Swiss sail again in their AC75

What happened in the Cup – Feb 12, 2023:

• Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed out of Barcelona on February 12, having rigged and launched the AC75 on February 10. It was last sailed on February 1. The AC37 Recon team stated that the AC75 had been forced ashore by a spell of bad weather, however it would seem that some modifications have also been implemented. A couple of new seats in the cockpit were mentioned by the AC37 Joint Recon team
• Luna Rossa sailed their LEQ12 from Cagliari, according the the AC37 Joint Recon team Luna Rossa did 53 tacks/gybes and had a new rudder and J1.5 jib.
• INEOS Britannia last sailed on February 8, when they capsized and inverted their LEQ12 Test and Development boat. They rolled out their AC40 out on February 10 and rigged it.
• American Magic decommissioned their AC75 Patriot on February 4 and will not be back sailing until early March.
• Emirates Team New Zealand sailed their two AC40’s one as a LEQ12 development boat the other as an AC-40 One Design. They were forced to stop sailing with the pending arrival of devastating Cyclone Gabriella. The core of the sailing team has now gone to Australia for SailGP Sydney.
• No update since the French K-Challenge held a media conference in Paris on February 2, and announced they have a partnered with a naming sponsor Accor Group and will be known as Orient Express Team. They will also partner with Emirates Team New Zealand for an AC75 design and other technology package. They also have travelled to Australia for the SailGP Sydney regatta, this weekend.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli – LEQ12 – Cagliari – February 12, 2023 – Day 32

From the AC37 Joint Recon Team:

The LRPP team opted for an early rollout at 6:00am to catch the typical winter light offshore breeze filling in from NW. A max pressure of 10-12kn in the early morning was captured while dying just around noon with some rest of SE swell approx 0.5m with period 7-8s.

On the boat configuration side: a new rudder version was declared for which changes will be detected by shots with more daylight on cradle, the primary mainsail M1 and a newer jib version J1.5 have been hoisted on the day. The prototype was towed out in the Gulf at 8:20 after the usual 2h systems checks by shore crew.

The LEQ12 hosted four crew out of which only the flight controller seemed to rotate. Clearly the sailing session focussed on light breeze performance by means of foiling maneuvers and take-off capability. The chase dropped some marks in the middle of the session and the prototype completed approx 8 legs. The RU alternated between awaiting at marks with binocular observation in distance and following for some legs. A total of approx. 53 maneuvers out of which 29 tacks and 24 gybes were recorded along with, even if not always successful and on physical marks, some additional rounding maneuvers such as early gybes, tack bear aways, and round up tacks.

On a few occasions, the team seemed to be trying some reaching modes. Within maneuvers, longer foil-to-foil transitions have been observed while lifting slower than usually the board, sometimes even in two time steps at half foil wing. The speed building process bearing away exiting the foiling tack and heading up exiting the foiling gybe seemed longer and a few splash downs exiting maneuvers were observed.

On the take off front in this light breeze, the transition time appeared to be longer as the team looked for a decent puff to build speed while heeling to windward; out of 7 runs, 3 resulted by self takeoffs and a total foiling time of 113minutes was recorded. [Michele Melis AC-Recon]

Session Statistics – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli – LEQ12 – Cagliari – February 12, 2023 – Day 32

• Wind Strength 10-12kts (AM) 7-9ktskts (late AM)
• Wind Direction: NW (AM)
• Weather: Sunny 5-14°C
• Sea State: 0.4-0.6m SE
• Roll out: 0620hrs Dock Out: 0820hrs
• Dock In: 1220hrs Crane out: 1400hrs
• Total Tacks: 29 – Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 8; Touch Down: 4
• Total Gybes: 24 – Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2

Crew: Francesco Bruni, Ruggerio Tita, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro (swapping)

Alinghi Red Bull Racing – AC75 – Barcelona – February 12, 2023 – Day 44

From the AC37 Joint Recon team:

Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out at 07:50, craned in the AC75 and carried out standard systems tests at the dock. The AC40 was towed into the main shed, with its rudder removed, to have its stickers added. The AC75 mainsheet actuator was returned to the system, eliminating the suspicion from the previous day regarding upgrading the system to one similar to that of Luna Rossa and American Magic. New seats have been added to the cockpit.

Today’s weather saw what’s locally known as a light Garbi. A ‘Garbi’ is a South Westerly afternoon thermal wind, usually sunny, common to the area between March and September. A light Garbi ranges from 10 – 16 knots between 180° – 200°, while a strong Garbi blows 16-20+ from 220°. The morning saw flatter water, though the sea got choppy in the afternoon as the wind increased.

The team spent almost five hours on the water, covering over 75 Nautical Miles, the most in a day so far, with one of the longest amounts of time spent on the foil. Speeds above 45 knots were reached. The team sailed longer stretches in the morning as manoeuvres in quick succession were difficult in the light wind. The team stopped for a 25 minute on-water lunch break between changing jibs at 14:00 as the wind increased.

It was noticed that after tacking in lighter winds, the flight trimmer is keeping the new windward wing in the water longer. ARBR put the hammer down and upped their frequency of manoeuvres, mostly ‘Touch & Go’s, though still struggled to complete a significant amount of clean fully foiling Tacks and Gybes.

Regardless, this is some of the best consistent sailing seen so far. They also practiced bear aways and rounding, occasionally using a Yellow Cardinal and a Sunday Regatta buoy as marks. An end to the session was called at 16:00 and the team returned to base.

Session Statistics – Barcelona, Spain – February 12, 2023 – Alinghi Red Bull Racing – AC75 – Day 44

• Wind Strength: 8-10kts (AM) 10-14kts (PM)
• Wind Direction: N (AM) N (PM)
• Weather: Sunny 8°C-10°C
• Sea State: SS4 (AM); SS4 (PM)
• Roll out: 0830hrs Dock Out: 1120hrs
• Dock In: 1635hrs Crane out: 1700hrs
• Total Tacks: 33; Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 23; Touch Down: 10
• Total Gybes: 21; Fully foiling: 5; Touch & Go: 10; Touch Down: 6

Crew: Driving team: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Lucian Cujean, Nicolas Charbonnier, Maxime Bachelin, Pietro Sibello, Yves Detrey , Bryan Mettraux Power Team: Nico Rolaz , Nils Theuninck

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.

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-world.com/nz