Cup Spy Dec 20/21: Emirates Team NZ first to sail two boats in the 37th America's Cup cycle
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-world.com/nz 21 Dec 2022 12:39 UTC
22 December 2022
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40-OD - December 21, 2022 - Waitemata Harbour © Adam Mustill / America's Cup
What happened in the Cup - Dec 20/21, 2022:
- Emirates Team New Zealand launched and sailed their second AC40, on both Tuesday (20th Dec) and Wednesday (21st Dec). This second boat will remain in One Design mode. Weather conditions were very similar both days, with a warm seabreeze, and balmy 24°C temperatures on both days.
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli sailed from Cagliari.
- The British team sailed and foiled for the first time under sail in Mallorca. See separate story Cup-Spy-Dec-21--INEOS-impressive-first-flight
- The US team did not sail.
- Alinghi Red Bull Racing advised yesterday that they had stopped for Christmas.
Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40-OD Boat 2 - Auckland
Defending America's Cup champions, Emirates Team New Zealand revealed more of their strategy for the 37th America's Cup, with the launch and sailing of their second AC40, Te Kakahi on Tuesday (NZT).
Photos of the two AC40's were released by the team last week.
The second AC40 will have to remain in a strict One Design mode. The first launched, which has just been repaired after a catastrophic nosedive, and only started sailing again last week.
The team covered a lot of ground today in making the most of the magnificent sailing conditions, described officially as a 7-14kt Northerly breeze, with temperatures to 24C, and by Olympic Bronze medalist Sam Meech as"t-shirt and shorts, the whole day."
For those who can still remember the 2021 America's Cup course locations - Te Kakahi covered a lot of ground and sailed on all five, doing 36 tacks and 33 gybes - all dry foiling. But Meech admitted in the dockside interview that they'd been on auto-pilot all day. So that statistic is a big tick for the software developers rather than the sailors.
Looking back on the year, Meech thought it had gone well for the Kiwis, and indeed, all teams.
"It feels like we're going well. Obviously we only can only know what's going on [with the other four teams] with the Recon. It looks like the other teams are getting good sailing now. So I'd say we all keep moving forwards. And for us it feels like we're progressing really fast.
"I'm new to the campaign and it's just amazing how much work goes on behind scenes," he added.
Session Statistics - Auckland - December 20, 2022 - Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40 OD Boat 2
- Wind Strength 0-5kts(AM) 5-10kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: N(AM) N(PM)
- Weather: 30% Cloud cover. Temperature: 24°C
- Sea State: Calm (PM)
- Roll out: 0930hrs Dock Out: 1135hrs
- Dock In: 1435hrs Crane out: 1505hrs
- Total Tacks: 34 - Fully foiling: 30; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 1
- Total Gybes: 19 - Fully foiling: 17; Touch & Go: 1; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge (Helms); Andy Maloney, Marcus Hansen (Trimmers)
Session Statistics - Auckland - December 21, 2022 - Emirates Team New Zealand - AC40 OD Boat 2
- Wind Strength 5-8kts(AM) 7-14kts (PM)
- Wind Direction: N(AM) N (PM)
- Weather: 25% Cloud cover. Temperature: 24°C
- Sea State: Calm (PM)
- Roll out: 1300hrs Dock Out: 1335hrs
- Dock In: 1705hrs Crane out:
- Total Tacks: 36 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0 [No data provided]
- Total Gybes: 33 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 0 [No data provided]
Crew: Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge (Helms); Andy Maloney, Marcus Hansen(Trimmers), Sam Meech, Josh Junior
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, December 20, 2022, Cagliari, Sardinia
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli had another early morning session in what appeared to be,and were recorded as quite light winds - just above the minimum for an America's Cup foiler to self-launch. However as we have seen before Luna Rossa's LEQ12 appears to be quite sticky in the light, and they used the chase boat to tow the 12 metre long prototype onto her foils, enabling foiling using her apparent wind, and allowing the crew to start recording a performance data stream.
"In this period you cannot expect to have too much breeze unless you you get the Mistrale in the morning," explained skipper Max Sirena in a dockside interview.
"I think we we've been able to get a few runs - which are good because we have sailed in such a light conditions lately. It was important to close the year with a day like today - we got some good data and we tried some really light condition manoeuvre - which is important considering the future Cup in Barcelona."
"Every time we were going out in the water, we are we are thinking about what is going to be on the new [race/AC75] boat so it is always an ongoing process to try to develop and improve the boat, the system, and everything will have on board in the new boat."
"We just try out ideas to see how to simplify, or make a better systems, for the future."
Looking back on 2022, Sirena remarked that the Italians decided to start work on the development of their LEQ12, without knowing the AC75 Version 2 rule, and had to make a considered guess at the way it would evolve.
"I think we have achieved a pretty good result," he said. "Since the launch of the boat we sail mostly in really light and stronger every condition. Sometimes there are waves which is going to be a common condition in Barcelona."
Session Statistics - Cagliari - December 20, 2022 - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli - LEQ12
- Wind Strength 7-9kts (AM)
- Wind Direction: SSW (AM)
- Weather: Sunny. Temperature: 19°C
- Sea State: (AM) 0.5 swell SE
- Roll out: 0800hrs Dock Out: 1030hrs
- Dock In: 1240hrs
- Total Tacks: 3 - Fully foiling: 4; Touch & Go: 3; Touch Down: 2
- Total Gybes: 1 - Fully foiling: 0; Touch & Go: 0; Touch Down: 1
Crew: Francesco Bruni (helm), Ruggerio Tita, Umberto Molineris, Andrea Tesei, Vittorio Bissario
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.