KIWI PRECISION. SWISS GO LARGE. ‘MAJESTIC’ MAGIC.

Out on the water just after midday, with blue skies, high temperatures, billiard-table flat water and a beautiful 7-10 knots of breeze, Te Rehutai, the much-modified Cup-winning boat from AC36, looked sensational and it was all in the detail of the team’s technique. Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney, two of the finest Flight Controllers in the business, had the AC75 trim on point, inducing immediate windward heel post tack and dialling the ride ever lower to the surface upwind with clever cant angles. Such was the windward heel upwind that the windward exposed foil was skimming the surface regularly whilst up aloft the mainsail trim was a study in crisp, clipped trim to keep the power full on.

Early long runs to establish the preferred mode were replaced by a hugely impressive second stint of tacks and gybes that were 100% executed foil-to-foil and over the three-hour session, the Kiwis barely put a foot wrong. Pete Burling and Nathan Outteridge have clicked like a jigsaw puzzle and their pairing has been one of the most inspired in this cycle. Exit angles from the gybes were particularly impressive and smooth whilst the tack transitions looked seamless all afternoon. Every team will be poring over the recon footage. The clues are there. Emirates Team New Zealand are performing at a very high level.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing meanwhile, took the perfect Barcelona conditions to get a very entertaining two-boat AC40 session in, running with their first boat AC40-4 in LEQ12 mode whilst the newest boat AC40-7 stayed in pure one design mode. Both bots were on autopilot and the established pairing of Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin took control of the LEQ with its Tubercle foil whilst Nicolas Charbonnier and Phil Robertson shared helming duties on the one design moded AC40. Expectations were for the LEQ to show well in the conditions but in a series of very close races it was the one-design moded boat that had the best of it and proving that boat positioning and tactics matter in the AC40. Vilanova will prove that beyond any doubt.

Speaking afterwards Yves Detrey was buzzing saying: “It was a great day. I mean it's nice to sail in 12 knots, it's a perfect wind condition and sea state, it was perfect there for us to you know do a little bit of racing because that's what we're trying to do to build for Vilanova…we had our two boats out and it was also a good opportunity to check performance and see how we're doing.” Yves was on the LEQ12 moded AC40 this afternoon and when asked about what looked like a slight performance deficit, he commented: “I think you know it's a bit marginal is it depends a little bit on the conditions and again we are left to go through the data altogether and speak about it…so it's discussion we are going to have tonight for sure.”

All eyes are now on Vilanova and Alinghi Red Bull Racing will be keen to convert a very solid winter of testing and training into performance where it matters. With the team’s planned holiday, they missed the first pre-event racing last week but with another session planned in the coming days, they will for sure be taking part in that before concentrating fully on preparations for the first Preliminary Regatta. Yves Detrey thinks that the learning curve is still going to be steep for the young Swiss team and will be eyeing sailing technique from the other teams: “For sure we are going to see some differences on the first event like any other series. When you show up to an event you have your convictions and then you believe that you are faster, and you have your setups and then and you narrow that down once you are sailing with the others so for sure for the first event, we're going to see some differences.”

Another team really gearing up for Vilanova is New York Yacht Club American Magic who put in a super solid day of testing again in their two modified AC40s as they continue their extensive upgrade programme with their foil packages. America carrying Foil Wing 03, the latest iteration, and Magic on the upgraded Foil Wing 01 both running on their port side foil arms respectively made for plenty of starboard tack evaluation with little to choose between the two in a straight-line. America, if anything appeared to shade it on the longer runs and then when the team started doing manoeuvre practice, it was almost a foil-to-foil demonstration that prompted the recon team to call their execution ‘majestic’ over 24 tacks and gybes.

