MILESTONE DAY FOR THE SWISS

Ernesto Bertarelli and Dean Barker linked up on the LEQ12 that now sports its Tubercle delta wing on the starboard foil arm, switching it over from port with the Tubercles now featuring on the inside of the foil profile. It’s an interesting switch and with Jason Waterhouse onboard in one of the trimming positions, this interesting test team proved to be pretty handy with honours even over two races against Arnaud Psarofaghis and Nicolas Charbonnier sailing the one-design AC40.

Yves Detrey, completing the team onboard the LEQ12 summed it up beautifully afterwards when asked how important this milestone day was for the Swiss team: “Yeah very important. It’s the first time that we are here racing with two boats, and I think it's a big milestone in any of the campaigns of any of the teams and we're the first today to do it (in Barcelona) and I think it was very interesting, you know it's active competition, so it's what we like as well.”

On a day of relatively light winds that failed to break 10 knots and the kind of confusing chop that gives Flight Controllers sleepless nights out in Barcelona, the opening long straight-line line-ups downwind along the La Barceloneta beachfront were perhaps more of a sighter for the sailors to get familiar to two-boat testing and the optimum set-up. What was abundantly clear was that staying on your foils after a gybe was paramount. In the early exchanges both teams held their lanes, eager to extract maximum data time before entering into a series of downwind gybing duels and upwind tacking practice.

Where the session got really interesting was when marks were thrown in and a course laid out by the Chase Boat team. A series of three practice starts, all won by Ernesto and Dean, pointed to the LEQ12 being faster in manoeuvres, however when it came to the first 1nm race start, Arnaud shaded it before the LEQ12 got its skates on and overtook upwind. Two extra gybes on the first downwind let the AC40 through but again great pace upwind brought them back into a lead that they defended to the finish.

The second start saw the pressure building on Arnaud and Nicolas Charbonnier in the AC40, sailing the boat in anger for the first time since commissioning, and again Ernesto showed real starting class to take the lead and lead at the top mark which the AC40 clipped and burst. By the leeward gate it was nip and tuck and a great rounding by Nicolas Charbonnier allowed the AC40 to tack underneath the LEQ12 and Arnaud piled on the squeeze to gain a lee-bow position. By the top and final mark, a very neat tack and bear-away defined the race for the AC40 who held on downwind to the finish. One apiece but thrilling racing.

Shoreside on crane out, the recon team noted ‘delamination of foil top layer covering the join’ on the Tubercle foil of the LEQ12 and for sure that will be looked at overnight by the shore team who were quick to take the boat back into its tent for attention.

From a spectator’s viewpoint, seeing two AC40’s, albeit one in LEQ12 mode, going hammer and tongs against each other in Barcelona is a portent of good times ahead. For sure we’ve seen Emirates Team New Zealand line up their two similar AC40 set-ups in Auckland and we’ve seen INEOS Britannia lining up their AC40 against T6 but seeing them at the America’s Cup venue in great conditions is what we can begin to expect as the summer season kicks off in Barcelona with all team onsite and training from the 1^st July. The America’s Cup is well and truly on. Strap in and enjoy the ride.    

On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40-4 (bowsprit and masthead marked in Yellow) and AC40-7 (marked in Red) at 09:50 and 10:20 respectively, ahead of team’s first day of two boat sailing. Both yachts were prepared at the dock simultaneously, with M1 and J1 One Design sails ready on both boats for a day of light Garbi starting from the South East and turning South. This is typical of a summer Garbi.

The AC40-4 in LE mode was the first out of the port, with Ernesto Bertarelli on starboard helm and Dean Barker on port helm, starting the first stint with testing of the Delta ‘Tubercle’ Foil. This wing has since been switched over to the starboard foil arm, which brings the leading edge with tubercles on the inside, and the straight edge outboard. The yacht was sailed four times with the foil on its port arm. The AC40-7 followed shortly after, as Arnaud Psarofaghis and Nico Charbonnier commissioned the yacht on its first proper sail.

The second stint brought the two yachts together, as they sailed side by side for long stretches, culminating in a tacking duel. It appeared that the team were carrying out performance comparisons between the two yachts on different foil configurations, however in the interview, Yves Detrey claimed they were just practicing sailing side by side.

The third stint saw three practice starts followed by a race of the 1NM windward/leeward course (with leeward gate) in 8kn of breeze. Ernesto and Dean won the three initial practice starts, however got nudged out on the real start. They were able to sail a faster upwind leg, reaching the first mark in the lead, but lost out downwind after putting in an extra two gybes. They regained the lead upwind and defended well downwind to take the first win on the water.

The second race took place shortly after, with Ernesto claiming the start and reaching the windward mark in the lead, with the Red boat closely behind, clipping the mark rounding to starboard. Chase Alpha replaced the burst mark, as the yachts sailed downhill to the leeward gate, this time both rounding to port. A superior mark rounding by Nico Charbonnier brought them back into the race, as they tacked off early and were able to sail higher and faster upwind, with Arnaud on starboard helm managing to lee-bow Ernesto. A critical tack and bear away around the windward mark defined the race, as the Red boat successfully continued downwind, while Ernesto and Dean were not able to maintain momentum through the manoeuvre, touching down and losing the distance to Arnaud and Nico, who ultimately took the win. Marks were collected and the yachts sailed back to base.

The team spent over four hours on the water, on what was a very important day for the team. The recon boat covered over 54NM observing the team, specifically the AC40-4 (Yellow) as this is the LEQ12 boat. This yacht performed 62 manoeuvres, 90% fully foiling. This is the team’s best performance in the AC40 since 4th May one month ago (92% fully foiling).

More two boat sailing tomorrow.

Dock-Out: 1225 Dock-In: 1620

Conditions: 'Light 'Garbi' - Afternoon Thermal South Wind - 7-9kn SSE @ 12:50 , 7-9kn S @ 14:20 , 6-8kn S @ 15:20

Weather AM: 20°C, Intermittent Clouds.

Weather PM: 22°C, Sunny.

Sea State AM: Beaufort 3

Sea State PM: Beaufort 3

Onboard AC40-4 LEQ12 Today:

Driving Group: Nicolas Charbonnier / Arnaud Psarofaghis

Flight Control: Yves Detrey / Lucien Cujean

Onboard AC40-7 (One Design) Today:

Driving Group: Ernesto Bertarelli / Dean Barker

Flight Control: Bryan Mettraux / Jason Waterhouse

Sails Used:

Mainsail (M1-1 OD): AC40-4:  4 hours 15 minutes.

Mainsail (M1-2 OD): AC40-7: 3 hours 40 minutes.

Jib (J1-1 OD): AC40-4: 3 hours 55 minutes.

Jib (J1-2 OD): AC40-7: 3 hours 55 minutes.

AC40-4 LEQ12 Manoeuvres

Total Tacks: 33 – 28 foil-to-foil, 4 touch & go, 1 touchdown.

Total Gybes: 29 – 28 foil-to-foil, 1 touch & go, 0 touchdowns.

Flight Notes:

The following sailing log is for manoeuvres performed only by the AC40-4, as this is the yacht in LEQ mode:

12:50 – 13:30 Sailing (5 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch & Go, 1 Tack - Touch Down, 6 Gybes - Fully Foiling)

13:35 – 14:20 Sailing (5 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch & Go, 7 Gybes - Fully Foiling)

14:30 – 15:15 Sailing (10 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 2 Tacks - Touch & Go, 9 Gybes - Fully Foiling)

15:20 – 15:45 Sailing (7 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 6 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)

15:50 – 16:00 Sailing (1 Tack – Fully Foiling)