Cup Spy - April 26: Swiss look to improve cornering technique
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World NZ 27 Apr 2023 10:01 BST
27 April 2023
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 55 - April 26, 2023 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - April 26, 2023:
- Luna Rossa sailed from Cagliari, in the fresh breeze of the Maestrale.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailed their AC75 - the emphasis seemed to be carrying over the lessons learned in dry tacking and dry gybing in the AC40 (where they scored a perfect 100% dry tacks and gybes) into the AC75. While the statistics were an improvement on previous sessions, they were still down on where they should be in this wind strength.
- Emirates Team New Zealand did not sail, with strong offshore winds in Auckland.
- INEOS Britannia did not sail.
- American Magic did not sail.
- No further news from the Orient Express Team (formerly K-Challenge).
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 55 - April 26, 2023 - Cagliari
From the AC37 Joint Recon Team - Michele Melis:
The LRPP team rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 10:15 and craned in shortly after.
The forecast looked promising and similar conditions compared to the last couple of days: the Maestrale overruled the seabreeze and filled the gulf remaining more intense further inshore.
Dockout was scheduled 90mins after the roll out and, according to most recent declaration, a newer version of the rudder was mounted as documented by recon shots.
For the day, the main M2 has been hoisted with the J2 jib when the NNW breeze reached 12-14kts in flat waters. Throughout the whole session, the LEQ12 was boarded by six crew members including the usual two design team members in the passenger seats.
By 12:15 the LEQ12 was being towed foilborne by Chase 2, and sailed in mostly a straight line for some testing with less observed maneuvers, perhaps running also some modes before stopping to debrief. On a broad reach with TWS 12-14kts the LEQ12 seemed to achieve boat speeds of 40-43kn while on close reach boat speeds of 32-34kn were displayed on RIB GPS.
Further offshore the NNW pressure seemed to decrease slightly as the prototype had a foiling run of approximately an hour and suddenly stopped. Several shore crew jumped on board and the team seemed to face a speculative issue on the jib track. Once fixed, the J2 was lowered to hoist the J4 as more pressure seemed to fill in closer to shore while Chase-2 laid out the usual race course.
After a self take off, the LEQ12 rounded the leeward gate without any starting practice as the higher pressure seemed stronger on the windward mark. The RU RIB was placed approximately 1nm windward of the original windward mark serving as a mark itself for some bearaways until moving to the leeward mark.
The AC37 Joint Recon Team (RU) anemometer displayed 16-18kn with gusts up to 22kn on the windward side of the course and slightly less on the leeward mark.
Here the team seemed to focus on foil-to-foil execution of JKs and normal round ups. During one of these latter, the prototype has been observed broaching the water surface while trimming up and falling back off its foil (sailing in displacement mode), getting back foilborne shortly after.
In stronger breeze boat speeds of upper end 40kts and perhaps lower 50kts on bearaways seem certainly plausible. Another impressive performance by Italian team which called it a day with an approximate foiling time of 147 minutes, 33 tacks and 27 gybes
[Report by: Michele Melis AC Recon].
Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12 - Day 29 - February 4, 2023 - Cagliari
- Weather: Cloudy 16°F
- Wind Strength: 10-17kts [Actuals: 11:50 NW 11-13kn / 12:35 NNW 10-12kn / 13:10 NNW 7-9kn / 13:45 NW 16-18kn / 14:40 NW 14-17kn]
- Wind Direction: NW Maestrale (Mistral)
- Sea State: Flat
- Roll out:1015hrs Dock Out: 1145hrs
- Dock In: 1545hrs Crane out: 17000hrs
- Total Tacks: 33 - Fully foiling: 29; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 27 - Fully foiling: 22; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
Crew: Francesco Bruni, Marco Gradoni, Jimmy Spithill, Andrea Tesei Umberto Molineris
Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 57 - April 26, 2023 - Barcelona
From the AC37 Joint Recon team:
Alinghi Red Bull Racing rolled out their AC75 at 09:30, craned in and prepared the yacht at the dock, with standard tests and works carried out on the traveller system, mast rotation, wing arms, cyclor and hydraulics systems.
Three batteries were counted being brought on the Chase Alpha.
With a light ‘Migjorn’ (South) breeze forecast, the team prepared their M1 [mainsail] and J2 [jib] sails and docked out at lunch time. The sea state was slightly choppy, typical of the wind direction.
Sailing commenced at 1330hrs from the port entrance. Techs were onboard for a 10 minute check-up after the first half hour of sailing.
The day consisted mostly of foiling maneuver practice and sailing in different modes, carrying through what was learnt on the AC40.
There was a noticeable weakness in gybes to starboard while in low-mode. This was drilled significantly in the 1530-1545hrs stint, with 75% gybes to starboard unsuccessful, while all four gybes to port were fully foiling. [The Swiss AC75 carried the ETNZ legacy foil on its starboard foil arm and the American Magic legacy foil on its port foil arm.]
The team were on the water for a total of four hours, covering over 55nm.
A total of 43 tacks/gybes were performed, of which 37% were fully foiling. A 10% improvement from the previous day. Substitute sailors rode onboard behind the driver on windward side.
Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 57 - April 26, 2023 - Barcelona
- Wind Strength: 6-9kts [Detail:'Migjorn Wind' - South Wind - 6-8kn S @ 13:30 , 8-10kn S @ 14:55 , 6-9kn S @ 15:55]
- Wind Direction: SSW
- Weather: Sunny 12°C
- Sea State: Slight
- Roll out: 1000hrs Dock Out: 1255hrs
- Dock In: 1700hrs Crane out: 1725hrs
- Total Tacks: 20; Fully foiling: 6; Touch & Go: 7; Touch Down: 7
- Total Gybes: 23; Fully foiling: 10; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 11
Crew: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Nicolas Charbonnier, Maxime Bachelin, Yves Detrey , Lucien Cujean , Nico Rolaz, Nils Theuninck , Barnabé Delarz , Arthur Cevey, Augustin Maillefer
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.