Emirates Team New Zealand LEQ12 Day 22 Summary

A simply beautiful day in Auckland greeted Emirates Team New Zealand’s LEQ12 and AC40 for a full-on afternoon of rapid-fire practice starts and short one-lappers once the breeze filled in. The biggest take-away has to be that in these foiling machines, in semi-marginal conditions the likes of which we could well see in Barcelona on any given race days, the pre-start is all about staying on the foils and nailing time-on-distance. Perhaps better to be late, but staying in flight is crucial and although the AC40’s have huge manoeuvrability, large duck-aways or rounding-ups on the final approach are fatal to the outcome. As Josh Junior and Liv Mackay proved, once ahead in the AC40, passing lanes are almost non-existent and even with a boat that’s certainly a smidge faster in the LEQ12, it’s still a tall order to make the move and get past. Blair Tuke, the senior Flight Controller for ETNZ, gave a glimpse of the difficulty in the pre-start when boat-on-boat saying: “Today was a bit easier and it’s quite fun at the bottom end just trying to control the boats. It’s quite difficult to keep them foiling and then in the pre-start with the other team there you’ve got to manage them but also stay on the foil so yeah really good challenge and you know the team’s taken a lot out of it.” 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