Today, skipper Dean Barker and his SoftBank Team Japan gleefully announced in words, pictures and video what the competition has of course long known: the Japanese not only foil when gybing, but have also solved the complex task of foiling when tacking. They also provide the matching video with the perfect manoeuvre. And they are only too happy to show off their muscles as a last-minute campaign.
According to the Japanese, they have been managing the foil turns for months. They worked for the first time during a training session off Bermuda on an AC-45 test boat. The difficult manoeuvre had long been considered the "Holy Grail" of this America's Cup cycle among sailors. It was the last missing piece of the puzzle in the teams' endeavours to ensure permanent foiling during a race.
SoftBank Team Japan shows what it's made of: skipper Dean Barker and the crew tack on foils. This was previously considered one of the most difficult tasks to solve. However, Martin Whitmarsh, ex-Formula 1 manager and project manager of the British team Land Rover BAR, was not the only one to predict from the outset that the races in the 35th America's Cup in 2017 would probably be sailed permanently on foils. The Japanese are well on the way to achieving this.
"We know it's possible and it will change the game," said skipper and CEO Dean Barker. "We think most teams know we've done it. So the race is on. For the gybe trick on foils, there was a lot to learn about the different set-ups and techniques in different wind conditions. It will be the same with the tacks."
The controlled tack on foils can change the upwind strategy in the upcoming America's Cup competition. Gains of hundreds of metres compared to the America's Cup 2013 appear possible if the previous slowdown in the tacks can be reduced. This was previously caused by the hulls of the catamarans dipping back into the water when tacking.
"The boat has to reach certain speeds to stay on the foils, typically around 16 to 18 knots. When you go into a tack, the speed is usually around 13 to 14 knots. So what you need to do is to carry the existing speed into the tack to make sure you don't sink. Normally you lose a lot of speed in a tack, up to four boat lengths. But if you can stay on the foils, these losses can be significantly reduced," says Barker.
The first tacking manoeuvre on foils was carried out by the team in training alongside sparring partner Oracle Team USA on 19 April. "We were out there, sailing in a nice breeze, initiated the tack - and stayed on the foils," reports Barker, "We repeated it again on the same day to make sure it wasn't just a lucky shot. In the following months, we have since increased our consistency in carrying out the manoeuvre."
Back in 2013, it was Dean Barker and his team - then still Emirates Team New Zealand, who wanted to banish their skipper to the coach's bench after the Cup before he voluntarily resigned and now works for the Japanese - who managed the first gybes on foils before the wind and thus the sailing technique for the breakthrough and initial Cup dominance. Now it is Barker again who is setting sailing standards and working on the unrestrained flight over the regatta course. "Keeping the hulls dry throughout the race would be the absolute 'Holy Grail'," he says.
The 2000 America's Cup winner is under no illusions: "It's all about consistency now! All teams in the 2017 America's Cup are expected to sail the tacks on foils. I'm sure we'll see more teams trying to perfect these tacks on foils in the coming months."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
