Ben Ainslie: “It’s now or never” Has momentum shifted for INEOS Britannia in the America’s Cup?

Helen Fretter

Ben Ainslie's team got two wins on the board in the America's Cup, but does Ainslie think his team have enough to mount a full on comeback?

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It looked, initially, as if the America’s Cup was going to be a short, sharp, and bloody execution for the British Challengers, who went 4-0 down in the first three days of racing.

But today Ben Ainslie and team stemmed the tide, by winning two America’s Cup races on Day 4. It is a truly historic result for British sailing, the first wins in the America’s Cup in 90 years. But have they also done enough to reverse the momentum?

Yesterday in Barcelona was humid, overcast and breezy, while the Mediterranean was grey and lumpen. INEOS Britannia towed out, and stayed out for several hours practising what appeared to be tight manoeuvres. Today, the sun might have returned but the sea state remained, and INEOS Britannia won both pre-starts – and capitalised on them in order to win both races.

“The sea state was big yesterday, and it was big today,” commented Ainslie after racing.

“We certainly feel like every day we’re out in the water, we’re unlocking more potential than the boat. [Yesterday] was really focussing on our own performance and trying to figure that out – it wasn’t really necessarily about what the Kiwis were doing.

“I can’t tell you what’s going through their minds. What I can tell you is our team are prepared to put the work in, and effort into finding those gains and take it all the way.”

Emirates Team New Zealand also demonstrated today that they are not foot-perfect, making a couple of errors, but Ainslie explained that those errors were the result of situations the British squad have practised, and set up on the racecourse.

“That was a tricky position for them, but I think we forced it on them”. Photo: Ricardo Pinto / America’s Cup

“Ultimately, we made them gybe in the pre-start dial down [in the first race], and I don’t think they had enough speed to gybe. Then we were able to get some gas on them as well, which got them off the foil. That was a tricky position for them, but I think we forced it on them.

“We’ve been practising some different approaches to the start, and [the second race] was one of them. We just made it work, but it was a powerful position for us.”

Trimmer Bleddyn Mon explained further: “[The second race] was obviously a slightly unconventional set up to what we’ve seen in pre-starts up until now. But it’s something we’ve been looking at in the simulator and analysing in terms of how the pre-starts have played out up until now.

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“So yeah, it was a play that we had up our sleeve and worked out quite nicely. Obviously, we were close on the pin, but had good timing in the end and able to come away with a good start.”

Ainslie added: “The Kiwis are a great team, but they are capable of the odd mistake, and I think the trick for us is to really build on that and the momentum that we’ve got with our team and the confidence that that gives us that we can beat them, and keep putting the pressure on us.”

Now or never for Ainslie’s America’s Cup team

Tomorrow is a lay day – possibly frustratingly for the Brits, as it looks like the last day of solid breeze and wave state. Now INEOS Britannia have taken two races, Friday will once again be a scheduled race day. Meanwhile Saturday and Sunday currently look very light indeed. So what more can the British do with the time they have left?

“Every chance we get to get out sailing on this boat, I’m confident we find more performance. It’s now or never,” said Ainslie.

“I’m sure there’s plenty left in the tank. It’s just how quickly we can find that performance. That’s the trick for us. I don’t know. I need to have a look at the forecast tomorrow, whether we want to get out again. I think we’ve sailed something like five or six days in a row, which is pushing it. But I know we can get more performance.”

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