Ben Ainslie is looking forward to the upcoming qualifying regatta

America’s Cup: Ben Ainslie looking forward to upcoming qualifying regattas

Magnus Wheatley/America’s Cup Media Jul 23, 05:19 PDT
July 24, 2024

Louis Vuitton One of the most anticipated teams at the 37th America’s Cup is undoubtedly record challengers Ineos Britannia, who have placed design innovation at the heart of their campaign from the very start.

It’s often said that the America’s Cup is “a design race with a regatta at the end,” which aptly describes just how thorough this meticulous challenge was.

Combining the incredible in-house capabilities and vast cross-disciplinary experience of the entire INEOS Sports Group has been key to arguably the greatest challenge to come out of the UK since Sir Tom Sopwith’s closest challenge in 1934.

When the team rolled out the LEQ12 at their winter training base in Palma, Mallorca in 2022, they immediately demonstrated their strong intention to take on the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup. Packed with technology and linked live to mission control bases in Parma and Brackley, Northamptonshire as part of a partnership with the Mercedes F1 Team, it was clear the team was looking for precision and accuracy to extract the maximum amount of data. Although not without issues, capsizing and near-sinking were expertly avoided, and the breakage of the rudder gantry whilst being towed at high speed certainly proved that this team is willing to push the limits.

When the team’s stunning AC75 was unveiled in May 2024, a design that to the naked eye is radically different to the rest of the fleet and full of innovation, suddenly it all made sense. The commissioning process in Barcelona was swift and soon the team was up and running at full speed, delivering an immensely impressive performance that put the whole of Port Vell on alert. INEOS Britannia knows what is expected of them and there is a quiet confidence around this experienced team that their programme is on track.

With just a month to go until the race, INEOS Britannia Chief Executive and Helmsman, Sir Ben Ainslie, is looking forward to the upcoming third and final qualification regatta and when asked how the team is doing replied: “Yes, we’re doing well. Like everyone, we’re looking forward to getting involved in the race and understanding our competitors better; to see who’s going fast, what the conditions are like and, of course, to see how the racing will play out in the round robin. It’s an opportunity to compare ourselves against our opponents and prepare for the competition. Of course, it’s inevitable that we’ll make changes to the boat set-up as the qualification regatta, round robin and competition progress, so we’re constantly tweaking the boat to try and find the optimum performance.”

Ben, who served as Jimmy Spithill’s tactician aboard Oracle Team USA and won the America’s Cup in a thrilling match against Emirates Team New Zealand in 2013, knows what it takes to win and has a clear idea of ​​which team to beat: “Like everyone else, I think New Zealand in particular are clearly the team in good form from the last Cup, with Luna Rossa and American Magic looking good sailing so far. Of course there are unknowns with France, but we’ll be expecting a similar performance to New Zealand so it will be exciting to see how it unfolds.”

Late summer in Barcelona can mean unpredictable weather conditions and Ben is well aware that the weather may have an impact on the overall result, stating: “I think it’s inevitable that the weather will have a big effect on the outcome of this tournament. There will undoubtedly be some teams that are more competitive in certain conditions than others, and I think Mother Nature will have a big influence on the outcome of this tournament. That said, as a team we’ve known for a long time that there would be this variability. It’s part of the design challenge of coming up with a package that is fast enough in most conditions.”

In previous interviews, many of the challengers have hinted that they will be at full race pace for this final qualifying regatta, but Ben, who knows the America’s Cup competition inside and out, is cautious about that: “There may be a few teams that aren’t sandbagging, but I’m not sure at the start whether they’ll bring a full race package, so to speak, to the party, in different disciplines. I think that’s to be expected. We’ve spoken about the fact that at this stage of the competition, all the teams are developing hard to find their best performance, so they’ll be trying different things, different strategies, maybe crew line-ups. I think there’ll be quite a bit of fluctuation.”

With a beautiful ride and effective end plating thanks to the innovative bustle/skeg, the INEOS Britannia has demonstrated weapons-grade performance on the water in recent sessions and we feel strongly that there is still plenty to be expected in terms of absolute performance. Ben admits: “I think there’s probably 5-10% performance left in these boats, maybe even more in certain conditions and even more in bigger sea states, so there’s still a lot to be gained and a lot to go. History tells us that throughout the competition the best boat is likely to win in the end.”

With the qualification regatta approaching, and after three years of exhaustive hard work from all the record challengers, Ben is excited for everyone, but also knows the challenge that lies ahead of them: “This is a huge moment for our team, for all the teams. It’s a massive effort. As I always say, it’s very hard to explain to someone outside the team how much effort goes into putting these teams together, designing, manufacturing, building these boats, getting them on the water and operating them. It’s a massive team effort, so I think everyone should be very proud of that. Of course, we all want to be successful on the water with the ultimate goal of the America’s Cup, so nobody can really relax until we get to that point.”

With world-class sailors and elite athletes, INEOS Britannia is a strong contender for the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup. It’s no wonder that British fans are excited, and the optimism of such a happy and dedicated bunch is contagious. Bringing the America’s Cup trophy back to the Yacht Club where it all began in 1851 will be the greatest story of all. History awaits, but first, we, the spectators, will get our first glimpse of the direction of the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup with the qualifying regatta starting in Barcelona on August 22nd.