It was an afternoon to remember on Friday with Barcelona delivering outstanding conditions as the south-westerly ‘Garbi’ sea-breeze came thundering in, peaking at 21 knots with a swell that registered just under a metre. For four of the Challengers for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, it was just about as good as it gets.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli we one of the first to leave the Port Vell just before midday and the Italians put in a mammoth five and a half hour session of high intensity, really pushing the manoeuvres and working hard on technique. It very much feels now that the beaten finalists from AC36 are into tweaking mode, working on the details and minor refinements. They had their old rudder back on again and with so much focus and work going into the new rudder, similar to INEOS Britannia, this is clearly a developmental area that is going to be key.
Francesco Bruni, who swapped again today with Marco Gradoni gave his breakdown of the day saying: “We had a little bit more wind than what we were expecting, we were expecting a bit of a medium light sea breeze but at one stage we had like 17-18 knots for a short period like one hour and then it sort of slowly faded down again. It was great condition so very nice, a little bit of swell as always in Barcelona or at least many times it happens which makes things a little bit harder but yeah great conditions and a very lovely day.”
Talking about the detail and the technique improvements that Luna Rossa are targeting, Francesco added: “We tried a lot of different things in manoeuvres, small things, we’re not doing any radical changes and trying to control the boat with this swell was a little bit challenging at times but yeah the boat was going well with a couple of small issues but nothing too big that would stop us from sailing.”
Francesco went on to describe the issues they faced, saying: “Just some hydraulic small things, a valve not opening and sometimes it happens, it’s better to stop and trying to understand what the problem is an taking to the problem and trying to fix it instead of just pushing the boat with something that is not 100% I think it makes a lot of sense especially if it’s breezy J4 conditions doesn’t make sense to push the boat over its limits.”
Talking about the new rudder versus the legacy one, Francesco commented: “I think the new rudder is a faster rudder for sure but we need to keep improving it, modify it, small things to make it even better…definitely the new rudder is way faster than the old one so there is no question about that, it’s just we need to keep improving so that’s why sometimes we take it off do some small modifications and we’ll bring it on next week.”
Great session from the Italians who have really showed their form in recent days and are looking very much like the real deal out on the water.
For Alinghi Red Bull Racing, it was more of a stop / start session with an early indicator being a ventilation off the first bear-away that seemed to snowball through the afternoon. Several more splashdown and what seemed like the boat veering out of control, certainly focussed attentions and the team were seen huddling after sailing with sailing team manager Rodney Ardern going through the issues they faced.
Rodney summed it up afterwards saying: “We had a few stoppages today unfortunately. A lot of small issues, of course we’re always trying things and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, so unfortunately it probably meant more downtime today than we normally have but you know sometimes that happens.”
The wave-forms looked to be catching out the super-twitchy BoatOne at times and it looked like a tough day at the office for the Flight Controllers with Rodney adding: “The waves the last few days have been pretty choppy and so if you’re flying a little high or just miss-time your bear-away with the waves sometimes you get a little bit caught out, I think all of the teams were having similar troubles out there.”
With the shared recon programme coming to an end this weekend, Rodney reflected on it and looked to the future saying: “We’re actually going through how things open up after the shared recon programme finishes and obviously it means there’s a bit more work for us to do, it also means we don’t get the declarations that get sent into the recon panel so then we’ve got to have a closer eye on the other teams and if there’s new sails or changes to the foils or things like that so yeah it actually means more work for us so in some in some ways it’s a shame to see it finishing.” As to what Alinghi Red Bull Racing will do afterwards, Rodney was keeping tight-lipped: “You’ll have to wait and see on that…”
INEOS Britannia were in full test mode on Friday, executing long straight-lines at pace and doing speed tests as they continue to work through iterations of their foil flaps. Bleddyn Mon confirmed, saying: “We’ve been going through future iterations on the foil flap so yes still plenty of work in progress going on there, it’s an area that we are allowed to do some development in so yeah it’s sort of ongoing over the next few months before we get into racing.”
The team are still running their Pitot tubes off the front of the bulbs, so it is still difficult to gauge the outright performance of Britannia, almost certainly the boat with the most performance potential in the current fleet of AC75s. It is abundantly clear that the British have delivered an innovative platform bristling with technology and radical advancements all over and for fans, it really is an exciting challenge being presented here. On the water, they looked super-fast today with the smaller mainsail set and the innovative jib system working supremely.
