If Pete Burling and Nathan Outteridge thought they were going to have it easy sailing the LEQ12 AC40 against the one-design AC40, they were sorely mistaken. Josh Junior and Leonard Takahashi absolutely took the fight to the established AC75 helms in a thrilling afternoon of pre-start two-boat practice off Takapuna on the North Shore of Auckland that offers a real glimpse of what we can expect to see come the AC40 pre-regattas in Vilanova i La Geltrú and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia later on this year.
Entering an imaginary starting ‘box’ from opposite ends of the line, various tactics were deployed by both crews – on occasion it was ‘run and hide’ with a timed run back to the line and on others it was full-on boat-on-boat action with the highly manoeuvrable AC40s being perfect match-race craft. The game in town was to get the other off the foils as the speed differential is simply massive and Josh Junior and Leo Takahashi were asking serious questions of Pete and Nathan all afternoon in a dying light and a north-easterly that barely broke double digits.
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
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