SWISS BULL ROARS AGAIN IN SUNNY BARCELONA

Summer was well and truly in, with the locals hitting the beach in 29-degree afternoon heat whilst out on the water it was a building 7.5 to 12 knots breeze on relatively flat water that had four AC75s ripping around. Alinghi Red Bull Racing caught the eye with their MT1 mast replacing the MT2 that snapped but almost immediately they looked back into the swing of things, dropping and re-hoisting the jib several times to make adjustments before hitting a diamond shaped training course. Bear-aways looked to have no element of caution and if you didn’t know, you would have never guessed that the team had such a major incident just a few short days ago. Credit to the sailors. Resilient bunch.

More diamond courses followed and then the customary pre-starts to keep the eye in were performed and all round it was a solid performance over four hours that will have blown the cobwebs away and given the team a lot of confidence. Speaking after sailing, Jack Taylor, the boat captain of BoatOne spoke about the day and the mood in the team: “The mood is keep on pushing. We got together after what happened on our previous sailing day, put our heads together and got BoatOne back out on the water today for a sort of a re-commissioning day...we've gone through it and we are still going through it, I'm sure we will be opening up about that fairly soon, but today it was all about re-commissioning the previous rig and we had a really good day out there with it.”

And Jack continued: “The focus on today was it was merely a re-commissioning of the boat as you could see we started with J2 we got to do some diamond practise moving into the J3 in the afternoon and got to finish with some race laps...We didn't actually have too many close calls today like we have in previous days, but you know there’s positive vibes throughout the team and we're happy with our progression and will continue to keep going forward.” A brilliant effort from the team who will be back sailing again on Wednesday this week.

For Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, it was a slightly shorter session than planned with rudder issues again looking to be a problem but over the course of some four and a half hours it was a productive session looking at jib cross-overs between the J1.5 and the J2-7 which will have been gold-dust for the analysts.

Max Sirena gave a wide-ranging interview after sailing and is clearly keeping the pressure on for more performance, saying: “Well everyday we're spending on the water that is gold for us now because at the end the only thing you cannot buy is the time, so we need to use the next couple of months as much as possible to try to be as race ready possible but in the meantime keep going with the development process. We still have a lot to go, a lot to do, and even what you see on the water is a little bit of a mix in terms of testing, racing, start, and so on, so it’s an ongoing process which will go until day one.”

Asked to comment on the assertion from Grant Dalton, CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand that he thought Luna Rossa were ahead of the other Challengers, Max responded: “I think it's hard to tell where you are compared to the other teams, I mean the fact you are not able to line up, yes sometime we are doing some crossing tacks but when we are doing that you're doing like a 10 mile beat so it's almost impossible to get any feedback in terms of performance. I think everyone is pushing really hard and I mean look Alinghi (Red Bull Racing) after the big day they had couple days ago they were back in the water so good for them, everyone is pushing really hard and I think you will know where you are the day you will be able to line-up against another team inside of the racecourse because there is a quite a big difference to race, the boundary and so on, to compare in open water.”

Max was then asked about the differences between this campaign and previous campaigns: “There is not really much different. The main difference is the fact we know a little bit more about this new class, we're on the Generation 3 of the boat, obviously the core group of the team is identical, we just added where we felt we were missing something from the last campaign, so I mean at the end the goal of everyone here from starting from the kitchen to the guys sailing the boat is to try to win the Cup, so everyone is pushing really hard to try to achieve that because at the end I mean that’s a good dream to realise.”

The prize today for the most dramatic incident was awarded to Orient Express Racing Team who had been enjoying almost certainly their most polished performance on the water to date. The boat looked rock solid in flight with great variance on pitch and heel angles, but all superbly controlled. However, whilst pushing it hard downwind towards the middle of afternoon, something on the control panel let go and immediately the AC75 was into a nose-dive that very much signalled the end of the day.

Jason Saunders, the ace Kiwi trimmer and flight controller commented afterwards: “We had a problem, not sure exactly what, with one of the controls on the starboard side which is why we had the nosedive, and then afterwards we were unable to figure out exactly how to fix it so yeah that was the end of the session unfortunately but we had some good sailing today as well already before that so you know we're getting slowly more reliable and these are such complex boats we’re always going to have some problems to start with and the guys are working through it the best we can.”

And Jason continued: “So really nice conditions today, pretty flat water for Barcelona so you could see all the boats ripping around, it was beautiful sailing. The goal today was to try and test out some modes sailing the boat, just varying different cant angles and the way we're sailing the boat, and then at the end we were hoping to do some more manoeuvres and we sort of go up and down and test all the manoeuvres out in the playbook.”  

Asked about how the team responded to the Alinghi Red Bull Racing mast failure, Jason added: “Yeah we looked at it and it was pretty scary to see. We're happy they’re all okay but then it was a wake-up call for everyone so we’ve certainly been discussing how to avoid any such issues and make sure our technique’s good for the strong wind bear-aways.”

