State of Play | Giles Scott

INEOS Britannia has touched down in Palma! We caught up with Giles Scott, Senior Sailor, on how the team has been busy preparing to begin their Winter Training Camp in Palma later this summer.  

"In the past few months, everything has started feeling very real for the Cup. "We've got the venue, all the rules are in place, and teams are coming in. It's now game on with continued hard work to see up the bases in Barcelona." 

Palma de Mallorca was chosen this year as INEOS Britannia's Winter Training Camp, where they will start sailing their 40-foot test later this summer. The location provides many opportunities for the sailing team, with conditions similar to the America’s Cup venue in Barcelona, and consistent weather patterns that enable as many training days on the water as possible through the winter months. 

The sailing team roster is now up to 10 individuals, with plans to continue to grow over the next year. The history of the America’s Cup has shown that continuality is the cornerstone of successful Cup campaigns, and INEOS Britannia are fortunate that all 10 of the current sailing squad continue from the last America’s Cup campaign in Auckland. Furthermore Giles Scott, Neil Hunter, Leigh Mcmillan, Bleddyn Mon and David ‘Freddie’ Carr enter their third campaign with the British challenger.  

" I cannot wait to get the test boat on the water. Being able to get a test boat out on the water with actual sailing data is a crucial piece of the puzzle. This next phase of getting the test boat on the water and getting through the testing phase is critical as we look to sign off the key design features for our AC75 race boat."  

Palma will also be the first time the shared recon programme will be following every move of the British Challenge.  As outlined in a recent feature by AC.com; spying in the America’s Cup has been far more than a recent phenomenon, but it required significant budget with ever more sophisticated technology being deployed to measure, capture and record your competitors on the water with everything from outright speed through to manoeuvres, sail plans, wing design, onboard control systems and aero packages required.  

So, for the 37th America’s Cup, Rule 41, Part F, of Protocol Document is a new and highly significant rule aimed at curbing the expenditure, reducing the frustration that teams have traditionally experienced of being spied upon and opening up the event for spectators to get a consistent view of developments and techniques that all the syndicates will be honing, in this cycle. 

Reconnaissance personnel, appointed by the teams but overseen by America’s Cup Events Limited, will be employed to follow each tack, gybe and daily runs of every on-the-water session. Data and imagery will be uploaded into the cloud for all teams to view and analyse as well as interviews with key team members on a daily basis to form a mass of engaging content. This content will also be brought to fans and followers and will help to paint the picture of sailing’s pinnacle event – the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona 2024. 

Scott added “The new Shared Recon programme, will be fascinating to watch as it involves the sailors and key designers being interviewed, about decisions being made out on the water. This shared knowledge will not only help the teams in honing and completing the design packages but also hopefully help share the fascination and insight of the Cup with the public and grow the fanbase further, it could be a real gamechanger.”