No further developments from the late entry French K-Challenge, but an announcement is due next week.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - January 13, 2023 - Day 20
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
The day at the LR base started with roll-out at 9:00, while stepping the mast, some team members were observed gathered behind the PS wing focussing on the recently changed wing trailing edge behind bulb for an perhaps unsmooth junction between wing and flaps. Boat splashed down at 9:30 and RIB left the dock to check forecast in the gulf and place some marks to be rounded in the sailing session.
Dock out was scheduled for 10:45, slightly delayed due to some maintenance on the uncovered steering control system. As usual on a daily basis, team members were strategically placed to hide the RU any view from the Recon Square (a marked area on the dock)
Leaving the harbour the team found steady offshore pressure of 8-10kn with flat waters and, after hoisting main+J2, headed to the marks. The Recon RIB was placed on marks for closer observation when rounding and followed the prototype on several legs.
The LEQ12 definitely looked on racing pace foiling for 116 minutes inshore covering approx. 70nm including approx. 5 upwind and 6 downwind legs with an approx. total of 54 maneuvers depending on lay line 4-6 tacks or 3-5 gybes per leg with an higher success rate for maneuvers. The breeze increased to 13-16kn at 12:00 and team hoisted the J4 until 14:15 where the breeze increased further and team decided to called it a day.
World Champion and Tokyo2020 Gold Medalist in the Nacra 17 Ruggerio Tita was on the starboard helm of the Italian's LEQ12, which looked magnificent sailing fast in the fresh breeze and flat seas.
"It was a fantastic day Mistral blowing here in Cagliari from 10 to 15 knots, maybe a bit more at the beginning. And super flat water. This is the first day, we put some marks in the water. And we've been doing good roundings, So we are quite happy from the day," Tita said.
In a previous interview co-helmsman Francesco Bruni was questioned as to the differences between the port and starboard positions, which was evident when the LEQ12 prototype was being handled through tacks and gybes.
The same question was asked again.
"For sure, there are many differences," he replied. "Of course, the foils make a lot of difference. The biggest thing is that the commands we have on the boats are different. Getting used to one or two instead of the others is the most challenging thing. For me, that was the hardest part."
Today was significant, as being the first time in this America's Cup cycle, that racing marks were laid, to give the Luna Rossa crew some shape to their training, and introduce some of the pressure of racing when boat positioning comes into play before executing a manoeuvre - be it a tack, gybe or mark rounding, plus handling the always challenging bear away.
Tita was asked if there "were any plans for running some more marks during the week, or is this going to be something we see more often?
"This was the first day and was a test because we didn't know if the GPS and the Mark were working. But we passed the test. I'm not sure if next time we're gonna go with the mark, or maybe it was just today. But yes, it was really nice to run some marks."
Session Statistics - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Cagliari - January 13, 2023 - Day 22
- Wind Strength 8-9kts (AM) 18kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: NW (PM)
- Sea State: Flat water
- Roll Out: 0920hrs Dock Out: 1050hrs
- Dock In: 1440hrs Crane Out: 1600hrs
- Total Tacks: 29; Fully foiling: 17; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 5
- Total Gybes: 25; Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 5; Touch Down: 4
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Ruggerio Tita, Andrei Tesei, Umberto Molineris, Vittario Bissaro, Bruno Rosetti
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola - January 13, 2023 - Day 33
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Patriot sailed inshore today, covered approximately 14 nm, comprised of 4 foiling runs on W/L legs. Five headsails were loaded into the support RIB, 1 was used. Sailing began at 9:09, AM completed two maneuvers and ended sailing at 10:19hrs. Patriot had a total flying time of 15 Minutes.
Top speeds were approximately 39k upwind (according to RIB GPS). Patriot did not sail downwind long enough to gauge speed. The conditions today were high to above high range. Patriot foiled for five short stints with around 15 minute breaks in between. At each break in sailing, attention was given to the mainsheet/traveler and on one occasion a crewman went up the rig to inspect the luff of the main.
