What a sight, two of the INEOS Britannia America’s Cup yachts went head-to-head in the Bay of Palma this week.
According to the British America’s Cup team, which has been based in Mallorca for nearly a year now and intends to remain for at least another three, it was a very special day.
“A simply terrific day for INEOS Britannia on Wednesday as the British team, at full strength with Sir Ben Ainslie in town, lined up T6, their LEQ12 prototype, with the team’s AC40 in the first encounter we’ve seen of these similar but oh so very different boats. Speed differences are perhaps better judged by the Mercedes Applied Science team back in Brackley, Northamptonshire, but as a spectator it was hard to take your eye off the low-riding T6, bristling with power and electric downwind on its anhedral starboard foil.
"Very much looking the real deal, the British are more than on to something with the development of T6, the bustle-skimming, end-plating technique that at first looked odd, now is the firm direction of every team in this America’s Cup cycle and their control on the sails is looking masterful.
"The Flight Controllers are now so comfortable with the array of technology onboard that they are willing and able to throw the boat about with ease. In the pre-starts they looked very controlled against the presumably lighter and, you would expect, nimbler AC40 but in reality T6 looked more than a match. Considering the light conditions, it was a devastating performance – imagine anything above 10 knots,” the team said in a statement.