FLAT CALM TO ‘AMPED-UP’ IN BARCELONA

It was a relatively short session, by their relentless standards, for Alinghi Red Bull Racing who docked-out at midday with some sponsor commitments to complete before the race training could begin in earnest. After some 20 minutes warm-up, the Swiss rotated the Power Group to bring on fresh legs and went smartly into two pre-start drills against the Chase Boat. By the third start, ‘BoatZero’ was away upwind but suddenly stopped and called in the technicians for what appeared to be a jib trimming issue on their 3D self-tacker. A 40 minute below-decks repair was affected but unfortunately after the fourth start of the day, time was called just 400 metres upwind, sails were dropped and the team headed for shore to conclude their week.

Speaking afterwards, Jack Taylor, the AC75 Boat Captain for Alinghi Red Bull Racing (who will transfer to the new AC75 when it’s launched in less than two months’ time), gave his usual awesome interview saying: “It was nice, last week we had sort of a steady 8 to 12 knots and today we got to go out and push it a bit higher, sort of 12 to 16, which is pretty ideal for us and testing in those grounds again...We turned it into a pretty productive day, we're always trying to push the limit and find that limit. Some days we find that a bit sooner than others, but we were pretty comfortable with how the day went, good development down below and testing these systems but yeah today was a day where we did come back to the dock a little earlier.”

Looking forward to that new boat, Jack was asked whether it was race to splash first: “Not necessarily, we'll put a lot of hard work and effort into making sure the boat’s maintained and at its peak performance before we start to sail it and it'll be pretty exciting to be first in the water, but we'll see how these other boats shape up.”

And speaking fondly of their warhorse AC75 ‘BoatZero’ that was originally the first AC75 in 2021 of Emirates Team New Zealand – ‘Te Aihe’ – Jack commented:  “I mean ‘BoatZero’ you know was built for one campaign and look what it's doing in the second campaign of its life, so it's a great asset for us and what we can take from this boat and push into our race boat you can't put a price on that...it's still giving us results day-to-day so you know we'll keep pushing it for the time being and you'll have to keep following us...the race boat is a is a different kettle of fish this time round and you’ll have to wait and see what we do there.”

Whilst Alinghi Red Bull Racing were docking-in with whatever issue they had down-below systems-wise, NYYC American Magic was pushing its own limits on a split-day that saw more LEQ12 bespoke sail testing in the first stint but then went quickly into an entertaining two-race series with the wind gauge clocking up all the time. Make no mistake this was top-flight racing between the sailors with helming pairings today of Tom Slingsby and Harry Melges on ‘America’ and Paul Goodison and Lucas Calabrese on ‘Magic’ reminding the Cup world just how hard the AC40 is to race at this intensity. Any kind of mis-judgement or poor steering is punished by a broach – or worse – but when it’s done right, it’s a thing of extraordinary beauty.

As the racing began, the atmosphere changed. Gloves came off. Positions on the imminent AC75 raceboat were up for grabs. They might not admit it, but this mattered. Off the start lines it was all go and over a relatively decent sized course, the coaches let the sailors off the tactical playbook leash and go boat-on-boat. Fascinating to watch, in the building conditions no-one opted for a one-board leeward mark rounding, it was all double-boards and safety-first. Upwind it was a case of dialling low to the water and the trimmers were on steroids with fantastic concentration to keep flying fast. Yes, there were some incidents – nosedives, broaches, poor gybe exits, as to be expected in 20 knots gusting higher – but this was an impressive step-on in the training curtailed by a bad nosedive on ‘America’ that saw the end of their day, after some five hours of sailing, at 4pm whilst the ‘Magic’ team stayed out for another hour.

Speaking afterwards, Michael Menninger, one of the real finds of this America’s Cup cycle, gave a good account of the day and talking about the sail development, his area of deep expertise, he commented: “Different wind conditions give each sail it's different challenges and some of the sails are designed for breeze and some are designed for the lower wind ranges, so you're sometimes reaching the limits of the sails like certainly today, I mean these sails are kind of on the larger size so reaching the limits in terms of what we can do to depower them but yeah I mean it was another really good day and it was just good to have the winter conditions for these sails.”

