Cup Spy July
Today was always ordained to be a significant day in the 2024 America’s Cup cycle – being the first day – well, first practical day, on which the teams were required to sail at Barcelona, the host venue for the upcoming America’s Cup.
The Protocol requirement to sail at the Venue took effect from last July 1.
Technically they could have had their first hit-out in Barcelona on Saturday, but the reality of the Cup is that teams rarely train on the weekend. Others like American Magic first tested the waters off Barcelona last week, and the Swiss challenger, Alinghi Red Bull Racing has been sailing at Barcelona, from a temporary base, since August 8, last year.
The Italian challenger Luna Rossa copped a backhander from a squall that flicked through the fleet towards the end of the session.
“It was a very good day,” co-helmsman Francesco Bruni reported. “Nice sea breeze – we had a very good first part of the sailing session. We did a lot of maneuvers, and the boat was behaving very well. It was our first day in Barcelona, which is a very important moment for the team.
“After we had done a crew swap, soon after in one of the one of the gusts, the rudder came out of the water.”
“Maybe the sea state became a little bit bigger. Just a little mistake ended up in a capsize – which for this boat is not unusual.”
“We wanted to do a shorter session anyway. We dropped the wind instruments of the bow sprit -so we decided to go in.” he added
Despite the experience Bruni is expecting to see worse at Barcelona. “I don’t think it was a crazy day for waves,” he said.
“There were some waves for sure, but I’m sure that we will see more than than today. Definitely there was more waves than the wind. A little bit of sea state was not very ‘organised’, and was a little bit confused. But yes, they are very interesting conditions for sure.”
American Magic stepped their game up from last week, choosing to sail their new AC40-One Design against their first delivered AC-40 now taken out of class, fitted with some test gear, and working as the team’s test boat or LEQ12. They won’t return to USA until the Cup is over.
Flight Controller, Andrew Campbell explained after the sailing session that “with both boats we’re learning how they work, and the new configurations. Magic’s (AC-40) is a brand new boat, so we’re trying to always try to kind of commission her. America (LEQ12) that needs to be recommissioned. There’s some stuff that we’ve improved. There’s some stuff that we’ve changed. When you make those changes, the boat has to be figured out again, a little bit, to make sure all the calibrations are right.”
As for Barcelona’s infamous sea way, Campbell reported that it caused the New York Yacht Club’s team few problems.
“It’s definitely still manageable for us. When that little Squall came through – the sea state picks up and that’s the biggest kicker for any of these boats. The sea state makes it makes it more difficult, more complicated, and even when it’s not too windy, it might be too bumpy for us.
“We’re trying to figure that all out and trying to explore some of the settings that make it easier for us. It was never on the edge, but we were definitely having a little more fun.
“There’s plenty of room to push these boats and they are really dynamic. The autopilot makes them really fun to sail.
“These boats are meant to be pushed hard, and we’re doing that.”
Alinghi Red Bull Racing had a productive day in their AC75, focusing on maneuvers and crew work. They turned in an improved dry tacking/gybing percentage across a range of wind strengths which ranged from marginal foiling to near 20kts in the squall at the end of the day.
Weather conditions at Barcelona July 3, 2023:
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
American Magic – LEQ12 – Day 33 – June 30, 2023 – Pensacola
Big day today for New York American Magic as they sailed the two AC40 boats for the first time in Barcelona.
Roll out was as scheduled @11:30H for America (in LEQ12 configuration) and 12:10H for Magic (in AC40 OD configuration).
Stepping up the masts and getting the boats on the water was done swiftly. Crew was Slingsby, Campbell, Calabrese, Gibbs on the LEQ12 America and Goodison, Gulari, Menninger and not identified on the AC40-OD Magic.
At 14:07H we were out of the dock and 15 minutes later out of the harbour.
The Garbi was blowing at 10-12Kt from 210º with already a sea state of Beaufort 4 and mixed chop. Both boats rigged up their J2 jibs and M1 mains. America (LEQ12) had some undisclosed issues and remained still for 25 minutes while people from the chase boat came and went several times. In the meantime, Magic (OD-40) was warming up sailing around in the vicinity under full control.
By 1445hrs both boats went downwind on long tacks (three gybes) with Magic (AC40-OD) always under control while America (LEQ12) struggled to stay on the groove and dropped the boat to windward four times which required a round up and a full re-start from zero, Magic sailed on practicing some manoeuvres with two foils down to stay close. At 15:30hrs America (LEQ12) had to stop again, reasons unknown, while Magic sailed on as before.
By 1540hrs the wind got lighter to 6-8Kt so both boats stopped to change jibs to a J1. After some short upwind with 5 tacks they went downwind again on long tacks boat on boat with 4 jibes. The wind picked up to 12-14Kt and the sea state deteriorated to Beaufort 5 ahead of the coming rain and they had to change jibs to J2 again. Coming upwind back to the team base required five tacks, all dry. We entered Barcelona port at 1700hrs and dock in was at 1730hrs.
Report from: Lea Sitjà
Session Statistics: American Magic – LEQ12 – Day 33 – June 30, 2023 – Pensacola
Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Lucas Calabrese, Andrew Campbell
Alinghi Red Bull Racing – AC75 – Day 74 – July 3, 2023 – Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC40 at 08:45, with the American Magic legacy rudder back on, replacing the ETNZ legacy rudder. The yacht was craned in and pre-sailing checks were carried out, with electronics and system engineers focusing at the mast base, followed by hydraulics and IT engineers adjusting the main and jib travellers. The mainsail traveller was seen to be controlled from buttons on both steering wheels. Mechanical engineer, Marie Janicot, was prepared for her first ride on board the AC75, occupying the starboard guest seat.
The team docked out at 12:30, with the M1-1R and J1-2R hoisted to take advantage of the 7-9kn ‘Garbi’ afternoon thermal wind blowing from the south, then sizing up to the J2-2L 2 hours later. The lowest battens were removed from the mainsail to help with the light breeze. As the day progressed, the wind strength increased, with gusts reaching up to 20 knots from the SSW by 16:45. The sea state also evolved from fairly flat to moderately choppy.
Pre-start practices were executed four times throughout the day, with the team entering on starboard for the first two and performing a gybe around the ‘committee’ mark, continuing with two laps after the second pre-start. The third and fourth practice saw the team entering the gate on a port tack and completing laps of the course. The 2NM course was set with the windward mark at 190 deg. A gate mark was added to the windward mark for the third and fourth round, however the port mark drifted considerably between laps. The J2 jib was exchanged with J3-1R after the third, which had been repaired at the clew.
Notably, Luna Rossa were also on the water for their first time in Barcelona, training on a windward/leeward gated course just 500m away. They experienced a capsize that ended their day early. American Magic, on the other hand, was observed two-boat sailing south of the Alinghi sailing area.
The recon unit covered 50NM and observed 67 manoeuvres, of which 78% were fully foiling, performed at a higher rate than usual. A couple of JKs were performed as well as double tacks and double gybes to make the marks; for the most part these were fully foiling. One of the teams most productive days in terms of maneuvers.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing – AC75 – Day 74 – July 3, 2023 – Barcelona
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Yves Detrey, Bryan Mettraux; Nico Stahlberg; Théry Schir; Augustin Maillefer; Florian Trüb
Luna Rossa Prada Prada Pirelli – AC40-OD – Day 10 – July 3, 2023 – Barcelona
No report available from the AC37 Joint Recon team:
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. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snapshot of all teams’ progress on a given day or period.
by Richard Gladwell
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