Cup Spy Jan 11-12: American Magic has a productive day on their AC75

Luna Rossa - AC40 - Day 109 - January 11, 2024 - Cagliari © Ivo Rovira / America's Cup

Four America's Cup teams trained on the Mediterranean. The British team sailed their two AC40's against each other for the first time out of Barcelona.

It is not clear what direction their program will take from here. In the interview Ainslie was non-committal as to whether their test boat 'T6' would sail again. Emirates Team NZ has not sailed in 2024. As many of the sailing team are due to compete in the SailGP Abu Dhabi this weekend they may not sail until next week.

What happened in the Cup - January 11-12, 2024:

• American Magic - Sailed out of Barcelona on Tuesday in their AC75. This is the third day of sailing for the US team in 2024.
• Alinghi Red Bull Racing - Sailed their AC75 today for the first time in 2024, out of Barcelona. They last sailed their AC75 in mid-December, 2023.
• Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - Sailed their LEQ12, for the first time in 2024 today out of Cagliari. They last sailed on December 20 and 21 after having a compression crack in its hull following an incident on December 4, 2023 in Cagliari.
• Emirates Team New Zealand - last sailed their LEQ12 out of Auckland on December 21, completing a pre-Xmas test block. They are sailing in the SailGP Abu Dhabi this weekend. It would seem that they will not sail until next week.
• INEOS Britannia - Last week INEOS Britannia Skipper, Co-helm and CEO Ben Ainslie announced he was stepping away from sailing duties on the Emirates SailGP team to focus on the America's Cup effort. The team may switch to a program involving their two AC40's (AC40-2) and AC40-10) and that is what they sailed today. In the interview Ainslie was non-committal as to whether their test boat 'T6' would sail again, or whether they would stay with their double AC40 program until their AC75 raceboat is launched.
• Orient Express Racing Team - No report, however they were on the water off Barcelona today. They will be sailing in the SailGP Abu Dhabi, this weekend.

AC37 Joint Recon Team Reports:

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 109 - January 11, 2023 - Cagliari

The italian team LRPP rolled out their LEQ12 prototype at 7:15, stepped mast and crained the yacht in by 7:25. At dawn the usual checks were executed at the dock before M1-2 was crained on the LEQ12s deck. The prototype was docked out at 8:30 hosting 4 sailors in the pods, which seemed to rotate with additional two during the whole session. The main was hoisted and paired to the J1.5 as the pressure was measured at 9-11kn from 330TWA with some offsetted longer south swell of 0.4-0.5m 7s from 140°.

After being towed up on port tack, the team seemed to be conducting 15 minutes of straight line testing beginning with a long downwind run, trimming up and finally executing some tacks. After decellerating the yacht, the sailors gathered perhaps to debrief before executing a self take off at 17-18kn boat speed and 85-90° TWA. Once foilborne, the yacht conducted quick series of tacks and gybes while chase2 layed out a 225° course as the breeze seemed to be increasing slightly to 11-13kn. The yacht seemed more often adjusted in pitch angle over the day compared to previous days. Considering the increased breeze, the team opted for lowering the J1.5 and hoisting the J2-2 and the yacht was quickly towed up on starboard tack, bearing away and heading to the leeward gate. There, the team practiced a significant number of prestarts with time on distance alternating between port and starboard entries without even rounding the windward gate. After five drills the yacht headed upwind, tacked bear away on the right hand mark and practiced a series of gybes on the downwind leg before testing some more timed prestarts coming to a stop afterwards. Once again the sailors debriefed shortly and swapped with the ones on chase1.

Shortly after, the yacht was towed up on starboard tack heading downwind right away towards the starting line where some additionals time on distance drills and laps were observed. After a four leg race, the yacht continued to practice some additional prestart drills before coming hullborne. In the last foiling stint the yacht executed some additional manouevres series and engaunged for some more laps around the marks before these were physically removed remaining as virtual targets. For the day, the focus was clearly on prestarts drills and on the clean execution of all manouevres types on the marks. The day was called at 11:25 with 157 minutes foiling time, approx 38 tacks and 35 gybes [Michele Melis AC Recon].

Crew: Marco Gradoni, Francesco Bruni, Jimmy Spithill, Umberto Mollineris, Vittorio Bissaro, Andrea Tesel

Session Statistics: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (LRPP) - LEQ12 - Day 109 - January 11 2023 - Cagliari

• Weather: Cloudy 10°C
• Wind Strength 9-21kts
• Wind Direction: 330°-325°
• Sea State: 0.4m from 140°
• Crane In: 0725hrs Dock Out: 0810hrs
• Dock In: 1150hrs Crane out:
• Total Tacks: 38 - Fully foiling: 32; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 4
• Total Gybes: 35 - Fully foiling: 31; Touch & Go: 4; Touch Down: 0

American Magic - AC75 - Day 65 - January 12, 2024 - Barcelona

NYYC American Magic made the most of relatively flat water and a variable breeze to round off the week with a productive Friday afternoon sailing session aboard their second generation AC75 Patriot. After rolling the boat out of the shed at 1020 it was rigged and launched by 1048 and the team left the dock at 1231. Patriot was towed out of the harbour on foils at 1238 and headed offshore a couple of miles before stopping to hoist the MN7 mainsail and the J2-4 headsail. The breeze at this stage was around 7 knots from 290 degrees with a flat surface sea state on top of a long slow 0.3-metre swell.

