sails were dropped by 1425 and the boat was on the dock by 1440. No sailing is scheduled for the weekend with Monday cited as the next possible sailing session.

Recon Notes:

Dock-out: 1215 Dock-in: 1530

Conditions: 1215: 180 9-11 knots; 1250: 230 10 knots; 1320: 240 9-10 knots; 1400 230 8-10 knots.

Weather AM: Cloudy early morning with thunderstorm cells forming inland. 15-22°C.

Weather PM: Coastal thunderstorms. Clear skies offshore. 25°C.

Sea state PM: Flat

Onboard Today:

Helms LEQ12: Dylan Fletcher-Scott / Giles Scott

Crew LEQ12: Bleddyn Mon / Iain Jensen (5^th Man: Luke Parkinson)

Sails Used:

Mainsail M1: 2 hours 20 minutes

Jib (J3-2): 2 hours

Total Tacks: 18 – 15 foil-to-foil, 2 touch & go, 1 touchdown.

Total Gybes: 22 – 15 foil-to-foil, 3 touch & go, 4 touchdowns.

Take off Speed: 19 knots at 70-80° TWA. Take-offs were all ‘self’ today.