Bleddyn summed up the day saying: “It was a good day out there for us, fourth day this week so it’s been a busy week so far but yeah nice to go into those southerly breeze conditions again still a bit of swell around so really testing our skills…The day was mainly focused around the straight-line sailing so there was some kind of structured testing, A / B testing that the design team wanted to do so that was the main focus of today, but again also just dialling in our techniques and our settings in those conditions.”
Similar to the British, NYYC American Magic also had a day of straight-line sailing as the team dug into the data of their new rudder that has been on and off the boat in recent sessions. Blistering fast runs up and down the waterfront were the marker for the day with Paul Goodison and Lucas Calabrese putting the pedal to the floor and leaving everyone in their wake – chase boats and recon RIB included.
It was a solid four-hour session for the Americans who really have a very potent package in the new Patriot and are clocking up the hours at a relentless pace. The jib track remains an area of constant attention and again was being looked at again during the downtime with technicians onboard but thankfully didn’t stop the session and by the end as the team went into a long period of tacking practice, all looked to be working well. NYYC American Magic will continue sailing through the weekend.
A busy day in perfect Barcelona. The Challengers for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup certainly put on a show for the sunbathers along the Barceloneta beachfront and more to come this weekend. What a venue for the America’s Cup. (Magnus Wheatley)
On-Water Recon Report – INEOS Britannia: INEOS Britannia rolled out their AC75 at 11:00. Two carbon fibre arms were added on each rail to position the Lidar´s hardware further out. On the other hand, a GoPro camera was added on the starboard side, just ahead of the driver’s pit looking at the jib track. In addition, the camera at the transom looking at the rudder and elevator continued to be there, as well as the one on top of the port side foil wing, the one on top of the rudder stock cover looking to the front, and the two hanging under the spreaders.
Britannia was craned to the water at 11:40 and the team docked-out at 13:30, as planned, after performing usual routine activities and having lunch. The MN2-1 of narrower top section was selected for today’s session, combined with the J4-1.
Both sails were hoisted just before heading out of the harbour at 14:00 and were the only sails used during the day.
A very stable Garbi sea breeze from the SSW averaging 16 knots of intensity prevailed, combined with a 0.8 m swell and choppy seas.
The British team exited the port at 14:05 and just before the first take-off of the day, it was forced to stop to make some adjustments on the jib track / jib sheet system, with technicians getting onboard. This fact combined with the camera added on the starboard side pointing at it, might be indicators that they had performed some changes or adjustments to the system during the previous non-sailing day.
At 14:20 the session finally got underway. According to the starboard side flight controller, it was a structured testing day driven by the design team, combined with some boat tuning settings assessments and speed runs, possibly to analyse cavitation speeds given the favourable wind conditions.
Most of the training consisted of straight lines, both upwind and downwind, with some forced small breaks in between to deal with one or more kind of minor issues.
After a first run and three long upwinds and downwinds, at 15:30 there was twenty-minute break in which there was a batteries replacement and a three-cyclors rotation, with Ben Cornish staying onboard for the entire session, in replacement of Neil Hunter who is overseas for the weekend.
At 15:50 the session was resumed with an addition upwind-downwind. At the end of it, there was a new forced break in which multiple technicians got onboard to work inside the port side cyclors pits and under the deck threw the cockpit hatch.
At 16:25 one more upwind was executed and then the team decided to head back to the base, unexpectedly, when marks had been laid by one of the chase boats, hinting that it was an earlier end of the training than originally planned.
INEOS Britannia entered the harbour at 16:40 and proceeded to lower both sails. The Team docked at 17:05 and the AC75 was craned out of the water thirty minutes after. Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on INEOS Britannia
On-Water Recon Report – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their AC75, B3, at 09:25. The cameras were since removed from the foils, while the old rudder was still in place. The yacht was craned in at 09:55 and work immediately began on the mast base, with further hydraulic systems testing and mast rotation observed. The team docked out at 11:30 and hoisted the Mn0-1 mainsail and J2-7 jib, under winds recorded between 10-14 knots from the South, and a flat sea state with a slight residual swell.
