EVENTFUL DAY IN 'GARBI' BARCELONA

However, for NYYC American Magic, it was a sharp reminder for the sailors of the potency of the new generation AC75s with what looked like a small error or lapse of concentration towards the end of the session that ended up being a serious situation with the rudder elevator getting out of the water and the crew rapidly finding themselves in a nose-dive and crisis situation.

This wasn’t the only incident on the day for the Americans who had a broken clew on their J4 jib earlier in the afternoon, but this didn’t stop some of the most terrific sailing we’ve seen so far from any team. Lap after lap, Patriot was on rails whilst their pre-start training was frenetic and on point. An engagement with INEOS Britannia looked extremely close upwind before the British boat got away and extended downwind. Interesting. But the big story of the day was created on the very last run back into the harbour.

Terry Hutchinson, following just metres behind in the support RIB, described it perfectly afterwards saying: “The boat bore-away, they got a little high and...it looked like the elevator came out of the water and down she went so you know it's a great reminder you got to stay tuned in the entire day...we've ripped a faring off and more importantly the sailors onboard are all okay, Tommy (Slingsby) would have taken a good prang to the melon with the fairing going through, but he's good, he's talking and smiling and making jokes so that's a win and yeah we'll have to go and have a look at it.”

“It was a great day, glamour day of sailing and all the boxes got ticked. The other side of it is it's a great reminder for all of us, for all the competitors, you know all the safety protocols that we had in place for the cyclors to get out of the cockpit, for everything that had to happen in that moment it was great to see that it actually worked so that's a big tick to the safety side of our team and the preparation that they've been putting into the boat to eject out of the cockpits as quick as they did.”

Talking about the flooding in the boat, Terry added: “Out of abundance of caution, you know we've seen what happens when the batteries touch water and we've seen what happens to some of our competitors when, through no fault of anybody, but when those things get exposed you need to be bloody careful and so out of an abundance of caution we got one of the crash pumps inside the yacht and made sure we got the water out of there as quick as possible.”

Confirming the headsail incident earlier in the day, Terry was sanguine saying: “One of the corner straps broke, and you know with all this equipment you're  pushing the envelope of development and we're  consistently reminded that this is a light air venue and yet we keep having these glamour 18 knot, perfectly flat-water days so I'm waiting for the: ‘it's never like this here’ but in all seriousness, we're developing, trying to get a good understanding of the loading in the corners so it wasn't the actual sail that failed it was all the attachment that we’re responsible for that failed.”

And the impact on training? “Probably a bit early to say but we’ve got a glamour forecast tomorrow so I think once we get the sign off from the mechatronics team, the intention would be to get back out and have another crack at it.”

Out early for the lighter morning breeze and to ease their race rudder back into commission, was Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, who began the session at 9.45am with a short tow-test to check through the work completed in the last 48 hours and with everything set, quickly went into full training at race pace as the breeze built.

Whilst the Italians have what are arguably the best sail designs in this Cup cycle, there are still gremlins in the boat and through this mammoth five-and-a-half-hour session, the technicians were onboard checking inside the forepeak, the mainsheet, the rudder system in a stop-start fashion. Finally, when the team got to race practice, the chase boat was called in to push Francesco Bruni, who had replaced Marco Gradoni, and Jimmy Spithill into uncomfortable areas. Great exercise, huge co-ordination from Jacopo Plazzi in the Chase Boat and all very useful. The team concluded the day with tacking drills, testing the slimline rudder further before coming in mid-afternoon.  

Speaking afterwards, Andrea Tesei, the team’s super-eloquent Flight Controller gave a perfect analysis of the day, saying: “It was an awesome day out there, Barcelona has treated us really well this last week we were having this Garbi wind building, we went out pretty early to try and find some less breeze to start the day, there was some layover swell just under it and beginning of the day there was around 9-10 knots with little bit of marginal sailing this little swell coming under from a different direction from the breeze which made things tough, and then the breeze started building and basically the sea flattened out and everything became more ‘Lake Garda style’ so we started pushing the boat at high numbers and testing different set-ups and a lot of manoeuvres and very happy about the day.”

Talking about the rudder specifically, Andrea added: “It was really good, performing really well, we're pretty happy. Obviously any little change in these boats and there’s a massive difference on technique, so coming up from quite a few days on the old rudder  we needed to adapt to our new set-up and take some time and some learnings, failing some manoeuvres and everything, but I think we progressed really well and other going on the right track...I can't tell too much but you can obviously see the elevator is pretty different from the old version and everything is much slimmer and oriented to go faster in a straight line so, to get the speed you need to learn how to control it, and the turns are a bit tougher.”

