Cup Spy Nov 14: Swiss breaks in a new helmsman.. American Magic has early sail
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 15 Nov 2022 13:49 NZDT
10 November 2022
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - November 14, 2022 - Barcelona © Alex Carabi / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - November 14, 2022:
- Luna Rossa dropped the mast off their LEQ12, while rigged and before launching on Sunday - just over a week ago and is expected to be out for a "few weeks".
- American Magic was back on the water in Pensacola after Hurricane Nicole hit Florida. The breeze was in for the morning and faded in the afternoon.
- INEOS Britannia are yet to sail their newly launched LEQ12 from Mallorca
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 from Barcelona in winds of up to 20kts and a difficult swell and cross sea. They used helmsman Maxime Bachelin for the first full session.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail - their crew are returning from SailGP in Dubai.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing took the opportunity on Monday to blood-in new helmsman Maxime Bachelin (24) a 49er sailor.
Conditions at Barcelona started with a light breeze and confused sea state. The team started off with the J2 jib, for almost 90 minutes, before changing down to the J4 jib for the next two hours after the wind increased to 15-20kts.
"Today was quite tough. It was quite windy and with big waves, not in the same angle as the wind. So it was difficult," Bachelin told the AC37 Joint Recon team after the sailing session.
The Recon Team observing Alinghi Red Bull Racing noted that in the early stages of the session that the team elected to reach across the relatively light wind, which Bachelin agreed saying "it was not very windy at this moment. So it was just perfect for me to learn how to foil the boat at this time."
However later in the session the breeze increased significantly, while the intention was to try some downwind legs, but they pulled out and concentrated on upwind sailing. "I think but the condition was was too hard for for my first day and we were happy to learn upwind first." The prospect of heading downwind at well over 40kts in a seaway, was clearly an impossibly big step up for the former 49er sailor, on his first day on the helm of an AC75.
They covered around 70nm, over the five hour session. As can be seen in the photos and video, Boat Zero, the former Te Aihe of Emirates Team NZ, and the first launched AC75, had a mixed day, with some patches of good flight control, and others where the boat made spectacular contact with the water - due partially to the confused sea state. In early video while the AC75 was setting up off the port and seawall, the sea state was quite unstable.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing made the decision to start with a J2 jib early in the session, which with the breeze of only 5kts or more, they didn't have enough power to be able to get foiling unassisted, and from what could be seen from the 47 videos - they were towed onto the foils.
Later in the day, the breeze picked up and the Swiss were able to get foiling easily, with the occasional spectacular touchdown.
Boat Zero/Te Aihe was designed with a more submersible bow than the later designs, and the second generation AC75's, which have a lot more bow volume. The AC75 will knife through the seas without decelerating too much, producing some spectacular images, particularly if the windward foil arm makes contact with the water surface.
Later in the session with the wind up to 15-20kts, the Swiss continued their focus on upwind sailing with few tacking attempts, and even less gybes - given they were not sailing downwind.
Coaching helmsman, Dean Barker was not seen on the video from the AC37 Joint Recon Team, and was not on the crew list filed by the Recon Team.
Session Statistics - Barcelona - November 9, 2022 - Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Version 1
- Wind Strength 5kts (AM) 8 - 15kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: S (AM) SW (PM)
- Sea State: SS1 1.0m E swell(AM) SS3 with 1.0m E swell(PM)
- Roll out: 0845hrs Dock Out: 1110hrs
- Dock In: 1640hrs Crane out: 1710hrs
- Total Tacks: 14 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 4
- Total Gybes: 0 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 3
Crew:
Driving Group: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Yves Detrey, Pietro Sibello, Bryan Mettraux, Lucien Cujean, Maxime Bachelin | Power Group: Nils Theuninck, Thery Schir, Nico Stalberg, Florian Trub, Ausustine Maillefer
American Magic - AC75 Version 2 - Pensacola
After a weekend off Patriot got caught by the usual Pensacola weather system - with a useful breeze in the morning which faded as the day progressed.
The breeze died from 10-12k at 0930hrs to less than 5kts at 1100hrs, or an hour of sailing time. Patriot managed two unassisted takeoffs, but were towed up for some more - however the wind strength was not sufficient to maintain foiling.
The foil camera shown on this story in close-up was installed during Patriot's last 10 day upgrade, and first appeared on October 31, 2022.
Riley Gibbs was interviewed dockside after the morning session, by the AC37 Joint Recon Team as was asked what was the main difference between an America's Cup team compared to Olympic campaigns.
"To be honest, it's the size of the team," Gibbs explained. "It's pretty special, being a part of something that's big and I'm pretty fortunate to be here at such a young age and really loving it. It's pretty awesome."
"You might have a pretty good understanding of what you're doing in your own Olympic campaign, but coming here and having so many very educated people and who are very switched on in their areas. This is fantastic. So, learning I'm learning a ton and have got a long way to go."
It appears American Magic have not changed their wing foils significantly since their first sail on October 15. There may have been some changes in wing flaps.
Session Statistics - Pensacola, Fl - November 8, 2022 - American Magic - AC75 Version 2
- Wind Strength 8-10kts (AM) 6-8kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: 055(AM) 070 (PM)
- Sea State: <1ft (AM) <1ft (PM)
- Roll out: 0652hrs Dock Out: 0828hrs
- Dock In: 1245hrs Crane out: 1315hrs
- Total Tacks: 20 - Fully foiling: 9; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 7
- Total Gybes: 5 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 5
Crew: Paul Goodison, Lucas Calibrese, Riley Gibbs, Dan Morris, Terry Hutchinson
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.