America's Cup, continual progression for Ineos Britannia

The days are long out in Palma for INEOS Britannia at the moment as the team pushes on with a relentless commitment to progression and improvement in all areas of the boat and sailing technique.

Everything is captured, and on a day where it was very much dictated by specific design tests, ‘T6’ was pushed into uncomfortable pitches and ride heights early in the session as the team seeks the ‘corner cases’ to thoroughly test out the new starboard anhedral foil.

Once the testing schedule was completed after several long foiling runs, the Chase Boat team dropped in marks and the sailors put on what can only be described as demonstration sailing. T6 was alive and being absolutely sent by Giles Scott and Ben Cornish, hitting warp speeds but very much under control. Leigh McMillan and Luke Parkinson were doing a stellar job on trim and flight control with T6 held desperately low to the water upwind to create the end-plating effect and flying high as they dared downwind. Tacks and gybes were some of the smoothest we’ve seen from INEOS Britannia and all round it was a day full of positives.

Speaking afterwards, Ben Cornish described his almost unique dual role of helmsman and cyclor whilst also offering an insight into the continual progression that the team are seeking with the heavily upgraded T6 that has rapidly become a powerful tool for the British and certainly one of the stand-out LEQ12s in this America’s Cup cycle. Great day on the water on Friday. The British looked sensational.