Cup Spy April 25-26: Kiwis and Italians sail, American Magic has a brief show, but no tell
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 26 Apr 22:16 NZST
26 April 2024
Emirates Team New Zealand- AC75 - Day 10 - April 26, 2024 - Auckland © Sam Thom / America's Cup
Three teams sailed today - one in Auckland and the others in Cagliari and Barcelona. American Magic gave an unexpected reveal today, when the US Challenger opened the shed door and saw daylight for the first time. The Brits tow-tested.
What happened in the Cup - April 25-26, 2024:
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - sailed off Cagliari on April 26 (see later report)
- INEOS Britannia - tow tested off Barcelona on April 26 (see later report)
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing - sailed off Barcelona on April 26 (see later report)
- Emirates Team New Zealand - sailed on April 25 ANZAC Day (a war memorial/remembrance day in AUS and NZL), and again today April 26. Today they sailed beyond the Course A area for the 2021 America's Cup, and in winds recorded in the area at 20-25kts. The easterly swell running against the SW wind chop, is evident on the Highlights video. Cup Spy watched part of Thursday's session and more of today's (April 26) session - which was impressive, in fact both were for different reasons. They are expected to keep sailing until early May, resuming in Barcelona in early July.
- American Magic - reveal their AC75 unexpectedly today. At first glance the US boat shows a strong influence from Te Rehutai and its later progeny, the AC40. This is practicably evident in the bow treatment and the interface of the bow with the foredeck
- Orient Express Racing Team - Their AC75 is the other yet to be revealed. It is to an Emirates Team NZ design.
AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 10 - April 26, 2024 - Auckland
Day 10 of sailing Taihoro AC75 with ETNZ. Hitting the water into a building sou'wester, the team towed out of the harbor, coming off the tow under the lee of North Head. Starting off hoisting the M2 and J3 sails. Recon observed that the M2 main had a new leech tap suggesting changes made.
Starting off the sailing session at 13:20hrs, the team went into sailing a few short laps in the flat water off Takapuna. This included a few quick combination maneuvers, some fast mode sailing, and a range of double board and single board roundups and bear-aways. Coming to a stop after a 20-minute sailing block, the team dropped the J3 and changed down to the J4 as the breeze continued to build.
Starting sailing again, the team proceeded to sail a long downwind leg heading out into the gulf. As the team headed further offshore, the sea state got more confused and increased in size, with a northerly ground swell under a sou'westerly chop. Recon and the other chase boats from the team started to struggle to keep up in the building sea state. Sailing a long way downwind with minimal maneuvers and rounding up to come back upwind with the same minimal maneuvers. Stopping after another roughly 20-minute sailing block.
Dropping the J4 and changing down to the J5 as the breeze and sea state had built into top-end sailing conditions. New grinders stepped onboard, and the team got back to sailing, this time around some virtual marks. Recon couldn't maneuver safely to follow in the current sea state, observing from the middle of the virtual course. The team sailed two laps of the course and then came to a controlled stop.
After a short break, the team started sailing again and completed a practice start, then sailed upwind back towards the harbor, with a few short downwind legs eventually making their way back upwind all the way into the harbor. Finishing the sailing session under the lee of North Head, dropping sails, and heading into the dock.
Recon had an interview with Scott Barnes, a member of the hydro team.
From: AC37 Joint Recon Team - Sam Thom and Connor Mashlan
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 10 - April 26, 2024 - Auckland
- Weather: 16-18 degrees Overcast
- Wind Strength: 12-18kts
- Wind Direction: 240 degrees
- Sea State: 0.5- 0.7mtr
- Crane In: 1100hrs Dock Out: 1230hrs
- Dock In: 1645hrs Crane out: 1730hrs
- Total Tacks: 100% dry foiling
- Total Gybes: 100% dry foiling
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 128 - March 2, 2024 - Cagliari
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prad Pirelli (LRPP) rolled out their B3 AC75 at 6:45hrs, stepped mast and craned the yacht in by 7:20hrs.
As previous days the boat appeared with the older appendage configuration. After running the usual FCS, flaps and rudder checks, the sailors proceeded with the sail control checks involving the power group cycling (see cyclor interview). The M1-7 was locked in the mast fittings 20 minutes before dockout scheduled for 8:30hrs.
Out of the harbour, the offshore breeze was quite patchy and shifty with several cloud systems distributed around the bay. Just when the team started to hoist the main M1-7, 8-9kn from 290 degrees were recorded, as the J3 jib was chosen at 8:55, there were 13-15kn from 280 degrees. The first foiling stint lasted 13 minutes and began with a self take off on starboard tack followed by two tacks exiting quite high and slow before the first bear away of the day was observed. The yacht then executed three more gybes and trimmed up to starboard decellerating.
With the boat back on towline, several technicians boarded the yacht as it stayed hullborne for 30 minutes working on jib track and mast base. The yacht self took off on port tack, sailed straight for a while, tacked and bore away. Two additional gybes were executed before turning up on two boards to starboard. Then, the team seemed to test some upwind modes straightlining for data on each tack upwind. A second bear away was recorded at approx 10:00hrs which led the yacht rolling quickly into a series of gybes.
