BRITISH TOW-TEST AS ITALIANS AND SWISS TRAIN ON
For British fans there’s a real sense of optimism building down at the Port Vell in Barcelona with INEOS Britannia launching their new AC75 for the first time and getting the initial tow-test period and sail-fitting procedure underway on a very long day for the sailors and support team. In the water by 10.15am with the mast up and a swarm of technicians and sailors working diligently through the systems checks, INEOS Britannia was a hive of delighted activity throughout the morning, with a sense of anticipation that could almost be bottled.
For the first time we saw both the foils and stepped-rudder arrangement and with so much speculation shoreside on what innovations this highly technical team, supported by the brilliance of Mercedes Applied Science, have brought through, the recon camera lenses were clicking.
What we saw was a progressive, logical design of the foils, back-slung off a beautifully sculpted bulb and similar in form to Alinghi Red Bull Racing. The detailing is where the percentages are found, and flow tails were dotted all over the span with the obligatory camera mounted to capture every piece of flow data imaginable and Pitot tubes protruding forward - measurement is everything.
The rudder itself was a departure from the norm and featured two steps leading to a slender bottom section from which the back slung, slightly W-shaped foil was attached.
A marvel of design sculpture and engineering, this is an area that the team appear to be highly invested in with perhaps angular rake adjustments achievable. On the tow test, it was noticeable just how forward the rudder angle was raked - interesting.
One highly notable and potentially significant nuance of INEOS Britannia today was the crew set-up with the helms sitting in the forward pods and the trimmers sitting right at the back of the boat in the aft pods. The two-man cyclor team either side were today seated in the middle two pods and in the aft cyclor pod HMI (Human Machine Interface) systems could be seen. Has INEOS Britannia gone rather radical here and concentrated weight forward and thrown a spanner in the accepted works where most teams run the trimmer in the most forward position. We will have to wait and see whether this was a commissioning set-up and whether it stays but INEOS Britannia are certainly not afraid to buck convention.
With the yacht in the water, it was very quickly all business. On deck we got a first glimpse of the mainsheet system that the recon team recorded as being: “black outer tube with sheave and yoke at the end removed from interior actuator. Multiple ropes threaded into tube, before connecting back to main actuator.”
Dock-out was into the mid-afternoon at 3.25pm and almost immediately the team were into the tow-test, coaxing the boat onto foils at speeds estimated in the 18-22 knot range. The team ran out for approximately two miles and then stopped to put technicians below for what appeared to be a small issue that required the boat to slow-tow back to harbour. Once back, the sails were loaded and a long period of sail fitting got underway with the double-skinned M1-1 mainsail fitted first and then the team took their time launching and setting the jibs going through the J1-1, then J2-1 and finally the J3-1. Dock-in was at 8pm with the light fading in Barcelona – long day, very productive and plenty of smiles all round. The British will now be looking to take the programme forward at pace with a decent sailing block now planned. The first sail is a tantalising prospect now.
Joining INEOS Britannia out in Barcelona on a stunningly flat day was Alinghi Red Bull Racing who have been getting used to the new, and very radical design, AC75 with plenty for the sailors to learn on a daily basis. A really solid training day ensued with the dead southerly breeze in the 7-11 knot region that allowed the team to rifle through the pre-sets, gain the data and push through the technique with a real sense that big gains are being made on an almost daily basis.
In the flat water and light airs, ‘BoatOne’ certainly looked potent with recon estimates of speeds through the 40-knot barrier, that were not confirmed by the team who tend to keep a very tight lid on performance numbers. The bow-down tendency of the boat was not on display today with the sailors able to keep her pretty much dead-level on pitch with Maxime Bachelin, portside helm, addressing the issue rather interestingly saying: “It's more a factor of the waves, like sitting on flat water it's very steady. The boat is not moving that much and it's making the team confident that on the flat water we are in a good shape and as well very happy about the boat how it’s behaving on the flat water.”
Another observation from recon was the team pushing hard VMG angles downwind, perhaps really trying to get to the VPP numbers. Again, Maxime didn’t confirm this saying only: “It was just to try a different angle for the foil and to see the behaviour of the foil and step by step to see how it was on the flat water.”