Speaking afterwards, Paul Goodison, always great in interview gave a thorough account of the day saying: “It looked like there was going to be a lighter forecast early on and then with a nice build later and some of conflicting reports but our forecaster got it spot on today so it's fantastic to get out there and get through the whole range of starting up in that 8 to 10 and then started going up to the 14 and some J3 conditions at the end it was a fantastic day on the water…very similar to the previous day, obviously we're foil testing pretty hard on starboard tack comparing Foil Wing 01 and Foil Wing 03 and then a little bit of aero tests as well and just some manoeuvre stuff so it's been a good day.”

With Vilanova on the near horizon, Paul commented on the team’s approach saying that they will continue this week with the foil testing before switching to one design: “At the moment where we're still sailing in LEQ mode, not in the one design mode so our focus is really more on the full development this week. Next week we'll try and put a couple of days in the one design mode to sharpen up a little bit for the for the first event but really the primary focus is developing the fastest race boat we can so we have a really nice AC75 when it comes around to racing for the real thing.”

And talking about their tactical approach having impressed hugely in the first pre-event last week, Paul added: “We did a couple of fleet races the other week against the other team so that kind of sparked  a little bit of the conversation about how we approach it but really our primary focus is on developing the fastest boat for the America’s Cup so we are hard into the development stage with a full testing and the aero testing and we’ll switch over hopefully not too late to do some do some race practice.”

Asked specifically about who he thinks will make it to the match racing final in Vilanova, Paul offered: “Hopefully us but I think it's going to be very tight, each of their teams have got a great bunch of sailors and they've been developing their skills so it's going to be really interesting when we properly line up and do it for real.”

And that’s an understatement. The first Preliminary Regatta in Vilanova from the 14-17^th September is going to be a real test and will give an early indication of form. Hard to bet against American Magic at the moment. They are looking like the team to beat. (Magnus Wheatley)

On-Water Recon Report – Emirates Team New Zealand: ETNZ rolled out their B2 AC75 from the shed at 10.57 am. The boat was craned to the water at 11:30 and the team docked out at 12.32, as planned. The M1 and the J2 were hoisted inside the port at 12:40 and 12:45, respectively; and were the only sails used during the day.

The 37th America´s Cup defender organized the day in two parts. First, a normal training session with their AC75 “Te Rehutai” and then an afternoon sail with their AC40 on one-design configuration, with the objective to continue to test the race management systems and the autonomous marks, that will be used at the upcoming preliminary regatta in Vilanova, next September. This recon unit was told to recon the first of the two sessions.

The training started sailing mostly on a straight line, both upwind and downwind, for approximately one hour. When comparing to other days, when sailing upwind it seemed like ETNZ sailed slightly more heeled to windward, with the leeward foil wing closer to the surface and the wing tip coming out of the water more regularly and most of the time. At the same time, on the windward side, the windward wing seemed extremely close to touch the water surface, and even touching it at times.

After a short break and a cyclers rotation, during the second half of the training, the focus was centred on the tacks and gybes. ETNZ did in total 27 tacks and 27 gybes, standing on their foils on absolutely all of them.

Besides the team´s impressive boat-handling performance, the conditions helped as completely flat water and a stable 7 to 12 knots sea breeze from the SSW prevailed during the day.

Te Rehutai was sailed back to the port entrance, where sails were lowered at 15:14, the boat was back in the dock at 15:25, craned out at 15:55 and back in the shed at 16:25. No breakdowns were detected. Sebastian Peri Brusa – Recon on ETNZ

On-Water Recon Report – Alinghi Red Bull Racing: The Swiss rolled out the AC40-7 (RED) at 10:10 and the AC40-4 (YELLOW) at 10:55. The Red boat was prepared in one-design mode, while the Yellow boat was set in LE mode, equipped with the tubercle foil on its port side and the anhedral foil on starboard. The Yellow boat received notable attention; a hydraulic pump was connected to it, and a portable air conditioner was also utilized, indicating work below deck on the hydraulic system.

Both yachts docked out at 14:00, and sails were raised in port. The M1-2 LE mainsail and the new J2-2 LE were hoisted on the Yellow boat, which then started sailing from the port entrance at 14:25, followed shortly after by the Red boat at 14:30. The 'Garbi' afternoon thermal wind was steady from the SSW, showing speeds between 10-14 knots. Sea State was relatively flat, with wave heights not exceeding 0.5m in the sailing area.