Also with the race rudder back in was INEOS Britannia who docked-out into the afternoon Garbi breeze and relatively flat water for a session cut short by an unspecified but rare issue. It was a more eventful day on the water today for the British who also suffered their first nose-dive in ‘RB3’ that brought the boat to a halt and some very rapid deployment of technicians onboard. New rudder and a nosedive could be related but equally the pressure that the team are now applying to these boats as they push for improvements means that the corners of performance will be found more regularly. It’s gloves-off sailing and development from here on in.

Speaking afterwards, Bleddyn Mon who is not only an A1 trimmer and flight controller but also a key link between the design and sailing teams spoke about the rudder, saying: “We've been alternating the rudder a little bit and so constantly tweaking it, making changes, happy again with how the rudder is going at the minute and yeah we'll move on from here...the rudder is an important part of the package and all the work we've done designing this boat has been not with the legacy rudder but with the race rudder so it's obviously something we're constantly working on but at the minute we're happy with where we’re at and we're getting good learning out there on the water.”

Talking about the inevitable criss-crossing on the busy America’s Cup racetrack that everyone is fighting for time on, Bleddyn was nonchalant and professional saying: “Obviously there's a few boats out there at the minute and we had some kind of loose line-ups on opposite tacks with the Americans, I've no idea really what they're up to at the same time so yeah we’re kind of chipping away with our own programme and time-to-time we end up crossing tacks...These final months are the exciting time of the Cup for sure. Time flies by and you never have enough time and so ultimately time will run out at some point, but I think we're happy with where we're at, at the moment, and the progress of ‘RB3’ and obviously three or so months to go now before we're into racing.”

Asked about the breakdown, Bleddyn wouldn’t confirm whether it was aero or hydro related, only adding: “Pushing this boat pretty hard this week, two windy days yesterday and today, so a little small issue which will be resolved in the next three days that were already planned to be ashore so yeah that will be fine for next week.”

Last but certainly not least, Alinghi Red Bull Racing put in a stunning shift in the afternoon ‘Garbi,’ once again with Dean Barker and Phil Robertson back on the water in the AC40 for pre-start practice against BoatOne. Clearly the team see huge gains in this exercise with the nimble AC40 able to really ask some questions of the AC75 and over five pre-starts. But what we also saw was the absolutely incredibly manoeuvrability of BoatOne with Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin throwing the boat around in tight circles and bear-aways that will have every other competitor sitting up and taking notice.

BoatOne is clearly one of the most nimble and fast-accelerating boats out there with an outstanding responsiveness. The helms seem able to keep speed up through ridiculously tight turns and if, as we expect, the Louis Vuitton Cup comes down to boat-on-boat action, Alinghi Red Bull Racing are going to be tying the opposition up in knots. You can have all the straight-line speed you want but penalties in the pre-start could be telling and BoatOne looks more than capable of wrapping up the opposition early.

Speaking afterwards, Maxime Bachelin spoke about the day saying: “It was an amazing day here in Barcelona we had flat water, around 17 knots and it was an interesting day for our team we did some pre-starts with the AC40 against us and we had some nice situations and so it was good for communication onboard and practising some situations on the pre-start so it was a really good day for us.”

Asked about the training with the AC40 and how pre-ordained or ‘playbook’ the training is, Maxime responded: “We are learning some situations, as well as more and more action in the pre-starts and it's helping us on the communication and the vision of the box so it's a helpful set up for us...It's a bit freestyle, we train as much as we can the procedures, but we can do  random, it depends as well what the other is doing in the box.”

Brilliant session from the Swiss and most of the teams are salivating at the weather window tomorrow in Barcelona. More of the same. Oh yes. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: A third solid day of training for NYYC American Magic today was marred by a high-speed nosedive during the last bear-away of the day as the team headed for the harbour entrance at the end of a productive five-hour session that was conducted on a light chop in winds ranging from 10 to 18 knots.

The crew managed to save the American AC75 from a capsize but the boat sustained damage to the J3-1 headsail and the fairings in front of the jib traveller trough – as well as shipping a significant amount of water which had to be removed using buckets and a pump.

An hour and a quarter earlier a broken clew on the J4-1 headsail required the crew to switch back to the J3-1 in a breeze that ranged from 13-16 knots.