And talking about the racing intensity and how it changes from the testing regime, he added: “I guess it changes quite a lot. Ideally it doesn't change a lot, but definitely the intensity increases a little bit, but it was really good to do a couple of races, we haven't raced in a little bit, but I think part of evaluating the sails is putting them into racing situations and really pushing the boats into harder spots at times and understanding how the sails deal with those situations is good to know.”

Looking forward, Michael is eyeing the new AC75 launch but updated on where the team are at saying: “Yeah, we're in a period of sail testing right now then that's going to transition to more of a racing period between the two boats which we're all really looking forward to. And then you know patiently awaiting the launch of our new boat and in the summer getting used to the new boat so yeah things are definitely ‘amping up’ and we're really excited for the next few months.”

For Orient Express Racing it was another day of learning on the job with the team putting in a solid stint, docking out into the flat water and 4 knots of breeze in the morning and riding the ‘rollercoaster’ up the wind ranges to the 20-knot fresh-to-frightening barrier. Kevin Peponnet, helmsman on the port pod and long-time sailing partner of Quentin Delapierre, summed up the day saying: “It was a really interesting day for us, it’s been less than 10 days with the LEQ, it was a bit roller-coaster, all kind of winds and choppy and for us...we made some good and bad manoeuvres, but it was a yeah, a learning day...We tried to sail most of the time in manual, in manual settings and not with the auto-pilot. At the beginning of the day, it was pretty light, so it was easy...and at the end it was a bit tough, and we did some crashes, but it's how we learn.”

It's unlikely we will see any more action in Barcelona this week with the weather deteriorating, however one exciting piece of news filtered across the Cup airwaves with the declaration by INEOS Britannia giving two months’ notice to launch of their new AC75 that left the Carrington Yard in Southampton, England earlier this week. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Alinghi Red Bull Racing's AC75, Boat Zero, was rolled out at 10:05, followed by crane-in at 10:35. Standard checks were carried out, with mast rotation assessments and discussions around the Cunningham system by engineers at the mast base. The team docked out at 12:00, with the M2-2R mainsail and J4-1R jib raised in port. An engineer positioned in the starboard guest seat was noted on board.

Stint 1 (12:22 - 12:42) The team warmed up with a downwind/upwind, which was repeated, at times practicing manoeuvres with both boards down.

Stint 2 (12:45 - 12:58, 11-14kn 210° @ 12:45) This stint was dedicated to a marketing exercise with three precision fly-bys past the pin end mark.

Stint 3 (13:10 - 13:36, 14-17.5kn 205° @ 13:05) The yacht set off downwind, then performed a JK manoeuvre, followed by prolonged upwind/downwind stretches focusing on bear-aways, round-ups, and maintaining control with both foils submerged. A full cyclor team swap at 13:40 introduced fresh leg. Batteries were also exchanged.

Stint 4 (13:50 - 13:57, 12-17.5kn 210° @ 13:50) This brief stint saw a short upwind course that concluded prematurely after six minutes.

Stint 5 (14:02 - 14:25, 15-19kn 215° @ 14:10) This transitioned into pre-start drills with the yacht entering on port against the chase on starboard for the first two starts, entering at a downwind angle for the first start, but subsequently late by 8 seconds. Start 3 was abandoned, as the jib was dropped and techs jumped on board, seemingly attending to an issue with the jib system.

Stint 6 (14:50 - 15:00, 15-19.5kn 210° @ 14:50) Start 3 was re-attempted, with the yacht entering on starboard against the chase on port. The team stopped sailing after 400m from the start line, and subsequently dropped the sails to end the day, perhaps due to the persisting issue on board.

Despite the challenges, the team managed 95 minutes of sailing time, executing 40 manoeuvres with a 75% fully foiling rate. No more sailing for the rest of the week.

On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: NYYC American Magic's final day of sailing this week featured more two-boat testing combined with a short session of course practice racing. The day started in an 8-10 knot southerly breeze and flat water which built to 16-20 during the afternoon when the sea state kicked up into a 0.5-metre steep chop.

The American team had both their AC40s – America and Magic rigged and launched by 0945 with the boats docking out just before 1100. Sails were hoisted by 1100 – America: MN C2 mainsail and J2-4; Magic: M C5 mainsail and J2 – with both boats out of the harbour and airborne by 1125 for a 30-minute light airs flight which saw the pair pull off five foiling gybes, one touch and go gybes, and two touchdown gybes.