During the first stint, the session opened with a brief upwind/downwind warmup. While the boat was sailing on foil, Yves Detrey was seen climbing out of the leeward trimming seat and crawling on deck to adjust controls in the LE jib clew. In this session, the Red boat seemed to have a slight edge both upwind and downwind segments.

In the second stint, the boats engaged in a lengthy upwind/downwind race. The Red boat reached the windward mark (defined by a chase boat) first and maintained its lead throughout, even attempting what looked like a dummy tack, by quickly lowering and raising the windward foil, that the Yellow boat didn't fall for.

The third stint comprised a one-lap race on the 2NM course set at 195 degrees. Owing to obstructions from parasail and charter boats on the start line, both yachts initiated their race in synchronization away from the start gate. The Yellow boat led at the windward gate and extended the lead with a closer shore approach during the downwind leg. This is the only race the Yellow boat won.

The fourth sailing stint consisted of a two-lap race. The Red boat sailed closer to the shore, gaining favourable winds and opening a significant gap from the Yellow boat, which sailed away from the land. This strategy seemed to consistently give considerable advantage.

The two crews swapped each other’s boats for the remaining two races. The LE jib on the Yellow boat was dropped momentarily to be re-adjusted.

The fifth stint saw a one-lap race. The yellow boat was on the back foot early on, with a touch down during a tack just prior to the start. This caused it to cross the starting line at a reduced speed compared to the red boat. The Red boat led at the top mark, as the yellow boat fell of the foils after rounding and gybing. The Red boat performed a gybe and a tack, which allowed the yellow boat to close the lead, but not enough to overtake downwind.

The sixth and final stint of the day was a single lap race with an increased number of manoeuvres. The Yellow boat displayed a marked improvement in consistency as compared to previous stints. After rounding through the finish gate, the yachts continued to race upwind along the beach, heading back to the base.

The Red boat entered the port directly, whereas the Yellow boat continued sailing a little longer, then stopped outside the port entrance and dropped the sails at 18:00.

It was thought that the difference in performance between the boats was due to the manual flight control on the Yellow boat, however in the post-sailing interview, Yves Detrey claimed both boats were using automated FCS.

56 Nautical Miles were covered following ARBR, as the team spent four and a half hours on the water, of which an aggregated 150 minutes sailing. 103 tacks and gybes performed by the Yellow boat were counted, the highest number recorded yet. 89% of manoeuvres were fully foiling, at a rate of 41 moves per hour.

On-Water Recon Report – NYYC American Magic: The NYYC American Magic started to roll out their prototypes at 10:45h with the same configuration as yesterday. America; with a black gullwing foil with elevated tips and a spat on starboard side and the new C silver version with elevated tips on port side, and Magic; with the black one design T foil on starboard and the version H of the port wing foil painted in matt silver with full white tips.

They proceeded with the mast stepping procedure and by 12:00h both boats where in the water. Dock out at 13:00h after a quick briefing with Tom, Lucas, Michael and Severin in Magic and Paul, Andrew, Riley and Harry in America. Outside the harbour and with the main up they hoisted #J1 with 7-9knts coming from SSW and 0,2m waves from S.

A 10min lap followed by 8 tacks and 7 gybes made them stop and change to #J2.

At 13:59h America and Magic started foiling 16' upwind testing on starboard tack comparing FW1 and FW3 ending at 14:28h bearing away. Once stopped, America checked on their port foil as they did yesterday before foiling again. For 31' they did an amount of 24 majestic manoeuvres.

By 15:20h they changed batteries and hoisted #J3 as the wind increased to 11-13knts. America went back to sailing as Magic did after having some problems with their halyard.

Back to harbour at 17:10h ending a 2h 26' fully foiling training focused on testing aero and manoeuvres. Elia Miquel Recon Unit NYYC AM.