American Magic were caught in deteriorating weather, with an increasing breeze, and wisely called the training session off before the situation got out of hand.
Design team member Dan Flanaghan, was interviewed dockside after the training session.
Having covered the rather obvious reasons as to why today's season was curtailed, he was questioned as to how a typical day worked for a design team member.
"It depends on the day," Flanaghan responded. "If I'm in a container, it's either looking at the next design, or looking at the loads from the previous day's sailing, trying to monitor some of the loads on the water. And then trying to correlate what we see on the water with what we see in the simulations."
Turning to the rate of design progress being made, Flanaghan predictably said American Magic were "making a lot of progress. Obviously, we're testing a lot of systems on Patriot testing a lot of concepts, and then simulating. Then we correlate what we see in the simulations with what we see on the water.
"I think the team's really happy with the progress and really happy with where we're going," he added.
Sailing was ended when conditions became top end according to the interview. Patriot is not expected to roll out again until Tuesday 1/17.
Session Statistics - Pensacola - January 13, 2023 - American Magic - AC75 V1.5 - Day 33
- Wind Strength 17-22kts (AM)
- Wind Direction: N
- Sea State: 1-3ft(AM)
- Roll out: 0705hrs Dock Out: 0825hrs
- Dock In: 1037hrs Crane out: 1110hrs
- Total Tacks: 2; Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 0; Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
Crew: Paul Goodison, Riley Gibbs, Lucas Calabrese, Dan Morris, Andrew Campbell, Michael Menninger, Dan Morris, Trevor Burd,
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Barcelona - January 13, 2023 - Day 36
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi rolled out at 07:45, an early start to catch morning breeze, spending a total of 2hr 25min on the water before bringing the sails down and towing back to base. The team sailed well and were able to find better consistency with fully foiling maneuvers.
A small incident occurred, with Nils Theuninck falling overboard while handling the tow rope. No major injury was sustained as far as we are aware. The team aim to sail next on 17th Jan.
Andrea Emone, a member of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Performance Team wasn't giving away too much when interviewed dockside after the sailing session.
In response to a question as to whether Boat 1, was being pushed very hard - given that it was the first day of sailing for six weeks.
"We asked the team to squeeze and push to the maximum, but we are taking care of our "baby" and we are just getting back from holidays. So I don't know right now, but I will check numbers and if they haven't pushed [Boat 1], then I will ask for more push."
The AC37 Joint Recon program team asked: "We have seen you have changed the position of some winches, what is the reason for that?"
"A few modifications have happened during the holidays. And of course, the final goal of everything is adapting to the changes and pushing forward the performance," Emone responded.
From the video shot of today's training session, it was noticeable that the Swiss AC75 was being sailed at a variety of trim angles, including an extreme bow down stance - as do several of the other teams.
"We have seen on the photos that you're sailing with the boat very low, and the stern very high, what is the reason for that?"
"Today was all about sailing, and they have sailed in many different ways. And of course it [the water] was flat so it was a good moment to try a very bow-down situation just to check the limits," she replied
Session Statistics - Barcelona, Spain - January 13, 2023 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 36
- Wind Strength: 3-4kts(AM); 9-11kts(PM)
- Wind Direction: NW (AM) NW (PM)
- Sea State: 2 (AM); 1 (PM)
- Roll out: 0815hrs Dock Out: 0945hrs
- Dock In: 1300hrs Crane out: 1330hrs
- Total Tacks: 10; Fully foiling: 7; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 0
- Total Gybes: 5; Fully foiling: 2; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Driving team: Pietro Sibello, Arnaud Psarofaghis, Lucien Cujean, Yves Detrey, Nicolas Charbonnier, Bryan Mettreaux Power Team: Nils Theuninck, Nico Rolaz
Additional Images:
This commentary was written and compiled from video, still images and statistical content extracted from the AC37 Joint Recon program and other material available to Sail-World NZ including photo files, and other on the water coverage from the 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2021 America's Cups.