INEOS Britannia AC40-2 Day 8 Summary

After a weekend off for the sailing team, INEOS Britannia called for a mega-early start on Monday morning to catch a brief weather window before the unusually cold winter closed in again and yet another Mediterranean storm blew in at midday. The shore crew, so often the hardest working people in the America’s Cup, had the team’s AC40 out on the apron just after 7am getting ready for launch. The mercury was struggling above freezing and rain clouds sat resolutely but the AC40 was out of the harbour at 9am for a session that showed just how strong a challenge the British are mounting. Rob Wilson, the ‘supercoach’ to INEOS Britannia gave a terrific interview after sailing on the dockside saying: “…with the AC40 for us we're still learning it and so it’s kind of taking it up to the next step, taking it up to 20 knots wind speed and just seeing how she behaved so that that was the main plan for today… it's super well-behaved, the guys have got to grips with it pretty quickly and it is being a really useful platform and actually we’re really looking forward to racing it later on this year.” 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