The first foiling session began at 1308 and lasted 20 minutes before a stop to change to the J1.5 headsail. After five minutes of upwind sailing Patriot bore away downwind but fell off the foils on the first gybe attempt. After self starting a 20 minute session followed with three foiling tacks, one foiling gybe, and three touchdown gybes. After a change to the J2-5 Patriot began to look very much at home sailing fast and stable upwind on the flat sea and in the new breeze which had kicked in at around 10 knots.

Downwind though the crew appeared to still be struggling with their gybing technique with several touchdown gybes during the 20 minute session which saw the breeze ease back to 7-9 knots. After a 20 minute session that saw the crew sail a long leeward / windward run a stop was made to change to the J1-6 (which had noticeable [and audible] leach vibration at the very top). The breeze at this point was ranging from 9 knots down to five knots and becoming shifty and inconsistent.

Another 20 minute session saw an improvement in the foiling gybe rate with four of the five being carried out on foils. The final session of the day was sailed in around 8 knots of breeze and saw a series of windward leeward laps and finished with a series of two board manoeuvring. Time was called at 1630 with the boat arriving back on the dock at 1655. No sailing is scheduled over the weekend so the next possible sailing day for the team is Monday January 15.

Report from Justin Chisholm - AC37 Joint Recon Team

Crew: Paul Goodison, Tom Slingsby, Michael Menniger, Riley Gibbs, Andrew Campbell, John Croom, Colten Hall, Tim Hornsby, James Wright, Ashton Lambie, Trevor Bird

Session Statistics: American Magic - AC75 - Day 65 - January 12, 2024 - Barcelona

• Weather: Clearing 2-10° C
• Wind Strength: 7-10kts
• Wind Direction: 270°
• Sea State: Light chop slight swell
• Crane In: 0719hrs Dock Out: 0855hrs
• Dock In: 1310hrs Crane out: 1340hrs
• Total Tacks: 25 - Fully foiling: 16; Touch & Go: 2; Touch Down: 7
• Total Gybes: 21 - Fully foiling: 13; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 7

Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 110 - January 12, 2024 - Barcelona

Alinghi Red Bull Racing commenced their day with an early rollout of the AC75 at 07:00. After crane-in at 07:30, the team undertook routine systems checks, with particular attention to the canting system, as both boards were lifted many times.

The M2-2R mainsail and J3-3L jib were prepared on deck before a 09:00 dockout. Notably, Franco Noti debuted as a cyclor on board, with another new cyclor, Paul Jacquot, on the chase boat.

Stint 1 (09:45 - 09:55) The day started with a quick downwind warmup, including two fully foiling gybes.

Stint 2 (10:00 - 10:20, 15-19kn 320° @ 09:55) The team sailed long stretches, initially heading towards the coast, pausing briefly before turning downwind, then practicing bear-aways and round-ups. With a sub-standard replacement recon vessel, and two accompanying journalists, it was difficult to keep up with the AC75.

Stint 3 (10:35 - 10:55, 13-16kn 290° @ 10:25 , 14-17kn 290° @ 10:35) Further long stretches were sailed, as well as more practice of round-ups and bear-aways. The recon vessel experienced an engine issue but resumed coverage after a 5-minute delay.

Stint 4 (11:00 - 11:20, 14-18kn 305° @ 11:05) Focus shifted to pre-start practice, with the team practicing starboard entries into the pre-start box, along with time and distance management to the start. An inflatable mark was used as the starboard entry, while the Catalyst Chase boat acted as pin end. Two starts were attempted, 5 seconds late for the first start and 3 seconds late for the second. A one-tack-upwind and one-gybe-downwind were sailed after each start.

Stint 5 (11:35 - 11:40, 14-18kn 310° @ 11:35) More pre-start practice was to be undertaken, but the session was cut short after a few minutes sailing. Hydraulics engineers were observed jumping on board, with one below deck in the transom.

Crew were gathered at the mainsail clew, indicating a potential issue with the mainsheet system, though specifics were not confirmed in the post sailing interview with Bryan Mettraux.

The yacht was towed back to base as the wind diminished and turned West. The team spent three and a half hours on the water with 75 minutes of sailing time. A total of 17 manoeuvres were observed, 82% of which were fully foiling.

Session Statistics: Alinghi Red Bull Racing - AC75 - Day 110 - January 12, 2024 - Barcelona

• Weather: 6°. Sunny
• Wind Strength 7-15kts
• Wind Direction: 40° - 65°
• Sea State: 0.8 - 1.3mtr
• Crane In: 0930hrs Dock Out: 1130hrs
• Dock In: 1615hrs Crane out: 1645hrs
• Total Tacks: 6 - Fully foiling: 6; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0
• Total Gybes: 3 - Fully foiling: 1; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1

Crew:Sailing: Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Nico Charbonnier, Yves Detrey, Bryan Mettraux, Nico Rolaz. Power: Théry Schir, Arthur Cevey, Nico Stahlberg, Barnabé Delarze, 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. Its format is intended to give Sail-World readers a snapshot of all teams' progress on a given day or period.