A good day for the French who are still very much in the commissioning phase with their AC75 but getting stronger and stronger with every session. Another six hours on the water today. They’re committed, that’s for sure.

For INEOS Britannia it was an eventful afternoon of more than five hours of sailing with the British Challenger of Record really starting to concentrate on the details. A new J2-2 was revealed today with a shorter luff than we’ve seen before that required an extension to the innovative carbon rods that the team are using instead of standard halyards. A game changer in terms of precision but later in the afternoon, whilst sailing on the J3-1, the team managed to rip it “from luff to leech in a dying breeze” according to the observing recon team.

INEOS Britannia spent most of the latter part of the session filing through pre-starts – five in total – and we’re starting to see the manoeuvrability and power of this impressive AC75 that is very different to all the others. Winding up on the line, the power they can lay down is extraordinary and with Sir Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott pushing hard, it was another impressive performance from the team.

One interesting point of the day was after the second stint of pre-start practice where Ainslie, Scott, Luke Parkinson and Leigh McMillan all got together on the main Chase Boat to de-brief tactics and boat handling. Good to see, this is where the improvements come and performance is everything with this exciting team.

Speaking afterwards Matt Rossiter, one of the super-fit rowers drafted in from the British Olympic team and now a Cyclor for INEOS Britannia, summed up the day saying: “I think we had a pretty good day. We had a few jib changes throughout, I think it was a good day, we got lots of stuff done, working through a few things as all the teams out here are, but yeah I think, all in all, a good day.”

This week’s forecast in Barcelona is looking like more of the same so we have a great final week of recon coming. And as Max Sirena commented, “It’s quiet right now but I can tell you in a couple of weeks’ time everyone will start to heat it up.” Can’t wait. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: The Swiss rolled out BoatOne at 10:00 and the MT1 mast was stepped, replacing the newly broken MT2. The wings were updated according to declaration and the yacht was craned in at 10:25. At the dock, some repair signs similar to patches, were visible on the port side hull.

The team proceeded with the usual routine checks before docking out at 12:00. The forecast looked light, later measured with 5.5-7.5kn from 150° combined to 0.5m 4s swell from 165°. The M1-1 mainsail was paired to the J2-1 jib just inside the harbour.

The team commenced their sailing with a self-take-off on starboard tack and quickly bore-away downwind. The first gybes were inconsistent, and the yacht trimmed back up decelerating. The J2-1 was then lowered for some tuning and rehoisted. Once back foilborne, the yacht bore away again and proceeded with additional manoeuvre practice, looking more consistent as the breeze increased to 7.5-9.5 knots.

As the yacht decelerated for the second time, the jib was again lowered for some further modification on its square head and rehoisted. A 13:40, the breeze had increased to 10-11 knots and the yacht sailed some diamonds with two manoeuvres per upwind and downwind leg, executing bear-aways to gybes from starboard to port tack windward and one-board round-up tacks from starboard to port tack leeward.

When sailing upwind a large amount of shroud vibration was observed during the day. At 14:30, the J2-1 was lowered to hoist the J3-1 as the breeze was increasing further 11.5-13.5 knots from 195°. Cyclors and batteries were also swapped after approx. 65 minutes of foilborne sailing.

During the next stint, the team kept sailing diamonds twice on the opposite tack with larger amount of upwind and downwind manoeuvres. During the last stint, the team switched focus on the actual racecourse, practicing two pre-start drills with starboard entry and sailing on the laid-out course. The last upwind extended all the way towards the harbour where the team entered foiling decelerating shortly after.

Sails were lowered at 16:10 and the day was called with 128 minutes of foilborne sailing, 32 tacks, 23 gybes. Michele Melis AC Recon.

On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their AC75, B3, at 10:00, and craned in at 10:30. A spray rail has been added to the rudder, from leading to trailing edge, between the white reference lines. Following standard system checks, the smaller mainsail, Mn1-7, was prepared on deck and the team docked out at 11:10. The J1.5-4 completed the sail plan, with 8-11 knots recorded just prior sailing, and a relatively flat sea state, with residual waves slightly offset to the left of the south wind.

Sailing commenced at 11:39, with a short downwind/upwind warmup, before moving into manoeuvre drills, with tacks and gybes performed in quick succession. Manoeuvres in the light breeze weren’t as consistent as previous days, with a couple of touch and go gybes, and a touchdown tack noted. The team also continued to play with windward cant angles, sometimes sailing with the windward foil partially submerged. Adjustments to sail settings were made as the wind dropped slightly, before practicing three starts, the third continuing into three laps of a short 1NM course. The gates were notably tight.

By 13:30, the breeze started to increase again, prompting the team to exchange the J1.5 for the J2-7 jib, before another pre-start and one lap of the course. Marco Gradoni replaced Francesco Bruni on port helm at 14:00, with cyclors Bruno Rosetti and Luca Kirwan replacing Emanuele Liuzzi and Paolo Simion. The rudder stock fairing was opened for work to be carried out on the steering system, ahead of two stints of two-lap runs of the course.