The American AC75 was rolled out at 0850 and was rigged and launched by 0915 ahead of a dock out time of 1057. A camera was fitted to the inner section of the starboard foil wing. Sails (M2-1 mainsail and J2-1 headsail) were hoisted by 1110 with the boat exiting the harbour at 1121.

With the wind at 10-13 knots the boat sailed a short upwind before bearing away on to a fast 10-minute downwind on starboard, before a stop to change to the J3-1.

A change to the J4-1 headsail (wind 13-16 knots) was made before a 40-minute session of free-sailing windward / leeward laps, which was immediately followed by four practice pre-starts with the boat entering on port and remaining in the start box for the following approximate times:

Start 1: 1 min 47 sec

Start 2: 1 min 54 sec

Start 3: 2 min 01 sec

Start 4: 1 min 59 sec

A fifth pre-start (2min 03 sec) and two-lap practice race followed, sailed in breeze peaking at 18 knots, and ending in a two-board round-up at the starboard leeward mark at 1350. A significant amount of twist was noted in the mainsail upwind. A 15-minute break was taken to rotate the cyclors.

A 30-minute free-sailing windward / leeward session followed, with the American boat crossing tacks and gybes with the British INEOS Britannia AC75.

Upwind there seemed little difference in performance with the boat on the right always gaining. Downwind the British boat made a big gain although the two boats were much more separated so this could be attributed to a windshift or more pressure.

The next 30 minute free-sailing windward / leeward session was delayed by a breakage to the clew area of the J4-1 which necessitated a change back to the J3-1 (wind 13-16 knots).

A final pre-start practice (2 minutes) and two lap windward / leeward race saw the team extend the second beat back towards the harbour. Then as the team bore away to reach to the harbour entrance, they appeared to lose the rudder and immediately nosedived before heeling steeply to leeward before getting the boat back under control.

Recovering from this incident (pumping out, dropping sails, towing in) took a little over an hour. No underwater damage was observed at crane-out, but several large pieces of broken fairings were observed being removed from the team’s chase boats.

Another day of sailing is scheduled for tomorrow Friday June 7.

On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: INEOS Britannia rolled out their AC75 at 10:00, back again with the ‘R01’ rudder after thirty-six hours in the shed since its last appearance. The LiDAR and GoPro cameras continue to be placed on both rails just ahead of the jib track. At 10:35 it was craned to the water and the team docked-out at 12:00, as planned, after a one-minute silence for the D-Day remembrance, with almost all team members standing on the pontoon.

The MN2-1 of smaller sail area and narrower top section than the MN1-1 was selected for today’s session, combined with the J4-1. Both sails were hoisted just before heading out of the port at 12:25.

Medium to strong south-south-westerly winds of 14 to 18 knots of intensity prevailed during the session, combined with choppy seas.

Just after leaving the harbour, one of the chase boats had to go back to the base to pick up something that apparently the team had forgotten. Once back, one shore-team member technician had to get onboard to execute some minor works on the port side foil.

The session finally got underway at 12:45 with a long downwind-upwind-downwind sailing mostly in a straight line, apparently pushing for maximum VMG numbers, possibly testing the rudder and the overall performance with it, among other aspects.

On the second downwind, INEOS Britannia nose-dived pretty hard, and the boat was forced head-to-wind and stopped. Immediately after, one of the chase boats came alongside and multiple technicians got onboard very quickly.

After multiple checks with shore-team members inside both hatches, the team proceeded to execute a headsail change, hoisting the J5-1 in replacement of the J4-1, with its corresponding solid halyard.

At 13:55 the session resumed with an additional long upwind-downwind. Then NYYC American Magic showed-up and engaged for an extra upwind-downwind with multiple crossings, sailing both boats most of the time on opposite tacks. On the only downwind, INEOS Britannia appeared to be faster and extended the distance on every cross.

At 14:30 there was a twenty-minute break in which there was a three-cyclor rotation, with Freddie Carr, Neil Hunter and Ryan Todhunter getting off the boat. This is the second day in which we identified just a three-cyclor rotation instead of a full set of four, with one remaining onboard for the entire training.

At 14.50 the training continued with a short upwind warm-up before the first training race of the day using marks, got underway. At 15:00 INEOS Britannia did a full pre-start sequence and then sailed around a two-lap upwind-downwind racecourse with virtual boundaries, altering the top mark rounding to port and starboard and rounding once each of the leeward gates. Three tacks and two gybes were executed per leg, respectively, with a 100% foiling effectiveness and neat mark roundings.