Summing up the day, Maxime added: “Today we spent more than four hours on the water, and it was a big step forward for the team to train on the flat water. We could confirm some good settings onboard, and it makes a lot of confidence for the team.” No sailing now planned until Tuesday next week for the Swiss and a full report on the day's action is available below.
Out in Cagliari, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli pushed their beautifully balanced AC75 into some punchy wave states with perfect Spring-like conditions and a breeze that was magical at 9-14 knots. Andrea Tesei more than summed it up as he described the day to the recon team saying: “It was a really good day, we had a bit of waves, we’ve had the mistral the past days so the sea-state was pretty flat, so tested the boat in some waves in a range that was around 9 to 14 knots. We shifted two headsails and had a try on both and yeah first part was mostly checking systems and still commissioning a bit of the boat that we are doing day by day, and the latter part of the day was a bit more concentrated on racing, no physical marks but a bit of, let's say, racing practice for the boys on the bikes."
Asked to compare the feeling of the new AC75 to the bespoke LEQ12 that the team did all their training on, Andrea who has been a key Flight Controller throughout this campaign said: “For sure the LEQ12 was a bit of a ‘beast on steroids’ this boat’s a bit more of a big ship, the movements are less nervous, she's a bit more locked in, a bit easier on some aspects.”
Still running with the legacy anhedral foils that make downwind sailing in waves, particularly difficult, Andrea gave his commentary saying: “Sure, the anhedral is hard to sail in these conditions especially in waves, it is a bit less forgiving. Anyhow it was the first day in waves for the big boat so we need to find the groove and find the correct way to sail the boat and the easiest way as well, you cannot always replicate targets in a wavy state, so you need to be able to work around your set-up to make it a bit easier and ease into it.”
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have the weekend blocked-out to continue sailing if they wish to and the conditions remain as perfect as they were on the Bay of Angels today. The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is really starting to crank into gear now. We’re at the start of the business end of the regatta and it’s all very real. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: INEOS Britannia rolled out their AC75, RB3, at 08:25. Shrouding was removed from the foils, revealing the details of their high aspect wings mounted aft of the sculpted bulbs, with markers and flow tails on the upper surface along the wingspans, and upswept blended wingtips. Pitot tubes added to both bulbs were also noted. Camera bulbs were also added, outboard of the bulb on the starboard wing, and inboard of the bulb on the port wing. The foil arm, slightly recessed from the one-design foil arm component, continues down to the front of the bulb, with the trailing edge tapering into a narrow profile halfway down. Little spray fences were noted on the leading edge of the port foil arm, but not on the starboard side.
The rudder was in place and revealed for the first time, mounted further back compared to other AC75s. The rudder profile has small steps at the leading edge, and bigger steps at the trailing edge. Mounted aft at the very tip of the trailing edge of the rudder, is a slightly inverted gullwing elevator.
The mast was stepped at 09:40, with small aero fairings mounted to all the vertical and diagonal shrouds. The yacht was then slowly craned in at 10:15, noticeably floating just on the bustle, with the hull sides sitting a few inches above the waterline. A rigger was then hoisted up the mast to fit antennas and communication equipment before work began on the mainsheet system. The black outer tube with sheave and yoke connected at the end, was removed from the system, as multiple ropes observed being threaded into the tube, before connecting back to the main actuator. Cyclors were in position for system testing, which seemed to be inhibited by some teething issues, requiring further maintenance.
The team moved on to FCS testing, lifting both foils multiple times. HMIs were spotted in the aft cyclor pod, including two displays and an LED lightbar. The mainsheet system was strapped down to the deck ahead of tow testing, as four jibs were carried onto chase boats in the meantime. The M1-1 mainsail was craned onto the deck, and the team prepared to dock out. The team was delayed further as last minute checks and maintenance was carried out at the mast base.
The team docked out at 15:25, with tow testing beginning at 15:50 from the port entrance. The yacht was towed 3NM north-east along the coast, before towing 3.5NM south, at speeds between 18-24 knots. Once on foil, the rudder was noticeably raked forward, pitching the boat down to align the skeg in parallel with the sea level. Tow testing ended at 16:15, with deck hatches opened and crew below deck, as the yacht was slowly towed in displacement back to port.
On entering the port, the yacht was turned head to wind with Chase 3 alongside to commence sail fitting under the breakwater. The M1-1 mainsail was prepared to hoist at 17:00, and slowly raised over a 50-minute period. As techs got to work on the mainsheet and Cunningham systems, the J2-1 was hoisted for 15 minutes, followed by the J3-1 and J1-1. Fairing covers were added over the tack and clew of the mainsail, covering the control systems.
