SWISS ESCAPE WINTER WITH TWO-BOAT TRAINING IN JEDDAH

Docking out in unison at 12.20pm, it was a complete mix-up in the crews with Arnaud Psarofaghis teaming up with Nicolas Charbonnier on one AC40 whilst Maxime Bachelin and Phil Robertson joined forces on the other. This rotation, aped too in the crews, is aimed squarely at raising everyone’s game collectively whilst allowing zero complacency to creep in.

From the get-go it was clear that this was going to be an afternoon of high-intensity pre-start practice and full-on race mode with no quarter given. In perfect conditions, the Arnaud/Nicolas (Red) boat looked overall sharper (see stint analysis below) but this is training and a whole variety of factors need to be taken into account. Great first day in Jeddah though.

Speaking afterwards, Pietro Sibello, one of the Team Coaches for Alinghi Red Bull Racing appeared pleased with the training block saying: “We started today, great conditions, the plan is to work on the match-racing with the guys under pressure and do a bunch of pre starts which we did really well today and a lot of fun racing in these two boats...It was a successful day, first day on the water, the boat were really reliable so well done to the to the shore team to prepare everything and the guys after a late income yesterday with a late plane could sail really well and push already in this condition so successful day.”

Singing the praises of on-water training in the AC40 in comparison with the AC75 and SIM training, Pietro added: “It’s important to train for match-races, there are some similarities of course but there is also something different and the size of the boat is making a big difference you know the dynamics and how quickly you can turn the boat is for sure different and if you are on auto pilot as well is quite different to the AC75 where you sail in manual mode for the flight....I think the reality on the water is still better, you know. Also, when you are on the boat on the water you really feel the pressure or what you're doing well, on the SIM it’s still hard to make it happen, so better to be on the water always.”

Clearly buoyed by the showing in the Preliminary Regatta held in Jeddah, Pietro detailed the approach to this training camp saying: “Now that we have raised the level quite a lot in the team, we have to push and make sure that the pressure is on like if we're racing it.”

Back in chilly mid-winter Europe, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli was training in Cagliari whilst INEOS Britannia was two-boating in their AC40’s in Barcelona. NYYC American Magic docked-out at 10am to catch a brief window before an expected Mediterranean storm blew in, but had only a few minutes of power sailing upwind before a seal blew on a hydraulic ram that couldn’t be fixed in time on the water. The day was canned, and the boat was back on the dock by 11.30am. Frustrating for the Americans who really wanted to get a few more system checks under their belt on their AC75 ‘Patriot’ before she’s de-commissioned and the focus switches to AC40 two-boat race testing.

Speaking afterwards, Sean Clarkson part of the Performance Team at American Magic commented: “We actually had a pretty minor hydraulic issue which, unfortunately with these boats, a minor issue that was quite difficult and complex to get to so we had to bring the boat ashore to get to the thing and as you can see the weather’s closing in  really quickly and we're expecting like 28 knots in another hour or so, so we decided to call it more so based on the weather than the issue.... it's literally a seal on a ram, very simple, very easy so nothing to hide there.”

For INEOS Britannia, the team docked-out early for the window and went straight into two-boat speed testing before race practice on the America’s Cup course. An actuator issue with Sienna ended their day prematurely but Giles Scott spoke to the recon team afterwards and said: "We had to shift the schedule up a little bit with the lack of wind early on...forecast wise we were expecting a lot of breeze quite quickly which is why we went out so early and actually even now it's coming up to 2pm and that breeze hasn't come, it's still 14 knots out there. We had a good session, and a mix of straight-line and a little bit of racecourse as well... we want to get as much two boating as we can, I think it's getting quite wavy over the next couple of days, but that being said I think today's a good example that the forecast here at this time of year is very hard to predict so we’ll take any opportunity we can get.”

Over in Cagliari, Sardinia, for Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, after yesterday’s media session, it was back to business with a massive day on the water of two-boat testing between the LEQ12 and the AC40 in kinder conditions than their first day on Monday. The LEQ12 rolled out with no less than four cameras on the foils which gave the analysts a great opportunity to attain real-time foil data in a race scenario whilst also considerably slowing down the rapier-fast prototype to make for closer racing.

With a limited sailing runway due to the axis of the breeze, the two sailing teams concentrated on pre-starts with the whippet-like AC40 able to turn faster and tighter to secure an advantage more often than not, before setting off for a couple of tack beats and then dialling back to the line to start again. Clearly the heavily tricked-up LEQ12 is, as to be expected, a more powerful beast in anything up-range but the team are eyeing lighter winds that could bring the performances closer and play into the strengths of the AC40.

Speaking afterwards, Francesco Bruni, helmsman on the AC40 and always an open-book to interview, gave a great insight into the team’s thinking around this training block saying: “First all today we had this hydro drag on the foils which slowed down the LEQ and then we are trying to do our best to keep up in the AC40. The AC40 is way easier to manoeuvre around the starting line so we have that part us an advantage for us and we try to use that advantage as much as we can and so I think we had in general a little bit better starts with the AC40. But it’s our first day, we're learning how to do it better, we have all our coaches thinking on how to engage as much as we can, and I think it was a positive day as really the first day because the other day was too windy and wavy.”

