British and swiss train in Jeddah as magic wraps up in Barcelona

INEOS Britannia became the second AC40 to train in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today with Alinghi Red Bull Racing continuing their relentless two-boat training out on the Preliminary Regatta racecourse just off the stunning Jeddah Corniche. The sense of anticipation is building in the vibrant city port and shoreside is a whirl of activity as all the teams get ready for what promises to be a thrilling regatta.

Whilst INEOS Britannia trained in full one-design mode (and hence no recon following them), Alinghi Red Bull Racing continued their testing, taking their two AC40s out of one-design mode with the introduction of a new mainsail – the M1-3 – and running the alternate J1-3 and J1-4 variable aspect jibs. Once again Dean Barker and Phil Robertson took the wheels on the red-denominated boat as the designated team for the Preliminary Regatta of Arnaud Psarofaghis, Maxime Bachelin, Bryan Mettraux and Yves Detrey had the use of the newest mainsail and the J1-3.

Interesting to read the on-water recon observations early on in the session where Arnaud and Maxime took off, tacked and then splashed down on a second tack. Raising the windward foil, a lump of seaweed could be seen on the foils that required clearing. This could be a significant factor in the racing in Jeddah as the temperate waters are a perfect breeding ground for the gulfweed and sea-tangle and will require the leeward helms and trimmer to keep a keen eye forward.

In an afternoon marred by marginal foiling conditions of between 5-9 knots, once again we saw the importance of attaining and retaining flight to give a major advantage. Robertson and Barker seemed to lack horsepower with the sail set-up of the M1-2 mainsail and the J1-4 jib whilst the Psarofaghis and Bachelin team appeared far more at ease, getting up on the foils, trimming beautifully and getting another vital session under their belts.

Speaking afterwards, co-General Manager of Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Silvio Arrivabene, one of the coolest team bosses in this America’s Cup cycle spoke about the feeling in the camp ahead of the regatta, saying: “Well busy and plenty to do of course on every front but you know happy and it’s a great event and a great opportunity…it’s a new team, although made of experienced people in some areas and new people in other areas, so we've been trying to gel it together and we're doing it every day and we're trying to do it every day.”

With building expectation around Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Silvio put it in perspective saying: “A good result is to sail well and be proud of what we do and then if the others are stronger, our hat’s off, and if we're stronger, then good… we'll see how everyone goes and will try to check in since Vilanova and see if we worked in the right direction and we're able to improve.” Asked to deliver a message to fans of the Swiss team, Silvio proffered: “Follow us, it's going to be great sailing here next week and we hope to deliver you a good result.”

Alinghi Red Bull Racing were on the water for a little over 3 hours, completed 115 minutes of sailing time and (the Black denominated AC40) performed 34 manoeuvres with a foil-to-foil ratio of 76% including attempting a tack downwind in preference of a gybe to keep foiling. Interesting technique. The Swiss are ‘on it’ at the moment ahead of racing next week.

Over in Barcelona, the alarm clocks were chiming pre-dawn for the full NYYC American Magic team who called for a super-early, pre-sunrise roll out to make the best of what appeared to be a breeze that was due to shut down in the early afternoon. Good call from the meteorologists and the coaches as it did precisely that, and bang on cue, but the sailing team made the most of the morning on a three-hour session in a tricky west-south-westerly at around 250-270 degrees true that by the end was all the way round to a north westerly at 315 degrees.

Difficult sailing conditions but having missed out on practice yesterday, the sailors were keen to get out there and despite having a few mechanical and technical breakdowns – one that almost caused a serious broach as the mainsail track appeared to get pinned on the centreline, it was a positive day for the team.

Tacks and gybes are still very much a work in progress particularly on a residual swell, left over from the Mistral conditions on Wednesday and the Flight Controllers certainly struggled at times to find the optimum ride height. Too high and an inevitable splashdown occurred, too low and ‘Patriot’ appeared to just punch the swells. A wet day for the cyclors for sure.

After sailing, Michael Menninger, American Magic’s outstanding Flight Controller, gave a hugely insightful interview to the recon team. When talking about the conditions and the problems the team faced in the swell, Michael responded: “I think we had like 17 knots down to you know, 8 knots at time. So we're just kind of trying to stay in the breeze and…the sea state kind of played a big part in just how we were sailing the boat and just trying to get our heads around that….I mean just trying to see forward a little bit, anticipate what's coming next is always helpful…and certainly in those conditions, I mean a forgiving, easy boat to sail would be a fast boat around a racecourse.”

In recent weeks it has become apparent that teams are trialling dual control of the mainsail and jib, Michael was certainly aware of the technology but added: “That's something that we're kind of questioning a bit as a team and trying to understand how that could be possible. And we definitely haven't found the answer yet. So, we don't really know exactly how we will do it. But I mean it’s something we're discussing and we're trying to wrap our heads around because there could be something there.”

And again, mast rotation is something that is visibly evident with teams actively using this system across all wind ranges to flatten and billow the mainsail – obviously more apparent in the heavier conditions but certainly effective in the lighter airs too. Michael's view was: “ Yeah, the spar is a big heeling moment tool. There's a lot of area on that mast, so you can definitely use the mast to heel the boat over and not heel the boat over, so it's kind of a powering/depowering tool a little bit and then you set up the battens and how they work with the mast too. I mean it's no secret all the all the teams have a different system and yeah there's something there where the mast can also affect the sail, but you know there's pros and cons to everything it seems, so just trying to get our heads around what system do we think we like the best.”

NYYC American Magic will now de-camp to Jeddah for the Preliminary Regatta with ‘Patriot’ going back into the shed for a week of maintenance and upgrades. The grind goes on in Barcelona. (Magnus Wheatley)