After a second flight lasting 20 minutes the breeze began to build promoting a change to one-design J3 headsails. An hour-long windward / leeward flight followed during which the breeze built to 16-20 knots.

A 20-minute stop at 1350 was followed by a pair of practice races around a windward / leeward course. Racing was mostly super-close, but the second race ended on the downwind leg when America nosedived badly after a gybe and came close to capsizing.

That meant the end of the day for America but the crew on Magic changed to a custom J3 headsail for a final hour of windward leeward sailing. Time was called at 1600 with America back on the dock by 1610. No sailing is scheduled for the next three days.

On-Water Recon Report – Orient Express Racing Team: (Onshore tasks, previous to sailing 8:00 to 11:00) At 8:00 the OE team prepared the AC-40 for launching. By 8:30, the boat was in the water. At 9:00, three sailors (Mark, Jason and Kevin) and engineers checked the systems. At 9:19, Quentin conducted further checks with an engineer.

At 9:45, two engineers worked on the main track, one being an electronic engineer. By 10:25, three technicians check the cockpit, and the crew brings the sails to the AC-40 and chase boat. At 10:49, the boat is ready, and a dockside meeting is held. By 11:00, the head of the main sail is already set in the mast, they docked out and hoisted the main sail LEQ12-MN-A and the jib as OD J2.

Stint 1 (from 11:00 to 12:40, @11.30 'TWS: 5-7 knots TWD:200º). Warm up and sailing with Jib OD J2. At 11:18, the chase boat pulled the AC-40 out of the harbour. They sailed against the wind for 500 meters, then turned with the wind for a 5-minute run but had trouble turning smoothly. At 11:27, they had difficulty getting enough wind to move, but managed to start sailing after catching a strong gust. They practiced some tacks and gybes while going upwind and downwind. At 12:04, they encountered problems during a long turn and stopped to check the main part of the boat. By 12:37, after several more turns, they stopped again. Technicians checked different parts of the boat, including changing a jib sail due to the wind picking up.

Stint 2 (from 12:53 to 14.28, @12:43pm 'TWS: 10-13 knots TWD:195º). Getting used to high winds in manual mode with jib LEQ12 J3. They started sailing upwind in port side and performed 5 tacks in a row, then after they bear away and went downwind for seven minutes, and the chase boat stopped but the AC-40 continued and suddenly luff and went upwind a little bit. They agreed to make some bearing away exercises approaching the mark (chase boat) one time from portside and the other one from starboard side. They manage to perform one lap successfully, but they could not do the second one due to technical problems. The chase boat assists them, and the boat captain jumped onboard the AC-40 to perform some checks on the main. When the problem was solved, they continue sailing and they went again with the same exercise done before that was about bearing away at the chase boat. After performing all the loop and took the chase boat as it was a mark, they continue sailing upwind and then did 9 tacks in a row until arrive to the harbour. The tacks have been all successful. Wind now was over 20 knots at the gust. The AC-40 OE team continued with a short upwind after the last tack and proceed to bear away and then after did 6 gybes in a row quite good. Then suddenly they started going upwind and performed 5 tacks in a row successfully. After the last one they stopped, and the chase boat attend them. They went for a quick break launch meanwhile a couple of technician jumped in to perform some checks.  

Stint 3 (from 14:45 to 16:15, @14:15 TWS:14-19 knots TWD: 210 º). Consolidating learnings. At 14:45 they started again sailing and went for a short starboard run and then after bear away for a long downwind with 2-3 gybes. Then after they went a bit up wind for a couple of minutes and then again downwind making some kind of different exercises trying to sail with both arms of the foils. At this moment the wind was blowing around 19 to 23 knots.  At 15.30 they started sailing back to harbour doing 9 to 10 tacks in a row quite fluently. When they were in front of the port, they went sailing a bit deep inside and they make an upwind-downwind exercise with the help of the Chase Boat and a big iron yellow mark from Barcelona port. Distance in between the chase boat (bottom mark) and yellow mark (top mark) could be around 1 to 1.5 nautical miles. The AC-40 performed two laps: one leaving the marks on starboard side and the other leaving it in in port tack. After the second lap they went straight to port and docked in at 16:15. Jose L. Piñana AC Recon