THE SWISS CLOCK IS TICKING
The biggest enemy for all America’s Cup teams is time. It’s the one commodity that they just can’t buy and although there is no second in this great game, every second counts. So it was no surprise on Thursday to see Alinghi Red Bull Racing making the absolute most of their territorial advantage and laser-like focus with their AC40-7 and AC40-4 in LEQ12 mode putting in just over five hours of break-neck practice, flying around in decent breeze up to 20 knots and a swell left over from the remnants of a storm earlier in the week.
INTERVIEW: LUCIEN CUJEAN, DRIVING GROUP, ALINGHI RED BULL RACING
Swiss fans will cheer that the ‘Delta-wing’ foil, with its leading edge covered in Tubercles was back again on the starboard foil arm and the sailors were determined to push through a whole series of tests which it is assumed are being live-streamed back to the design office via specialist cameras as noted in the recon report below.
It was a massive day for Alinghi Red Bull Racing and with the recon team covering the tacks and gybes solely for the LEQ12 as per the new recon protocol rules, the results were stunning – pure foil-to-foil tacks saw a 90% success rate, whilst gybes were executed with 96% accuracy. Brilliant from the Swiss who had Phil Robertson and Jason Waterhouse pushing hard in AC40-7, the straight one design AC40, giving Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin plenty of hard racing tactics to think about.
One of the undoubted highlights of the day though for the sailors was the sight of NYYC American Magic’s brand new AC40 out on its first commissioning day with Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison on the helm. Although the teams are precluded from lining up for practice sessions, the sailors did exchange waves as they crossed paths. Alinghi Red Bull Racing has company in Barcelona – at last – and it will only get busier from here on through the summer months before the first Preliminary Regatta down the coast in Vilanova i La Geltrú in September.
Lucien Cujean came to the recon interview dockside and as always delivered a fantastic assessment of what was a hugely valuable day. He spoke about the Delta Foil and the influence of having sailors of the calibre of Phil Robertson and Jason Waterhouse working with the team in their advisory capacities. Well worth listening to Lucien who is one of the true coming stars of the America’s Cup in Barcelona and beyond.
On-Water Recon Unit Notes: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40-4 (YELLOW) and AC40-7 (RED) at 08:30 and 09:10 respectively, stepping the rigs and craning in the yachts separately on the forecourt.
The ‘Garbi’ wind came through at midday, as the team had prepared the yachts and docked out an hour prior. Both boats sailed with One Design mainsails, the Yellow boat
started with the J1-1 LE jib, and the Red boat with the J2-2 OD. Arnaud Psarofaghis and Max Bachelin sailed the Yellow boat, while Nico Charbonnier and Phil Robertson sailed the Red boat. This was Phil Robertson’s first time sailing the AC40.
The Swiss held ashore on the 21st June for inclement weather in Barcelona but what they did reveal then was the ‘Delta Foil’ being added back to the starboard foil arm replete with its ‘Tubercles’ – the first time we’ve seen it back on the AC40 LEQ12 since the 6th June. A better view of the Tubercle foil today confirmed cameras embedded into the foil arm on both inner and outer surfaces, just above where the foil arm meets the wing. Once again, the foil came out of the water damaged after sailing, in the same area as previous occasions. At the time of writing, a component list update was received, confirming an updated version of the ‘Foil Wing’, but not the ‘Foil Flap’.
New Marshall CV Waterproof series cameras have been added alongside the GoPro cameras. These cameras are typically used for high quality broadcast, so we can assume that the designers and engineers will be watching the performance of the yacht live from the office.
The team started the day with two-boat testing side-by-side, sailing long stretches as well as tacking and gybing duels, comparing different jibs as well as the Delta Foil. The wind and chop continued to increase, and the Yellow boat exchanged the J1-1 LE jib with the J3-1 OD jib at 13:20, as the Red boat remained on the J2-2 for another hour before changing to the J3-2 jib. The Red boat was held back with issues after hoisting the J3-2, with the Yellow boat also encountering problems 20 minutes later. The remainder of the day was spent drilling pre-starts and sailing around the 1NM windward leeward course.
Two ‘races’ were held, with both teams taking a win each. Wind speeds of up to 18 knots were recorded, with some gusts estimated at 20 knots. By the end of the day, the chop grew fairly aggressive, with a residual East swell adding to the mix.
NYYC American Magic also sailed in relatively close vicinity, as they commissioned their second AC40 on their first sailing day in Barcelona. Meanwhile, members of the ARBR power group and Nico Rolaz were out sailing J80s.
The team spent five and a half hours on the water, covering over 66NM. 68 Manoeuvres were performed, of which 93% were fully foiling.
AC40-4 (LEQ12) Dock-Out: 1100 Dock-In: 1635
Conditions: 'Garbi' - Afternoon Thermal Wind - 8-10kn SSW @ 11:40, 13-16kn SSW @ 13:15, 14-17kn SSW @ 14:05, 15-18kn SSW @ 15:10
Weather AM: 25°C, Sunny.
Weather PM: 26°C, Sunny.
Sea State AM: Beaufort 2-3
Sea State PM: Beaufort 3
Onboard AC40-4 LEQ12 Today:
Driving Group: Maxime Bachelin / Arnaud Psarofaghis
Flight Control: Yves Detrey / Lucien Cujean
Onboard AC40-7 (One Design) Today:
Driving Group: Nicolas Charbonnier / Phil Robertson
Flight Control: Jason Waterhouse / Bryan Mettraux
Sails Used:
Mainsail (M1-1 OD): AC40-4: 5 hours 10 minutes.
Mainsail (M1-2 OD): AC40-7: 5 hours 15 minutes.
Jib (J1-1 LE) AC40-4: 1 hour 55 minutes.
Jib (J2-2 OD) AC40-7: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Jib (J3-1 OD) AC40-4: 2 hours 50 minutes.
Jib (J3-1 OD) AC40-7): 1 hour 55 minutes.
AC40-4 LEQ12 Manoeuvres
Total Tacks: 40 – 36 foil-to-foil, 4 touch & go, 0 touchdowns.
Total Gybes: 28 – 27 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 LEQ12 mode:
11:30 – 11:40 Tow start to foiling, not able to maintain flight, yacht back on tow
11:40 -12:40 Sailing (4 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 5 Gybes - Fully Foiling, 1 Gybe - Touch & Go)
13:00 – 13:10 Sailing (1 Tack – Fully Foiling)
13:30 – 14:00 Sailing (7 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch & Go, 7 Gybes - Fully Foiling)
14:05 – 14:40 Sailing (8 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 9 Gybes - Fully Foiling)
15:10 – 15:40 Sailing (6 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 1 Tack - Touch & Go, 2 Gybes - Fully Foiling)
15:45 – 16:05 Sailing (6 Tacks - Fully Foiling, 2 Tacks - Touch & Go, 4 Gybes - Fully Foiling)