Talking about the outputs and what the sailors can learn from two-boating, Francesco commented: “I think it’s a very big learning to have two boats close together especially for the sailing team to discuss all the moves not only in the pre-start but also on the racecourse. Today the focus was more on the pre-start, as the area we could sail was quite small, so we focused a lot on pre-start and the first couple of tacks and then coming back to the start but there will be days where the boats will go a little bit closer in performance where we could actually do the full race.”

INEOS Britannia, NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have all called a lay day for Thursday but Alinghi Red Bull Racing are scheduled to sail again in Jeddah with Emirates Team New Zealand sailing in Auckland again. Orient Express Racing is currently in the shed for what’s believed to be foil modifications ahead of full recon starting next week. Stay tuned. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Alinghi Red Bull Racing embarked on their third trip to Jeddah, rolling out their AC40-4 (Red) and AC40-7 (Black) at 09:00 and 09:40 respectively. Routine systems checks were conducted, with no new components observed except for a longer media mast on the Black boat. Both boats carried One Design sails, and the J3-2 LE jib was on Chase Bravo.

Arnaud Psarofaghis and Nico Charbonnier helmed the Red boat, with Bryan Mettraux and Nico Rolaz trimming. Phil Robertson and Maxime Bachelin helmed the Black boat, with Jason Waterhouse and Yves Detrey trimming.

Stint 1 (12:40 - 12:50)
A quick downwind warmup to the racecourse set in front of the Jeddah Waterfront. The 1NM course was set at 310 degrees, remaining at this heading for the whole day.

Stint 2 (12:55 - 13:05, 15-19kn 325° @ 12:50)
Both boats sailed two warmup laps of the course independently in preparation for pre-start practice.

Stint 3 (13:10 - 13:25, 15-19kn 320-325° @ 13:15)
The first pre-start practice saw the Black boat starting on time, while the Red boat started almost 10 seconds later. A more aggressive pre-start battle occurred in the second start, with the Black boat holding out the Red and starting ahead. Both boats sailed back to the start and stopped to debrief, with a hydraulics technician temporarily on board the Red boat.

Stint 4 (13:35 - 13:55, 14-17kn 325° @ 13:35)
In the third start, the Black boat entered on port while the Red boat entered on starboard. Both boats managed to start on time at the pin end, with the Black boat slightly in front. The Red boat, positioned to windward, was able to sail over the Black boats tack at the boundary. A tacking battle ensued halfway upwind, with the Red boat successfully leveraging its windward position to stay on top of the Black boat. The fourth start began with the Black boat entering on port and the Red boat on starboard. Red chases Black from behind, eventually forcing an error from the Black boat, allowing Red to sail ahead to clear start. A short upwind leg followed, with the Red boat maintaining its lead before turning downwind. The stint concluded with another break for debriefing.

Stint 5 (14:00 - 14:15, 15-19kn 305-315° @ 14:00)
The fifth start saw the Red boat entering on port and the Black boat on starboard. The Red boat kept space between the boats and defended its position well from the front, maintaining two boards down as the Black boat attempted to catch up. Red controlled from the start, leading the short upwind. As the boats prepared for another start, the Red boat experienced a handling error in the chop, causing a significant touchdown. This incident resulted in a 10-minute pause in sailing, allowing time for the team to regroup and address any potential issues.

Stint 6 (14:30 - 14:50, 14-18kn 310° @ 14:15)
The first race was closely contested, with the Red boat controlling and finishing ahead. The recon boat experienced an issue, losing the lower cowling of the port outboard, and slowly returned to base.

Stint 7 (14:55 - 15:10)
A second race to the windward gate was carried out, with the Red boat leading at the gate.

The team spent three hours on the water, with 95 minutes of sailing time. A total of 52 manoeuvres were observed, with an 87% fully foiling rate. The day focused heavily on pre-starts and a bit of race practice.

On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: A blown seal on a hydraulic ram on board NYYC American Magic's second generation AC75 Patriot halted today's sailing session within five minutes of it having begun. 

Wary of a forecast of strong winds this afternoon the Americans rolled Patriot out of the shed at 0750 and had the boat rigged and launched ready to dock out on time at 1000. After towing a couple of miles offshore the MN7 mainsail and J1.5-2 headsail were hoisted, and the boat set off on starboard upwind at 1040 in 7-8 knots of breeze from 220 and a long interval chop of about 0.6 metres.

Despite the sea-state, Patriot looked to be stable in flight as it powered upwind at over 30 knots. However, after a tack to port the boat dropped off the foils and stopped after just five minutes sailing. After 15 minutes the headsail was dropped and bagged and taken off the boat. A further 15 minutes later and the process of dropping the mainsail began.

The boat was towed back to the harbour on foils where the team originally planned to carry out repairs on the dock (estimated to take two hours). However, after another assessment – and given the darkening skies and worsening weather – the decision was made to cancel sailing for the day.