After a short ten-minute break, while the AC75 was already in sequence for the second stint, the start was aborted with INEOS Britannia suddenly headed into the wind and stopping. Finally, that turned out to be the end of the day. The problem source could not be identified, but the starboard side flight controller explained later on the interview, that it was just something minor.

At 15:54 the British team proceeded to lower both sails. The AC75 entered the harbour on the tow and docked at 16:25. Thirty-five minutes later, it got craned out of the water.

The Team plans to resume their sailing activities from Tuesday next week. Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on INEOS Britannia

On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their AC75, B3, at 08:15, with the new rudder (R05) back on, after modifications were made following issues the last time it was used. FCS testing at the dock was carried out before dock-out at 09:45. The yacht was put on a long tow-line, as tow-testing with the new rudder was carried out while the sea was still relatively flat (a slow residual swell was present), with sharp steering input from the helm observed. The MN1-7 mainsail and J2-7 jib were hoisted at sea, as sailing commenced at 10:30.

With the wind still below 10kn, the team started drilling gybes and tacks on downwind/upwind/downwind legs, with a high ride height and increased pitch noted towards the end. After a two-minute pause, the team continued downwind towards Badalona, performing 10 consecutive fully foiling gybes, before a touch down JK manoeuvre. The wind began to increase, prompting the exchange of the J2 to the J3-7 jib.

Racecourse practice began versus the chase boat, but sailing came to a stop halfway down the downwind leg, as technicians jumped on board and headed below the foredeck. In the meantime, Francesco Bruni replaced Marco Gradoni on the port helm, with three cyclors rotating out and Enrico Voltolini remaining in position. The team set sail again for 15 minutes, but stopped again, as technicians jumped on board for further work at the transom. Start line approaches on both starboard and port tacks were practiced, before another stop for work on the mainsheet system.

With wind still increasing, gusts measured at 20 knots, the J3 was exchanged for the J4-3 (legacy jib), ahead of bear-away and round-up practice, followed by long stretches of testing on each tack, both upwind and downwind, repeated again for the final stint, before ending the day with tacking drills. Sails were dropped 15:00 and the yacht was towed back to base.

The team docked in at 15:15, after five and half hours on the water, and 175 minutes of active sailing. 76 manoeuvres were observed at 93% fully foiling rate. Further FCS testing was carried out before craning out at 16:00.

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: The Swiss rolled out BoatOne at 11:00, the mast was stepped and the yacht was craned in at 11:25. The team hosted a guest and part of the on-water operations were coordinated for media purposes. Dock-out was scheduled for 13:00 for the sparring AC40 and for BoatOne. The forecast included building sea-breeze with 14-17 knots from 195° and moderate to light chop.

Before exiting the harbour, M2-1 was hoisted and paired with J4-1. The first self-take-off was observed on starboard tack but ended suddenly for a speculative issue on the jib, the J4-1 was then lowered and rehoisted. During the day, the team seemed to having several issues of this type.

The second self-take off was then observed with previously seen technique: half immersed windward board to find stability and save cyclor power according to the interview. Once on the foils, the yacht bore-away for some downwind gybes warming up on the track. When BoatOne decelerated, shortly before 14:00, the breeze had increased to 16-19 knots from 205° and hence the J4-1 was lowered to hoist the J5-1R.

Just when about to take off on port tack, the team stood by for another check on the jib sheeting system, also the following short stint was aborted.

Finally back on foils at 14:28, the first of 5 pre-start drills was observed engaging with the AC40. On all except one, BoatOne had port entry and timings seemed to be 2 minutes and 10 seconds. On the starboard entry drill, the boats engaged further downwind on the right-hand side while on the other four drills the yachts sailed on the upper right, often killing time with full circles. During one manoeuvres BoatOne broached the water surface and lost control.

Cyclors were observed swapping at 15:30 while the J5-1R was dropped as the breeze dropped to 14-16 knots. Similar to the previous day, the last part of the team’s training day unfolded in a straight line towards Badalona. After some tacks on the upwind leg, the team practiced bear-aways to gybes heading back downwind.

For the last stint, a guest was hosted in a cyclor pod, and the team stopped by the harbour gate after an intense series of tacks. BoatOne was docked in by 17:50 with 115 minutes of foiling, 38 tacks, 33 gybes. Michele Melis AC Recon.

On-Water Recon Report – Emirates Team New Zealand: While getting rigged up to head out and meet the AC40 OD on the water, the decision was made to delay dock-out by 30 minutes. The team needed to check over some issues with the OD boat. The AC40 OD returned to the dock, and the team cancelled the rest of the sailing day. Both boats coming out of the water, after sailing, like normal.