INEOS Britannia AC40-2 Day 4 Summary

INEOS Britannia rounded off a milestone week with yet another superb commissioning sail in ‘Athena,’ the team’s AC40 that was greeted again by flat water and a sub-10 knot breeze out on the Bay of Palma. The team broke out the J2 jib for its first outing and with just enough horsepower to pop to flight in the late afternoon, helmsmen Giles Scott and Dylan Fletcher-Scott, the latter who is officially according to an INEOS Britannia spokesperson: “with us as part of our ongoing sailing team trials as we look to build our squad for AC37,” had the boat on foils for the majority of a session that lasted some three hours. With Bleddyn Mon and Leigh MacMillan on flight control, it wasn’t long before the auto-pilot was turned off and the ace trimmers started playing with pitch, adopting the bow-up/stern down technique that they were using extensively onboard their LEQ12 prototype T6. Both flight controllers are key interfaces between the sailing team and the analysts back at the Mercedes Applied Science Mission Control centre in Brackley, Northamptonshire and as Bleddyn commented later: “There's kind of all the learning we’re trying to gather from this boat as much as we can for the design team back in Brackley and yeah we will keep chipping away with a few kind of specific tests here and there where we can and then also throw it around a racecourse whenever we can as well.” 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