The headline grabber was the dramatic ‘skyrocket’ by INEOS Britannia’s T6.
A roundup turn from a fast downwind angle on port, with the W-Foil immersed, to an upwind course resulted in a spectacular sky jump which saw T6 at an angle of 30 degrees with just the rudder still in the water.
As the boat rounded up at speeds into 40 knots, the bow went skywards, both foils came out of the water, the boat broached and came crashing down.
Following the resulting crash down the crew did well to avoid what for a second seemed a certain capsize and unfazed minutes later they were back up and foiling.
INEOS Britannia were greeted today with big mistral winds and a building waveform on the Bay of Palma and elected for a long tow round to the west off Portals Marina to find flatter water and a solid breeze that touched 18 knots at times.
This was a day to push hard and with Ben Ainslie and Ben Cornish on the helm, replaced later in the session by Giles Scott, with Luke Parkinson and Iain Jensen on trim and flight control, this was the race team at race pace, with no compromises.
Luckily no capsize and nothing broken but the analysts will be poring over the data on that one . . . Especially as the team had just completed almost exactly the same round up from a fast downwind just minutes earlier.
Why the foil let go will be the question and whether it was user error, or a design issue is what the team will need to get to the bottom of.
Getting to grips with the complex control arrangements of the new starboard foil is an ongoing exercise and the recon team observed several falls from flight that certainly look to be more of an annoyance than by design.
It’s a curious feature of recent sessions on port tack with the boat flying nicely, low and fast, before suddenly letting go and digging the bow in but the British team are working hard on this conceptual foil and the natural pitch of bow-up post-tack looks to be highly effective and more stable.
The Recon team also noted that T6 appeared to be using the bustle in the waves, skimming from top to top downwind and there’s no secret that they are really exploring sailing styles and using the bustle effectively here in Palma with one eye on the expected conditions in Barcelona.
INEOS Britannia will now be shoreside until Friday with ‘T6’ getting a thorough check over by the engineering and shore teams, but it was a terrific session with some solid sailing, and one suspects, a huge amount of new data to be thoroughly analysed.
Job done. INEOS Britannia are looking good.
Recon Unit.
Onboard T6:
Helms: Ben Ainslie / Ben Cornish (who swapped out later for Giles Scott)
Crew: Luke Parkinson / Iain Jensen
