Alinghi Red Bull Racing AC40-4 Day 13 Summary

The hours on the water are clocking up for Alinghi Red Bull Racing in the AC40 and the translation to sailing performance and dynamite technique was much in evidence on a thrilling session on Thursday that offered a huge insight into what the America’s Cup world can expect when these exciting foilers get racing in September. All credit to the sailors who have responded to coaching superbly but the guidance that Sailing Team Advisors Pietro Sibello and Dean Barker have imparted to this young, keen team has been invaluable. In interview afterwards Pietro gave a brilliant insight into how they’ve approached this block of pre-start training saying: “Our focus this week is to use the AC40 to practise the pre starts and the laps around marks, mark roundings and manoeuvres as well. In the pre-start the boats are really fast and the time of the pre-start is two minutes in the box - the box where you can sail is not really big, so you need to practise on how to use, in the best way, the time you have after the entry and of course there are different schemes you can use and to slow down there are different techniques you have seen, for sure us sailing with two boards down that's a technique to slow down the boat and being a bit more precise on where to position the boat and then kill the time… when the wind is super light, like today at the end of the session, you don't want to slow down too much because then you cannot manoeuvre. So it's a bit more critical to use this technique but when the wind is a bit higher and the boat speed is higher as well then you need somehow to slow down the boat and bringing the second board down (increase) the drag and reduce the righting moment so the speed goes down and it’s easier to go around the box.” Section 41. Reconnaissance a) As a campaign cost reduction measure, COR/D has mutually agreed to cooperatively implement a centralised reconnaissance programme for all teams for the reconnaissance of all Competitors’ AC75 Yachts, AC40 Yachts and LEQ12 yachts including both on-land and on-water imagery (the “Joint Recon Programme”). b) Each team is assigned a two-person Recon Unit to follow their every on-water move, but it's not that simple. The cameras are supplied and identical for all Recon Units. Drones are not allowed, and they can't get that close, plus following a boat and keeping a camera steady at 45 knots isn't that easy to begin with. c) A three minute interview follows each on water day, and teams must answer the Recon Unit's questions while trying not to give too much away. It's a raw, unedited view of the never before seen behind-the-scenes development of a team and their boat to win the oldest trophy in international sports. #AC37Recon #AmericasCup #Barcelona2024