After five of these, the team turned up to port on two boards and proceeded upwind with a series of tacks before stopping after 42 minutes foiling. During this break, both helms, one trimmer and a pair of cyclors were rotated and the ones remaining swapped between fwd and aft pod seats. As the breeze seemed to soften further inshore, the team lowered the J3 and hoisted their new J1 at 10:30hrs. The yacht was towed back further offshore to find some acceptable pressure. As the tow line was released, and the yacht bore away softly to sail downwind in light air. One gybe was executed before the yacht turned up again to practice some light air tacks as the pressure was slowly filling in again.
This third foiling phase lasted another 19 minutes. At 11:10hrs the pressure was increased to 13-15kts from 295 degrees and hence the J1 was lowered to hoist the J2-7.
An engineer was noticed on board monitoring the jib track and mast rotation plate as the yacht slowly tacked hullborne. At 11:30hrs, B3 was back foilborne by self take off on starboard, tacking to port and straightline sailing for longer whiles upwind and downwind with occasional manoeuvres.
In this 25 minute long stint the team seemed to be running through some upwind and downwind modes while the boat seemed more bow-down pitched compared to previous runs. After a short break, a tow-to-fly followed at 12:10 while the chaseboat dropped a leeward gate. At 12:20hrs, what seemed to be an unofficial time on distance practice was observed followed by an upwind and a downwind leg including a JK. During the upwind leg, B3 seemed to be shadow sailing against a virtual opponent considering the tacks pattern conducted on the left hand side of the course. Another similar drill was then observed before three sailors and a pair of cyclors rotated again at 12:50hrs.
The last drill was similar to the two previous ones with B3 entering on port tack, trimming on two boards towards the upper right hand and coming down the line starting its lap. Finally, B3 sailed towards the harbour where the day was called at 13:20hrs lowering the jib.
The team docked in at 13:35hrs with 122 minutes foiling time, approx. 35 tacks and 31 gybes
[Michele Melis AC Recon].
Crew: Marco Gradoni, Francesco Bruni, Vittorio Bissaro, Ruggero Tita, Francesco Bruni, Rocco Falcone, Umberto Molineris, Andrea Tesei
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 128 - March 2, 2024 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny 17 degreesC
- Wind Strength 7-16kts
- Wind Direction: 275 degrees-290 degrees
- Sea State:
- Crane In: 0720hrs Dock Out: 0825hrs
- Dock In: 1340hrs Crane out:
- Total Tacks: 35 - Fully foiling: 26; Touch & Go: 9; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 31 - Fully foiling: 24; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 0
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 9 - April 25, 2024 - Auckland
Day 9 of sailing Taihoro AC75 ETNZ's America's Cup race boat. It was overcast and completely still as the team splashed the boat this morning. With the forecast for the breeze to build from the north, the team headed out on the water, leaving the dock just before 1100hrs. Towing down the harbor and out the northern channel, the team stopped to hoist sails just off Rangitoto Lighthouse. With the wind conditions still very calm, the team set about hoisting the M1 and J2.
Towing onto the foils with the sails up, Taihoro headed north towards the approaching wind line, towing for roughly 30 minutes north before finding enough wind to drop the tow and start sailing. After a few maneuvers, the team stopped sailing after exiting a gybe and falling off the foils. With Chase 1 alongside, the team spent some time working on the main control systems at the aft of the yacht. During this downtime, the J2 was dropped, and the J3 was hoisted. Returning to sailing after fixing the problem onboard, the team started sailing under their own power at 12:45hrs.
During this block of sailing, the team spent time looking over sails and could be seen leaving their normal sailing positions to check sail trim and systems. As the wind pushed further into the Gulf, the team sailed downwind back past Tiritiri Matangi Island, completing a range of maneuvers and straight-line modes. Coming to a stop at 13:27hrs, one of their longer sailing blocks to date.
With the breeze now building, the team dropped the sails and proceeded to hoist the M2 and J3. Starting sailing again at 14:12hrs, the team spent time in the flat water and building breeze, completing a range of maneuvers including combination maneuvers like double tacks. Stopping sailing for a drinks break at 14:29hrs. Sea state now starting to build with the breeze, the team started sailing again, this time heading out of the Gulf towards Great Barrier Island. Spending longer doing some straight line work in the sea state. They completed a long upwind leg and then sailed back downwind towards the noises. With the sea state having really built now, both recon and Chase 1 were having trouble keeping up with Taihoro.
Coming to a stop in the lee of The Noises at 15:30hrs, the team dropped the sails and changed to the M3 and J4. With the breeze now in the mid-tens and the sea state building. During this stoppage, there was a crew swap with two new cyclors getting onboard. Getting back to sailing, the team ventured back out into the Gulf looking to sail in the larger sea state conditions. Recon struggled to keep pace.
With the breeze pushing into the high teens, the team stopped one last time to put the J5 on. Starting sailing again and heading back upwind for a two long lap windward leeward course eventually sailing back into the harbor via the southern side of Rangitoto Island. Hitting the dock just after 6 pm.
Recon had an interview with Sam Meech discussing his day on the water and his transition to being a cyclor.
From: AC37 Joint Recon Team - Sam Thom and Connor Mashlan
Session Statistics: Emirates Team New Zealand - AC75 - Day 9 - April 25, 2024 - Auckland
- Weather: 17-22 degrees Overcast starting to clear.
- Wind Strength: Variable to 15-19kts
- Wind Direction: North
- Sea State: 0.5mtrs 1.2metres
- Crane In: 1015hrs Dock Out: 1100hrshrs
- Dock In: 1800hrs Crane out: 1827hrs
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, and 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.