SUNDAY MORNING JEDDAH DELIGHT

An early dock-out to avoid some incoming inclemency, saw both AC40’s at the max before 9am with a slight change to the crew as Dean Barker was replaced by Jason Waterhouse and partnered with Nicolas Charbonnier. Arnaud Psarofaghis welcomed Maxime Bachelin back onboard and through the session crew changes in rotation were made.

What we saw initially was some fairly long runs sail testing with the LEQ sail plans on both boats, presumably with instructions not to break any more battens from the sailmaking team. Lucien Cujean gave praise to the shore team saying: “I think we are very lucky to have a very good shore team, they worked all night to make them (the boats) ready for early this morning and yeah we were really happy about today to come home with the two boats in a perfect shape, perfect condition, and some stuff to analyse.”

An initial series of longer runs downwind and upwind on split gybes and tacks brought the boats into the starting area for a few pre-starts before the wind began its predicted left shift and both boats changed down to J3’s from J2’s despite there being just 6-9 knots of breeze but in anticipation of a rapidly descending forecast. However, the marks were shifting and the coaching staff decided quickly on a Plan B of lining the boats up and then using a Chase Boat as windward mark. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention and Alinghi Red Bull Racing are showing their experience now in adapting well.

The meteorology team certainly weren’t wrong on the forecast and as the boats streaked off on a long upwind it was straight into an ever-ramping breeze and building sea-state and by the end, it was a solid 15 knots and gusting higher. In racing mode, albeit without an official start, it was still gloves-off high-intensity as we come to expect from the Swiss and a nice move by the Waterhouse/Charbonnier team upon entering the Chase Boat windward mark saw Psarofaghis and Bachelin off their foils before both boats stopped and executed a crew swap ahead of a downwind gybing duel.

The day was called after the Black boat suffered what looked like a jib control issue but this was a good day with over four hours of sailing and an observed 127 manoeuvres – you read that correctly.

Speaking afterwards, Lucien Cujean, always a superb interviewee, summed up the day and was also asked about any conclusions with regards the different LEQ mainsails that the two boats were running: “I think the day was quite tricky for both boats because the wind was coming from offshore so pretty puffy and shifty but overall, I think both boats managed pretty well in the race area and then we just tried to do some line-ups and tried to figure out which boat was faster than the other and I think we ended up with some good data to analyse for tonight. Nothing bigger to see from the water or from inside the boat but I think we really enjoyed the day and it's been a while now in Jeddah and we’re feeling a bit tired, and the boats are starting to feeling a bit tired too.”

Talking about the breakages in recent days, Lucien commented: “I think it’s part of the game you know we push these boats, the AC40 to the limit and putting some LEQ stuff on it is quite intense for the boat too and I think yeah we just have to be relying on the sail guys, on the designers and on the on the shore crew to make sure everything is ready for the next day and they did a very incredible job.”

Interesting comment from Lucien on the tactics today as he commented: “It was all about the positioning on the race track and how do you protect their the right with this north wind along the coast. Yeah, I think I think it was very up and down on the data of the boats on the targets, but I think it was very good, both boats had very good moments downwind as well and I think both groups played very well today on the water.”

One last day to come in Jeddah tomorrow and then back to Barcelona for this hardest driving of teams at the Louis Vuitton 37^th America’s Cup. The Arabian odyssey continues. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Alinghi Red Bull Racing craned in their AC40-7 (Black) at 06:50, which was left out on the forecourt overnight. The AC40-4 (Red) was rolled out at 07:00 and craned in 30 minutes later. The early start was in consideration of the stronger winds forecast for the afternoon. Full LE sail plans were prepared as well as a one-design jib on standby.

The day brought a change in the crew line-up; Jason Waterhouse stepped in for Dean Barker as the starboard helm on the Red boat, accompanied by Bryan Mettraux in the trimming seat. Nico Charbonnier took the helm on the port side with Nico Rolaz as his trimmer. The Black boat saw Arnaud Psarofaghis steering on starboard, Lucien Cujean trimming, Max Bachelin helming on port, and Yves Detrey trimming behind. The team docked out at 08:30 and hoisted sails by 08:45.

Helms:
Red Boat: Jason Waterhouse & Nicolas Charbonnier
Black Boat: Arnaud Psarofaghis & Maxime Bachelin

Stint 1 (08:52 - 09:12, 7-10kn 10° @ 08:55): The morning started with both boats sailing a free downwind, quickly moving into split tacks upwind.

Stint 2 (09:15 - 09:42, 8-12kn 15° @ 09:15): The team set off downwind in parallel followed by a series of split gybes and a prolonged upwind battle of split tacks, culminating at the course start.

Stint 3 (09:50 - 10:10, 6-9kn 355° @ 09:50): The wind dropped a little as it started to turn to the left, as the boats initially struggled to take off. The Black boat drilled pre-start entries, while the Red boat focused on their setup. A start was attempted but the Black boat stopped just after entering the box. Red subsequently stopped, as both boats then dropped the J2 jibs in exchange for J3s as the wind continued to turn to the left and increase. Meanwhile the pin end start mark started to drift, prompting the team to change to Plan B – long upwind/downwinds of competitive split tacks/gybes.

Stint 4 (10:28 - 11:15, 9-12.5kn 345° @ 10:25, 11-15kn 325° @ 10:30): After a short free sail for fine-tuning, and following Red's temporary sail drop to adjust sail settings, both boats set off, engaging in competitive split tacks for almost 6NM upwind. With the Chase Boat sitting as a windward mark, Red pushed Black off the foils before rounding. After regrouping, both boats sailed back downwind, gybing competitively in a narrow corridor.

Stint 5 (11:36 - 12:18, 13-17kn 325° @ 11:25, 14-18kn 335° @ 12:20): Crews swapped boats for this final stint, repeating the same course as in the previous stint. Black touched down in a gybe halfway down the course, with Red re-joining to finish off the gybing battle downwind.

Black came to a stop outside Obhur Creek, seemingly unable to control the jib, and subsequently dropped the sails, as the Red boat continued back to base.

The team docked in by 12:50 and both boats were craned out by 13:25. The session, lasting just over four hours, saw 155 minutes of sailing, with 127 manoeuvres observed of the Black boat, achieving an 87% fully foiling rate amidst varying wind conditions and a developing sea state from flat to a moderate chop.