Sails were dropped by 19:40, with the team heading back to base to dock in at 20:00. After sails were carried off the yacht, tech crew got to work on the yacht, but it was not clear exactly what they were working on. The yacht was subsequently craned out in the dark at 21:30 to conclude a long day of work for the team.
On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: Alinghi Red Bull Racing chalked up a productive day of commissioning and testing in Barcelona with flat seas and a southerly sea breeze that ranged from 7-11 knots throughout the day. The team rolled out at 0930 and had the Swiss AC75 rigged and launched by 1002 ahead of a bang-on-time 1130 dock-out. After hoisting the M1-1 mainsail and J2-1 headsail in the harbour basin, the boat was bow-towed out to sea at 1202 where the crew wasted no time in setting off for their first flight of the day – a 15-minute upwind in 9 knots of breeze with 8 foiling tacks. Subsequent flights were as follows:
1240 – 1246: Windward leeward in 9-10 knots with one foiling tack and two touch and go gybes.
1300 – 1323: Downwind in 11 knots with seven foiling gybes and speeds estimated at around 40 knots. At the end of that run, they switched to the J3-1.
1340 – 1356: Windward leeward around a two-buoy course in 10-11 knots with two foiling tacks, one touchdown tack, and three foiling gybes. The final gybe into the leeward gate was too early resulting in an awkward, slow, two-board displacement rounding.
1412 – 1442: Windward leeward in 10-11 knots with one foiling tack, one touchdown tack, five foiling gybes, and one touch and go gybe.
1507 – 1521: Short upwind on starboard in 7-8 knots then bear away and fast downwind (40 knots plus estimated) sometimes at higher than VMG angles. One foiling gybe.
1527 – 1539: Upwind on port in eight knots ending in a touchdown tack and stop.
1540 – 1600: Long upwind from leeward of course in nine knots with two foiling tacks, two touch and go tacks, and a starboard hand rounding of windward mark before heading for the harbour.
The boat entered the harbour at 1605 and was back on the dock by 1615. No sailing is scheduled before Tuesday April 30.
On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: The Italian team rolled out their B3 AC75 at 9:50, stepped mast and craned the yacht in to run the usual dock checks. As the team docked out at 11:50, the sea-breeze was weakly filling in with 6-8kn from 185° with an offset swell from 140° of approx. 0.7m short period. The main M1-7 was hoisted at 11:55 and paired to the new J1.5-4 shortly after.
The first two foiling stints began with a tow-to-fly on each tack, resulting in 7 total foiling minutes in which B3 sailed at slow speed, over-sheeting the main and pressing cant to stay alive on foils while occasionally skimming the hull on the swell downwind. This technique help B3 self-take-off for the third stint and sailed for approx. 18 minutes longer straight-line runs with one light air gybe in between. As the boat came to a stop the team seemed to be willing to change jib but ended up staying on their J1.5 for a further while as the pressure had shifted to 130° with 8-10kn.
Once back foilborne for the fourth stint on starboard tack, the yacht completed 2 tacks before bearing away and heading downwind. As confirmed during the day, the yacht suffered sailing downwind on the anhedral appendages resulting in lift losses altering its stability. After a gybe, the yacht turned upwind to execute some tacks before bearing away and practicing this routine again, finally coming to a stop after additional 48 minutes. On this break, two helms, one trimmer and a pair of cyclors swapped. Another self-take-off was then executed beginning the fifth foiling stint which lasted 32 minutes including a similar routine to the previous one with higher number of upwind and downwind manoeuvres.
As the sea-breeze was increasing, the J1.5 was lowered at 14:45 to hoist the J2-7. At 15:00, B3 was again foilborne by self-take-off and, after executing some tacks it bore away for some gybes downwind and finally trimmed back up to repeat. Then it sailed a last straight-line run towards the harbour where the day was called after 29 minutes ride. During this sailing day, the Italian AC75 looked quick and in control, beside the bumpy rides downwind. Sails were lowered at 15:45 and the team docked in at 15:55 with 134 minutes foiling time, approx. 29 tacks and 25 gybes [Michele Melis AC Recon].