Sailing commenced at 12:00 with a 20-minute warmup, before exchanging the J2 for the J3-7, as winds started to increase. A short upwind/downwind was sailed before techs jumped on board, spending a further 20 minutes working on systems. Start practice began at 13:20, with yacht losing grip on the final approach to the line, prompting the team to stop and regather before retrying the start. Entering the gate on port, the team continued to sail one lap of the set course, then stopped for a systems check before exchanging the J3 for the J4-3 legacy jib, as wind and chop increased, with gusts measured at 20 knots.
Hydraulics issues made for start and stop sailing, with the issue resolved after a 30-minute rest period, during which batteries were changed and port helm + cyclors were rotated at 14:40. A short upwind/downwind warmup with fresh crew was sailed ahead of further practice starts and diamond laps of the course. The wind eased and the J4 was exchanged back to the J3 for a final stint of long stretches upwind and downwind on each tack.
Sails were dropped at 16:50 and the team docked in at 17:00 after five and a half hours on the water. 145 minutes was spent actively sailing, during which 64 manoeuvres were observed, of which only one gybe was touch and go. The plan is to sail tomorrow. Justin Busuttil – AC Recon
On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: After a scheduled maintenance day yesterday (Thursday, June 20) the NYYC American Magic syndicate was back in action on the waters of Barcelona for an almost four-hour afternoon session sailed in southerly winds ranging from 15 to 91 knots and on a steep moderate to heavy chop sea state.
Roll out of the American AC75 was delayed from 0950 to 1020 after which the boat was quickly rigged and launched by 1052 ahead of a bang on 1230 dock out.
With a ‘new’ rudder on the boat, the clear priority for the day was straight line speed testing with the crew putting in only 14 tacks and 13 gybes over the entire afternoon, despite completing multiple windward / leeward free-sailing laps that took the boat well north of Badalona on the downwind and back up to the W Hotel on the upwinds.
Upwind and down, the boat looked both stable in flight and blisteringly fast in the mid to upper teens wind range – so much so in fact that the team chase boats, and the recon RIB, had a real struggle to keep up throughout the session. Tacks and gybes were completed smoothly and the bear always – although clearly creating massive acceleration – all looked fully under control.
During two of the stops during the day there was plenty of attention given to the jib traveller cover system which has proved troublesome previously – although this time it did not need to be removed.
Time was called at 1410 after the final beat of the day from well past Badalona back to the harbour entrance – during which the crew engaged in a little tacking practice. Sails were dropped by 1620 with the boat arriving back on the dock at 1630.
On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: The Swiss rolled out BoatOne at 11:00, stepped the mast and craned in the yacht regularly at 1120. After standard checks, the team docked out at 13:05, the M2-1 was hoisted and paired to what seemed the legacy J5-1R. Outside the harbour, the breeze was measured at 15-18 knots from 205° with chop between 0.4-0.8m from 180°. Once foilborne by self-take-off on starboard tack, the team carefully bore away on two boards running through the first warm up gybes.
As the yacht trimmed back up it sailed a long straight-line upwind before bearing away on one board this time. This manoeuvre ended without success as the yacht lost stability and splashed hullborne, it remains unclear what happened exactly.
During the day, the team seemed to face several issues on the bear-aways, twice with ventilating the port wing just when locking the boat in. Checks followed involving several technicians below deck. At 14:25, B2 was back foilborne but another of the several issue occurring during the day, forced the team to more hullborne time.
At 14:50, the chase boat dropped fresh cyclors & batteries onboard while a batten fitting was being replaced. BoatOne self-took-off just at 15:40 and the team managed to sail diamonds for approximately 20 minutes, manoeuvres looked dry. At 16:00 the J5-1R was lowered to hoist the J4-1. Marks were rounded for an upwind and a downwind leg, with more touch& go manoeuvres compared to the first part of the session.
Again, on the windward bear away, the team had to resettle as the yacht lost control heading down. At 16:40, the team practiced the one and only prestart drill of the day entering on port. The upwind leg was interrupted by a splash down exiting the tack from starboard to port. Finally sails were lowered and the day was called with 74 minutes of foilborne sailing, 14 tacks, 17 gybes. Michele Melis AC Recon.
UGO FONOLLÁ / AMERICA’S CUP
UGO FONOLLÁ / AMERICA’S CUP
©PAUL TODD/AMERICA’S CUP
