Alinghi Red Bull Racing AC40-4 Day 14 Summary

Riding high above an, at times, two metre swell out on a pitch-perfect Barcelona afternoon, Alinghi Red Bull Racing had their AC40 in a new performance mode, keeping the bow up and the hull very level. Arnaud Psarofaghis and Maxime Bachelin, who had swapped pods in an interesting bit of A/B test sailing, were noticeably dialled into the mode, relentlessly pursuing a very high flight downwind and absolutely nailing laylines over a short course. Bear-aways were flat and fast, gybes were super-high and pre-start circling practice was co-ordinated and slick between the pair. With the design team now far down the road of finalising their one-build AC75 that will challenge next year for the America’s Cup, the recon team managed to grab a fascinating interview with Nico Bailey, formerly an aeronautical engineer for Airbus, who was corralled into the American Magic programme for the 36th America’s Cup before joining Alinghi Red Bull Racing for this cycle. With some wide variations in foil design being trialled on LEQ12 prototypes by all the teams, Nico gave an insight into the Swiss programme saying: “I guess all the teams are the same, we try to model with as high a fidelity as possible. All the foils we model in all our setup tools that we have, so Simulator, CFD, all kinds of calculations and we try to understand what are the weakness of the opponents and what are the good points to try to make the best possible.” 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