Cup Spy - June 13: The teams continue to wind down ahead of the shift to Barcelona
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World NZ 14 Jun 2023 13:41 UTC
14 June 2023
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 69 - June 13, 2023 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - June 13, 2023:
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing did not sail.
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in a moderate SSE breeze, and had a good session. No indication of when they will be packing and transiting to Barcelona.
- Emirates Team New Zealand is on a ship en route to Panama, with another three days sailing ahead, then they will set course for Barcelona.
- American Magic is expecting to start sailing on June 22, out of Barcelona, with their AC75.
- INEOS Britannia sailed in a lighter breeze, and like their earlier session they were again applying the Flow-Vis paint to their starboard wing foil. The same technique is also used in the F1 chassis aerodynamics - see video with this report.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 69 - June 13, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The Italian team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli rolled out their LEQ12 test boat at 11:00. It was craned shortly afterwards as dockout was already scheduled for 12:10.
Both wings seemed to be equipped with dots along chord on different span parts, perhaps sensors or simply markings useful for footage reference.
Once the usual shore-crew checks and sailors checks for sail trim controls set for the day were completed, the LEQ12 was docked out to fully hoist the M1 mainsail paired to a J1.5 jib as the SSE seabreeze was still filling in the bay not exceeding 7-9kn.
In this light air the LEQ12 was towed up by Chase-2 and within the first 30 minutes flight, a series of tacks was observed, perhaps material for a film crew on board Chase-1. After the tacks, the LEQ12 was observed bearing away towards Cagliari for a long downwind run before completing one gybe, trimming back up and finally coming to a stop.
During the whole day, the LEQ12 seemed to be sailing with slightly larger cant angles, especially on the starboard wing which seemed to be piercing more the water surface, perhaps parts of the testing considering the latest modifications on the outboard spans.
The seabreeze filled in and the ASC37 Joint Recon team recon anemometer displayed 12-14kts with an increasing choppy seastate, hence the J1.5 was lowered to hoist the J2.
Then, by help of a light initial pull by Chase-2, the LEQ12 was up and foiling while the race course was laid out. A time on distance practice was observed and four legs followed with chase1 interfering with the LEQ12 inducing some match race decisions.
The LEQ12 crossed the finish line before Chase-1 and came to a stop, sailors debriefed and flight trimmers rotated and swapped pods.
15 minutes later the LEQ12 was foiling again and when entering the starting box a nose dive was recorded. Several checks on jib track followed but it seemed to be all clear. The seabreeze increased further to 14-16kts and the team packed up the J2 to hoist the J4 at 14:15.
A couple of minutes later the LEQ12 stood up on its foils and sailed around the course for approximately five laps with chase boat interference, before stopping to rehoist the J2 as the breeze decreased again to 11-13kts.
The last foiling stint lasted approximately another 25 minutes and saw the LEQ12 to round some marks by itself before sailing freely when these were collected by Chase-2.
Some final tacks were observed before bearing away for a longer run towards Cagliari and calling it a day with an approximate total foiling time of 108 out of 215 minutes with 32 tacks, 28 gybes.
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 69 - June 13, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Sunny/Cloudy 26°C
- Wind Strength 10-16kts
- Wind Direction: SSE
- Sea State: Chop
- Roll out: 1120hrs Dock Out: 1210hrs
- Dock In: 1540hrs Crane out: 1700hrs
- Total Tacks: 32 - Fully foiling: 27; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 28 - Fully foiling: 25; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris, Vittorio Bissaro
INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 60 - June 13, 2023 - Mallorca
Top sailing journalist Justin Chisholm was on the water and made various observations on the British boat:
The British team wrung the absolute most out of a day that didn't have the best of weather forecasts.
Sultry temperatures in Mallorca over the last few days meant thunderstorms were a distinct possibility at some point, but happily the dark clouds that piled up over the mountains behind Palma Bay stalled there, leaving the skies over the bay all but clear other than some high cloud.
There were a few sprinkles of rain over the day but nothing serious.
After rolling out at 1030 the British T6 LEQ12 test boat was on the water just over an hour later, ahead of a dock out at 1230.
A new low 'windscreen' type arrangement was spotted in front of the flight controller/trimmers' cockpit.
The collar at the foot of the mast used on the last sailing session was not on board.
Sails – M2-2 mainsail and J2-1 headsail – were up by 1300 and, in no more than 8.5 knots the boat was up and foiling five minutes later.
The first 45 minutes session comprised a couple of laps of upwind and downwind sailing with the focus appearing to be on maintaining a low bustle-skimming ride height, as well as sailing narrow wind angles upwind.
Given the light airs tacks and gybes were somewhat inconsistent with plenty of touch downs and 'touch and go' maneuvers in between the fully foiling ones.
During the first stop the J1-1 was swapped for the J1-2.
With the breeze at just nine knots at this point the crew – helmsmen Dylan Fletcher and Ben Cornish with trimmers/flight controllers Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon – spent 10 minutes trying to self take off before having to resort to a tow up from a chase boat.
Once up, they stayed airborne for some twenty minutes before another stop for new batteries.
The third session began with a self take-off before the team repeated the exercise of 'painting' the outer upper surface of the starboard foil wing that they did on their previous outing last Friday.
This time the 'paint' was a much darker colour – presumably easier for the foil cameras to spot.
It was applied by a fifth crew member on board just for this exercise. As during the previous session the foil would be painted, the crew would sail for a few hundred metres on starboard, then tack, sail bow up on port, and then stop to photograph the foil and reapply the paint.
This was repeated three times over a half and hour period.
Following this the J2-2 was replaced with the J3-2. With the wind peaking at 10 knots by this point the boat seemed to come alive in this sail configuration – with speeds in the mid to high thirties downwind and the low thirties upwind.
This final section of the day saw the team sail several long upwinds – sometimes out of the bay – before coming back downwind with multiple gybes.
The final down wind run finished outside Palma Cathedral at 1730 with sails down by 1750 and the boat back on the dock at 1800.
A sketchy weather forecast for tomorrow means no sailing is scheduled. Thursday is the team's final possible sailing day in Palma.
Session Statistics: INEOS Britannia - LEQ12 - Day 60 - June 13, 2023 - Mallorca
- Weather: Sunny 26° C
- Wind Strength 8-9kts Flat - light chop
- Wind Direction: 170-215°
- Roll out: 1135hrs Dock Out: 1227hrs
- Dock In: 1800hrs Crane out: 1830hrs
- Total Tacks: 15 - Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 5
- Total Gybes: 30 - Fully foiling: 19; Touch & Go: 9; Touch Down: 2
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.