La Roche-Posay Racing Team, the French challenger for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, demonstrated the persistence that defines their campaign with a late-evening sail testing session in Naples. Representing the Société Nautique de Saint Tropez, the team refused to let fading light stop them from extracting every possible minute on the water, a habit that stretches back to the previous Cup cycle in 2024 when late finishes in the dark became something of a trademark.
The day began with high-technology rig tuning aboard their AC75 known as B2. Fibre optic measurement systems and load cells were deployed as sailors and technicians refined the setup before heading out onto the Bay of Naples. However, mild autumn conditions brought soft north-easterly thermals across the Mediterranean, and the team was forced to wait ashore, anxiously receiving updates from their meteorology team.
Finally, just before 3pm, lines were slipped and hopes turned to an evening breeze. Initial sailing was tough, with short runs off the beautiful district of Posilippo as the wind shifted to the south-west and only filled to gusts of 8 knots. Intriguingly, the French opted for their smaller MN3-1 mainsail paired with just a J2-1 jib, a combination that Emirates Team New Zealand has been seen trialling extensively at the lighter end of the wind range. The decision raises a compelling question for this America’s Cup cycle: is reducing aero drag aloft the key to unlocking performance?
If teams can perfect take-off and maintain flight with a smaller sail area, that could represent the nirvana of AC75 performance. When La Roche-Posay Racing Team clicked into a beautiful late-afternoon drainage breeze along the shoreline, they rocketed along at speeds up to 41 knots as the sun settled in the east. Helmsman Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín were constantly fighting the fading light, but it proved a useful session before darkness and fatigue brought proceedings to a close.
Mathieu Cadei, a highly experienced sailor and yacht designer, offered a fascinating observation in the Recon Report. He noted that following two days of rig work built around load tension measurements on the cap shrouds, the presence aboard of the electronics engineer involved in that work would be consistent with checking, under sailing load, what had been set up or calibrated. This could relate shroud loads to the fibre optic lines or other rig sensors. Cadei also observed that the jib choice may tie into this cautious approach. No J1 has been seen on any observed day, and the team has tended to choose the smaller of the plausible jibs, using J3-3 in very light air on Day 19 and J4-3 on Day 18 as the breeze softened, with J2-1 and J3-3 taken on this occasion. According to Cadei, this would be consistent with a commissioning approach, keeping sail and rig loads on the conservative side while systems are still being characterised rather than pushing the boat to its full potential.