Sails were dropped at 15:25 just downwind of the course, with an issue seemingly onboard, although this was denied by Max Sirena in the post sailing interview. The yacht was towed back to base and docked in at 15:40, after four and half hours on the course and 123 minutes of active sailing. 79 manoeuvres were observed at 96% fully foiling rate. Justin Busuttil - AC Recon

On-Water Recon Report – Orient Express Racing Team: Orient Express Racing Team craned in their AC75 at 08:50 am this morning. Several checks from the onshore team on the aero and flight systems and controls were done before the dock out, which was done at 11:00.

OERT paired their M2-1 mainsail with a J2 jib at 11:30 inside the harbour and started sailing then after. A wind of about 5 to 7 knots TWD 175º was blowing at that moment and the swell was coming from a southerly direction and was about 0.5-0.8m.

According to the information given by Jason Saunders when interviewed after the sailing session, the intention for today was for line-ups to work over different sailing modes and canting arm setups and then after get into some manoeuvres exercises.

Different sailing course modes and also different cant angles were seen tested in different heights (heaves) while sailing upwind and downwind, where several line ups were done on both port and starboard tacks and gybes. Boat was observed sailing very stable in both the pitch and heel angles.

The following swaps were done:

• Cyclors (port fwd and stb aft), just two of them were replaced at 13:50 (after 50 minutes of effective sailing).
• Batteries were replaced at 14:50 (after 80 min of effective sailing)
• Jib 2 was replaced for Jib 3 at 13:40 as wind increased to 10-13 knots TWD 195º at 13:25 h.

Three long stops today of 60 minutes on the two first ones, where hydraulic problems seemed to be the main issue according to the tools we saw being transferred from the Chase Boat to the AC75. The second long stop was also used to replace batteries.

The third stop was done just after a nose dive when going downwind on starboard gybe. According to Jason Saunders the nosedive was consequence of a failure on one of the controls on the starboard side (he was not sure which). After the technicians had been checking the issue for around 40 minutes they decided to call the day over.

Sails were dropped at 16:30 and dock-in was at 17:00. When the boat was craned out we could see some crew members from the team checking the flap on the starboard side wing, but we could not appreciate any external damage. Jose Luis Piñana – OERT AC Recon

On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: INEOS Britannia rolled out their AC75 at 10:30, with the R01 rudder, one camera on top of each foil wing and multiple LiDAR cameras and Go-Pros on different parts of the deck. In addition, a big cam-recorder with a stabilizer was added on the bow of one of the team’s chase boats.

Britannia was craned to the water at 11:10 right after spraying some kind of coating product on top of the arm stocks, foil wings, and foil flaps. Then the team docked-out at 12:30 as planned, subsequent to usual routine activities.

The MN1-1 was selected for today’s session, combined with the J1-1 to start. Both sails were hoisted just before heading out of the harbour at 12:45.

Light southerly winds dominated the day, oscillating in direction, increasing in intensity during the early afternoon but dropping from 14:30 onwards.

The training started at 12:55 with a long downwind-upwind-downwind warm up, sailing mostly on a straight line. At 13:35 there was a break in which a new J2-2 of shorter luff (HLU) than J2-1 seen the past days was hoisted, using the solid halyard originally allocated to the J2-1 but with a halyard-extension to be able to properly lock, due to its different dimensions.

While a part of the crew worked on the jib halyard, two technicians removed a fearing from the aft deck to work on the rudder from the inside.

At 14:00 INEOS was ready to resume the session with an upwind-downwind with the J2-2 of shorter luff. Then, at 14:25 the wind had increased and the J3-1 came up to replace the J2-2. Immediately after, there was a four-cyclors rotation.

The training continued at 14:40 with a short upwind-downwind, before shifting the focus of the training into pre-starting sequences and racing laps.

The first sequence got underway at 15:00. A total of five sequences were carried out, following up with a two-lap upwind-downwind. Britannia varied the side entries, their movements inside the box, the starting position at the starting line, the direction of the top mark rounding, and performed two tacks and two gybes on average per leg. In addition, the gates mark roundings were altered to port and starboard.

Stint two was interrupted after the first lap, and there was a twenty-minute break in which both helms and trimmers got together at the main chase boat to de-brief and exchange opinions.

Once the third race was finished, the second four-cyclors rotation happened at 16:10.

On the fourth stint, on the last quarter of the first upwind while sailing on port tack, Britannia broke the J3-1 completely from luff to leech in a dying breeze. This forced a headsail change, with the J2-2 coming up again in replacement of the ripped headsail.

A last fifth sequence got underway at 16:55 following up with a two-lap upwind-downwind, with the British Team heading back home when they were half-way on the second downwind leg.

The Team enter the harbour on the foils at 17:15. Sails were lowered inside the port, and the team docked at 17:42. The boat was craned out of the water thirty minutes after. Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on INEOS Britannia