AUTUMN ARRIVES IN BARCELONA

For some teams, like Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and Orient Express Racing Team, the focus is all-on Vilanova now but for INEOS Britannia and NYYC American Magic there’s a broader view with development of the raceboat still very much in mind. The Americans revealed yet another upgrade to their foils whilst INEOS Britannia elected to only bring ‘T6’ their LEQ12 prototype out for valuable testing time on the water.

The British, in particular, have stuck to their guns with a pure focus on the America’s Cup competition itself, now just a year away and decisions are being made on an almost daily basis as their boat goes into the build process. This is now a three-time campaign and there’s a lot of experience both in the sailing team and management about keeping focus.

Back in Bermuda the team won the World Series ahead of the America’s Cup itself but then suffered an early elimination and they’re keen to avoid lightning striking twice when Ben Ainslie, talking about the upcoming Vilanova regatta and what a good result would mean for the team, said: “It would be nice and always good for the feeling in the team, for the positive feeling and momentum, but we saw in in the Cup before last that we won the World Series and it didn’t make much difference when it came to the Cup itself so the key is not taking your eye off the importance in terms of development of the test boat and the race boat.

Today’s session on T6 was all about straight-lining and trying to master the settings in the waves with Ben saying afterwards: “We were just really trying to get out there and figure out how to sail this boat in these conditions. And a day like today was pretty rough but not untypical for Barcelona, so we just got to figure out systems control of the boat and so on so it was a good learning day.”

The recon team observed a number of bow stuffs and nosedives as Luke Parkinson and Bleddyn Mon wrestled with a series of test flight modes, cant angles and pitch settings with T6 pushed well out of its comfort zone by Ben and co-helm Dylan Fletcher-Scott. Upwind, the natural tendency is to drive T6 low to its bustle and skim the waves but with a solid sea state the requirement was to fly slightly higher, and it was a tough afternoon on the controls.

From behind T6 looks to have excellent leeway mitigation with a high mode maintained by dynamic trim of the mainsail and a hard-set jib. Offwind is where the fun and games happen with the Flight Controllers trying to ride high and the boat becoming a handful. On one particular nosedive they blew yet another jib clew, indicating high pressures all around and prompting the recon team to call the jibs ‘the fuse’ on these boats. Ben Ainslie agreed saying: “It looks that way, doesn't it? We had so many big bow down moments, big nose dives, and there’s a huge amount of pressure of course going into the boats and obviously the jibs as well so they seem to take a bit of a pummelling and we lost our J2 and had to switch the J3 but actually the breeze came up a little bit later on so it was it was fine and we were still able to get through the day and tick off our testing list.”

Alinghi Red Bull Racing meanwhile conducted their usual high-octane two-boat training session that noticeably has got more intense as the week has gone on. This was their third straight day of two-boating and putting maximum pressure on Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin – the presumed starting helms for the Swiss in Vilanova. Dean Barker and Phil Robertson have proven to be superb heavyweight boxing sparring partners and again they took races today whenever the A-team made mistakes.

In pure one-design mode and in the challenging sea-state, any mistake or fall from the foils was punished cruelly but we were reminded that this is training and it’s where the limits are found as Bryan Mettraux, the coolest of Flight Controllers and a key member of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s sailing team said: “It's difficult because you have to find a way to sail the boat and don't crash but sometimes it's just by pushing to the limit that you go fast… today was harder because it's easy to fall from the foil during the pre-start so it's why sometimes we had big gaps between the boats.”

Downwind in large sea states looks like a big area where gains can be made in terms of set-up and execution. Bryan confirmed as such saying: “We're playing a lot with the cant, the ride height, the pitch specially downwind when it's quite hard to go with the waves.” However, the importance of the Swiss two-boat testing has amplified the technique requirements when forced into pressure situations where you can’t tack or gybe on the optimum wave pattern as Bryan alluded saying: “I think it's the biggest issue…when racing you don't choose all the time where you tack and gybe and it's what makes it difficult with the waves.” Keeping the power on, with the wind around 10 knots, was key to success today and as Bryan said: “Just make sure that you have enough power so keeping some depth in the sails.”

Alinghi Red Bull Racing have looked highly impressive in this training block, and it will be interesting to see how they go today (Thursday) into the pre-event training where all the teams will line up against each other. They’re fast-charging and learn quickly. It will be a fascinating few days out in Barcelona.

For NYYC American Magic, it was another day of foil testing with ‘America’ featuring a further upgrade on their port wing and the two moded AC40s went at each other hard to get in the straight-line testing on starboard tack to prove out the models and simulations that their design team demand. The sailors are more than keen to sail in tougher conditions and were playing ride-heights hard alongside pretty vertical cant angles to keep the foils immersed. Some superb recon photographs were captured by experienced Cup photographer Paul Todd, with one showing America fully breached from the water with both foils showing. ‘Rocketship’ analogies all round on social media.

Once the team got into racing, it was fast and furious in the waves with the differences coming in terms of technique to keep flying and not cavitate. Starts were a joy to watch with a clear playbook in the lead back into the line whilst the big dramas all appeared to happen downwind approaching the leeward gate where time and again both Magic and America struggled in the waves.

Speaking afterwards, Harry Melges the coming superstar of the America’s Cup, who was helming Magic alongside Paul Goodison, summed up the day, saying: “It was an awesome day we had pretty good wind to start with, probably like 8 knots and pretty unstable and also some really nice sea-state, then throughout the day it picked up steadily out of the east, we finished with 15 knots and nice waves. So great day.”