On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: Team INEOS Britannia craned to the water their two AC40s, Sienna(b) at 06.45 am and Athena(a) at 07:05, in one-design configuration. Both boats had been left out of the shed with the mast rigged overnight. At 07.58 am the team docked out, with the intention to avoid the strong winds that were forecast for later during the day.

One-design mainsails and J2s were hoisted while coming out of the harbour at 08:06 and 08:15, respectively, just before sunrise. At the same time, Chase One set an upwind-downwind course at the racing area. Unfortunately, once we got to the race area the five knots breeze that prevailed at that time, had died completely and the waiting began. At 09.45 the team decided to head further offshore with both boats on the tow, looking for the breeze. Finally, at 10.00 the breeze filled in and both boats started to speed test.

Two long upwinds and one long downwind were carried out. None of the two boats can be said was dominant in speed or angle today. During these speed tests five to ten knots of breeze prevailed with lots of ups and downs in intensity, a lot of instability, combined with an uncomfortable swell. It seemed like both boats were trying to always sail at maximum VMG.

By 10.55 the wind died, and the team decided to tow back both boats towards the racing area. On the way there, the wind increased again and they were released to continue to sail downwind.

At 11.30 we were back at the racecourse, with a stable and steady south-westerly of 14 to 15 knots of intensity that remained until the end of the session.

The first match race got underway, but unfortunately AC40(b) was forced to abandon at the top mark, apparently due to issues on one of the actuators. This marked the end of the day for ‘Sienna,’ that had to be towed back to the base in displacement mode. 

AC40(a) continued with the session on their own, after replacing the J2 for the J3, doing three more races that included the pre-start, plus a one-lap upwind-downwind, performing three to four tacks on the upwinds and two to three gybes on the downwinds.

To close the training, Athena did two long upwinds and one long downwind practicing some tacks and gybes, before heading back to the port.

‘Athena’ entered the port at 13:15, sails were lowered a few minutes after and the team docked at 13:30. By that time, AC40(b) was already out of the water and in the shed.

By 13.50 AC40(a) was out of the water and ready to be de-rigged. (Sebastian Peri Brusa)

On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: The Italians rolled out their AC40 (white) at 12:00 and their LEQ12(red) at 12:30, stepped masts and craned in respectively at 12:20 and 12:45. Both wings of the red yacht were mounted with two GoPros monitoring flow on the wings. Once the respective crew members boarded the pods, both yachts were docked out at 13:50. The forecast looked similar to the previous day and the team had to chase down the south-westerly breeze and waves offshore of Pula. As sails were being hoisted, M2-1 + J4 on red and OD M1 + J4 on white, the pressure was measured 12-14kn from 225 TWA then shifting slightly to the right and increasing to 15-17 with some short period sea-state of approx. 0.4m from 190° overlapped to some wind chop.

On the first stint, white was quickly on foil while the red yacht was towed up, tacked on starboard tack and bore away, heading to the white. Even if the white yacht had approx. 15 seconds advantage, the red seemed to be much quicker downwind pointing deeper. However, for any precise boat speed comparison, the sea-state of the day provides some uncertainties. Overall, the red yacht looked more stable and successful on manoeuvres and finding stability sailing in the sea-state downwind, presumably due to its higher righting moment.

As both yachts came off the foils trimming up after the downwind run, the wind had dropped and so the team towed both yachts further south. With a decent split between the two, red and white were on same tacks for a while and from that perspective similar boat speeds seemed to be achieved with the red yacht not fully powered. While the white yacht kept on sailing, the red yacht was decelerated and subsequently towed up twice.

At 14:35 red was back up and foiling and seemed to be sailing around a virtual course without engaging closely with white for two upwind and two legs. Then two pre-starts with time on distance were observed with white on starboard and red on port entries, the first one was won by white while the second saw the red yacht leading after white nose-dived. While sailing its own race, the LEQ12 suddenly splashed down when the leeward appendage seemed to broach through the water exiting a tack manoeuvre.

At 15:05 both yachts were towed up and the wind shifted further to the right, now with 12-14kn from 235°. Both yachts practiced some tacks without engaging before decelerating and stopping again. Then white and red engaged in a short tacking duel in which the LEQ12 seemed again to point higher and faster compared to white.

According to the team, the red yacht has been tuned to slow it down, achieving two comparable boats for these days. The chase boats then stopped and were used as marks to practice a series of pre-starts while the pressure had shifted further to the right. Out of three starts the first one was led by red, the second by white and the last one by red again after white nose-dived bearing away.

After that, red kept on practicing manoeuvres spending more two board time in the transition while being definitely more consistent compared to white which had retired for the day. The pressure had decreased further, and the team towed the LEQ12 up to sailing a longer while downwind, pumping and over-sheeting the mainsail, before coming off the foils in a lull and calling it a day.

Sails were lowered at 16:40 with approx. 108 minutes foiling time and approx. 25 tacks and 23 gybes for the red yacht [Michele Melis AC Recon].