Alinghi Red Bull Racing AC40-4 Day 39 Summary

Barcelona was at its boisterous best on Wednesday with a ‘Levant’ easterly wind offshore and a ‘Xaloc’ south easterly inshore that brought in heavy rain squalls that tipped the anemometers above 15 knots. Alinghi Red Bull Racing brought their baby Bulls out to play with the tricked up LEQ12 now minus the delta Tubercle foil and the one design AC40 lining up for a solid four-hour session of sail testing and technique refinement. Speaking afterwards, Nicolas Rolaz, now an integral member of the Driving Group at Alinghi Red Bull Racing and sailing aboard the AC40 One Design today gave his thoughts on the sail testing saying: “it was a different mainsail on (the LEQ12) so we're trying different settings it depends on the wind, depends on the waves, but overall both boats had positive things and negative things… we didn’t have much time with both J2’s up because the waves were big and the wind went down so we struggled with we take offs. So, it was good to try the J2 in this low in breeze and yeah, the difference in the main it’s hard to tell with the sea state it's a lot more boat handling more than sails.” 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