Harry also spoke about boat handling and was asked whether having stock one-design foils on the AC40’s would have made a difference. He didn’t think so, saying: “Yeah, definitely the waves were quite big today and, when we're in a race scenario, things just become a bit harder and a bit hard to boat handle…for sure we had the stock foils out there today as well and it proved to be just as difficult.”

Asked about who the team are focussing on as the Vilanova event looms, Harry gave an interesting insight into the team’s thoughts saying: “Yeah you know the Kiwis are looking really good and also the Italians from the last time we saw them on the water, but everyone is looking fast so we’re focusing on ourselves at the moment.”

They may well be focussing on themselves and keeping up the foil development programme at pace, but American Magic is a team that everyone is watching closely with Tom Slingsby and Paul Goodison proving to be a formidable helming partnership. We’ll know more after the pre-event racing that starts today and even more after Vilanova. The team of the moment in many people’s eyes. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: INEOS Britannia's third consecutive day of sailing this week saw the team slot in an intensive two-hour session aboard their LEQ12 test boat T6 in winds that ranged from 8 to over 11 knots and an unpleasant short steep chop sea state. Having rolled out at 1100 and launched a little under 40 minutes later T6 left the dock at 1330 with a crew comprising helmsmen Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher along with flight controllers / trimmers Bleddyn Mon and Luke Parkinson and Neil Hunter in the fifth man role in the aft starboard seat.

The M1-2 mainsail (which previously suffered damage on its port skin on August 19) and the J2-2 headsail were up by 1355 before T6 emerged from the harbour at 1415. Despite the erratic sea state just outside the harbour entrance, the British boat was quickly up on its foils on port tack as the crew began a series of upwind/downwind runs that lasted until 1455 when a what appeared to be minor nosedive – but at speed – blew the clew off the J2-2 headsail.

A quick change to the J3-2 saw the boat up and foiling again by 1510 for the second – hour long session of windward / leeward sailing. T6 looked fast and under control in a straight line – perceived to be the focus of the day – but the choppy sea state meant that the – relatively few – manoeuvres were often less than perfect. Time was called at 1610 with sails down by 1620 and the boat back on the dock by 1630.

On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: American Magic rolled their AC40's from the shed at 10:45h apparently with the same configuration as yesterday except for another new version of their port Foil Wing as they posted in today's Component Declaration. They proceeded with the mast stepping procedure and by 12:00h both boats where in the water. The team docked out at 13:00h with Tom, Michael, Andrew and Lucas on board America and Paul, Harry, Riley and Severin on board Magic.

They hoisted Main 3 and J2 #4 inside the harbour and started sailing on their own for 24' with 8knts on average and a notable choppy sea state. At 13:48h they began an upwind/downwind that ended up by changing their J2. After some manoeuvres they placed two marks and proceeded to practice one lap races. Very nice starting procedures except for one apparently early start.

The five races consisted of 8 tacks and 6 gybes approx. each. We saw some difficulties approaching to the leeward gate seemingly because of the cavitation caused by the confusing choppy sea state. They ended up the 2h foiling training doing a large upwind on starboard side foiling high without struggling and bearing away to the port by 16:20h where they lowered their sails. Elia Miquel - Recon Unit NYYC AM

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out the AC40-7 (RED) at 10:30 in one design mode and craned in shortly after. The AC40-4 (YELLOW) followed at 11:10. Before craning, the yacht was used for a media collaboration with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP team, ahead of the race in Catalunya this weekend. Both boats had one design sails ready for a 13:30 dock-out.

The day saw 'Xaloc' South-East winds, fluctuating between 7-12kn, with some gusts touching 15kn later in the day. The sea state from the South-East consisted of an aggressive chop combined with swell, reaching 1.5m in wave height.

The first stint started from the port entrance at 13:55, moving upwind to avoid waves bouncing from the breakwaters. The second stint involved a short upwind and a long downwind leg to the course start line, with both boats performing synchronized manoeuvres throughout.

During the third stint's pre-start practice, YELLOW approached the line on starboard while RED came in on port, then forced to pass behind and tack to cross the start line, catching the anchor line of the committee mark in the process. YELLOW completed one lap while RED paused to check for damages but found none.

In the fourth stint, a single-lap race, YELLOW started late. Both boats sailed upwind to the left side of the course. RED nosedived twice downwind, allowing YELLOW to overtake and win at the leeward finish gate.

The 1NM course's orientation was changed from 165° to 150° at 15:30. Concurrently, the One Design J2-1 Jib was swapped for the J2-1 LE jib.

During the fifth stint, a two-lap race was held, YELLOW took the lead at the start, although the recon unit thought they might have been OCS. Both boats misjudged the leeward gate, requiring a double gybe to correct. YELLOW maintained its lead through the second lap and won.

The sixth stint started with both boats nosediving in the pre-start practice. RED recovered faster and won the start, while YELLOW struggled to get back into contention. After the race restart, YELLOW faltered at the start, enabling RED to keep a close lead and win, despite a big touch-down gybe at the finish line, rounding the starboard mark.

Both boats sailed back to base, lowering their sails in port and docking just before 17:30.

The Recon boat covered 35 Nautical Miles, observing the team for four and a half hours, with 115 minutes of sailing. RED completed 62 manoeuvres, 94% of which were fully foiling.