It was the sort of conditions that make racing sailors salivate: 18 knots true with 24 knots gusts, blue skies, temperate airs, a moderate chop but for both NYYC American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli it was a stop/start kind of day with technical issues on both boats as the top end conditions bit. So fine-tuned are the AC75s that any tiny component that isn’t absolutely 100% can mean the end of your day. Just like Formula 1, it’s either all-on or all off.
For Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, sadly it was ‘all off’ as an unconfirmed issue meant they spent most of their short time on the water with tech teams onboard trying to resolve an issue down below. Jimmy Spithill fronted the recon and played it down saying: “We got a little bit of sailing in, beautiful breeze out there, we had a couple of changes inside the boat that no one can really see and yeah, we just came in, we wanted to make a few changes, we thought about going out but we changed our minds. I thought look we’re just going to sort through a couple of things and then get the full day in tomorrow.”
“We were just stopping, just checking a few things out on these things but yeah ultimately just one of those days. You have days sometimes when you’ve got a few little things here and there and like I said we could have gone out again, but we just thought tomorrow’s forecast looks just as good, if not better, and we said look let’s come in, let’s get sorted for tomorrow and we’ll use the whole day.”
In the top-end gusts, Luna Rossa gingerly proceeded downwind with both boards down, clearly facing an issue and not at their usual full charge. Jimmy spoke about the two-board technique and when asked if he would use it in a race, responded: “I think if you need control or stability at times yeah but it would really be on the top end because VMG you pay a big penalty, but you see a lot of teams like we saw the Kiwis in New Zealand in the very top end using it a lot for bear-aways and any time they got unstable, clearly round-ups when the breeze gets up so yeah I mean that two-boarding is definitely a feature for these boats when you start getting overpowered.”
Talking about the challenge ahead of the team in working up the new AC75, Jimmy added: “You’re just constantly fine tuning. There’s so many things you can change on the boat in the settings it’s just a never-ending kind of task that you have in front of yourself and yeah every day you go out, you try and fine tune it a bit, and then the conditions can change and you probably want to change the settings again so tomorrow looks top end again which would be great so we’ll definitely utilise tomorrow the full day.”
A “little hydraulic issue” (according to Lucas Calabrese) marred what was otherwise a blistering performance from NYYC American Magic who had some dockside issues with the forestay attachment before resolving that, docking out at 1pm and getting a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours in before calling a day just after 3pm. Short but sweet and whatever the technical issue was onboard, it was quickly resolved on a controlled upwind in displacement before the sailors let loose over a few laps. Good boat handling once again and Patriot looked very impressive at a low ride upwind with its low volume bow making short shrift of the moderate chop around the entrance to the harbour.
Speaking afterwards Lucas Calabrese, bronze medallist in the 470 class at the 2012 London Olympic Games, who was helming today alongside Paul Goodison for the first time on the new Patriot, offered his first impressions saying: “Obviously first official day (for me) it was pretty windy and it’s way more agile really you can see the difference and yeah I mean there are some similarities (to the old Patriot) but overall just way more agile and lighter…it wasn’t that wavy today so could probably push a little bit harder but it’s just that the more you push it, the riskier it becomes for the yacht, and we don’t want to damage it so I think if it’s outside the wind limits we are very careful on how much we push it.”
Asked if the team were getting towards 100% in terms of pushing the boat, Lucas commented: “I think we’re getting there, obviously today was probably the windiest day we sailed, it was upper range and sometimes above the wind limit but we managed to do some laps and yeah the boat felt pretty good…I think the boat’s responding really well and if there is any more control that we need to get it’s just from the sailors onboard, the boat was behaving really well, the systems are working really well, and it’s just up to us to get the most out of it.”
With so many AC75s usually all fighting for the same patch of water, Lucas was asked if the team had any early views on performance: “Some teams have foil cameras on and obviously this place is quite one-sided so it’s really hard and we’re not really lining up on the same tack so yeah it is pretty hard but overall, but I think we are pretty confident with the boat and day to day we’re getting to explore it more.”
A short session for both boats – tomorrow promises more of the same in terms of wind strength and sea state and we expect to see other teams out on the water. Barcelona is delivering some epic conditions once again this week for all the teams in this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. It’s too good to miss. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: NYYC American Magic began the week with a short afternoon sailing session in a southerly thermal breeze that ramped up from 14 knots at 1330 to over 22 knots by the end of the one hour and 40-minute session.
The team rolled out at 1000 and it took almost an hour to complete the mast setup process with the shore crew appearing to struggle to connect the forestay. A loud tension crack was heard during the first attempt, after which the rig tension was unloaded, and the port cap shroud disconnected, and the lower terminal examined. This process that had to be repeated before the forestay was finally connected on the third attempt.
Crane in was at 1105 and followed by the regular set up, calibration, and testing processes ahead of the team docking-out at 1302. Sails (M2-1 mainsail and J4-1 headsail) were hoisted inside the harbour entrance by 1320 before the boat left the harbour on a side tow at 1326.
The boat was quickly coaxed into the air on starboard with the crew sailing upwind towards the commercial shipping anchorage area for a few minutes before a sharp bear away into a fast 13-minute downwind that saw five foiling gybes before the crew turned up at 1343 for a short upwind with two foiling tacks before a stop at 1445.
After 20 minutes of sailing slowly upwind with the windward foil half raised, the boat accelerated into the air at 1405 for a five-minute flight that ended with the boat falling off the foil on port.
After another 20-minute wait the crew set off again in 18-20 knots of breeze on a short upwind on starboard before bearing-away into another fast downwind with two foiling gybes and one touch and go gybe before turning upwind for a final four tack beat to the harbour entrance.
With the wind touching 22 knots as measured from the recon boat, sails were dropped by 1500 with the boat arriving back on the dock at 1520.
On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their AC75, B3, at 11:05, with a “few changes made inside the boat that no one can see”, according to Jimmy Spithill in the post sailing interview. Foils were lifted briefly at the dock as standard checks were carried out, ahead of 12:30 dock-out. The MN1-7 mainsail and J3-7 jib were hoisted in the port, before sailing commenced at 13:20 from the port entrance, with a building top end breeze (20+ knots recorded) from the South West.
The yacht was sailed for two minutes before stopping for a few minutes to assess. Another two minutes were sailed before the yacht came to a stop again, as adjustments were made to the main and jib. Work inside the rudder stock fairing was carried out, but according by Jimmy in the interview, there were no issues with the steering system. Cyclors were also observed pedalling while the yacht was stationary, hinting at hydraulics testing. The J3 was exchanged for the J4-3 LG (Legacy) before another stint of repeated two-minute sailing & stopping. Further work was observed inside both starboard and port helm pods.
The team set off on their final stint, sailing a long downwind with two boards down and open twist in the sails, practicing for top end conditions. Two gybes were performed before the team turned upwind and sailed back to the port entrance. Sails were dropped and the team returned to base by 15:00 to “make a few changes” and potentially sail again. The decision was made to crane out the boat and continue the works in the shed ahead of sailing tomorrow in similar conditions.
