Advertisement

Ben Ainslie a day closer to ending Britain’s America’s Cup curse after reaching final of Louis Vuitton Cup

Ben Ainslie moody portrait - Britain edge closer to ending America's Cup curse after day of drama
Ben Ainslie will lead his Ineos Britannia team into next week’s qualification race for the America’s Cup proper - AFP/LLUIS GENE

Great Britain moved a step closer to lifting their 173-year America’s Cup curse after Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia qualified for next week’s Louis Vuitton Cup final, completing a tense but ultimately convincing 5-2 semi-final victory over Swiss challenger Alinghi.

Ainslie’s team will face either Luna Rossa or American Magic in the challenger series final to determine who goes through to face defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in next month’s 37th America’s Cup.

Britain hosted the first ever Cup match off the Isle of Wight in 1851. But they lost, and despite countless challenges in the intervening years have never managed to lift the Auld Mug; sport’s oldest international trophy.

Ben Ainslie
Ben Ainslie and his crew held off Alinghi’s revival to win the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final 5-2 - JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images

Ainslie admitted he was “very relieved” to have come through a difficult week of light, shifty breezes in Barcelona and to have got their boat back safely in the shed, all the more so given that Luna Rossa and American Magic are locked in an extraordinarily tense contest in the other semi-final.

The Italian challengers were leading 4-0 in the first-to-five series. But American Magic won three races on the spin to move back to 4-3. Momentum may also have switched decisively in the Americans’ favour on Wednesday afternoon when Luna Rossa had to abandon their second race after a dramatic mainsheet traveller failure, which may have caused serious structural damage to their boat.

The teams were locked in a gripping battle on the fourth of six legs when a loud crack was heard on the Italian boat as an estimated 10 tonnes of load appeared to rip the car from the traveller track, causing the mainsail to buckle.

Luna Rossa and American Magic
Momentum is going American Magic’s way in the other semi-final - JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images

Luna Rossa were perhaps lucky not to lose the rig entirely, or capsize. But their day was over, and it remains to be seen what state the boat will be in on Thursday afternoon when the series concludes.

Luna Rossa co-helm Jimmy Spithill put a brave face on it. “We’ve got a lot of faith in our shore team,” the Australian said. “They’re some of the best in the business.”

Tom Slingsby, his opposite number on the American boat, offered his sympathies. “It’s not the way you want to win those races,” he admitted. “I’ve been there and it’s not a nice way to lose. But hats off to our guys. We kept the pressure on them really well. We’re still in this. Momentum is going our way.”

Ineos had their own wobbles. Having surged into a 4-0 lead over the weekend, they lost their first race of the series in light winds on Monday as they were unable to keep their boat up on its foils allowing Alinghi to overturn a 1km deficit.

It looked as if the Swiss may have exposed an Achilles heel on the British boat when their first of two races on Wednesday followed a similar pattern. Ineos led at the first windward gate, but lost their rudder in a poor gybe near the top of the first downwind leg, splashing down and handing Alinghi a lead they never relinquished.

With their lead cut to 4-2, Britain changed to a bigger mainsail for the second race, which provides a greater sail area in light winds. But they immediately made a mistake, entering the box fractionally early and incurring a penalty. Dylan Fletcher, Ainslie’s co-helm, sounded incredulous when informed of the penalty. The British team have been having lots of issues with the tactical app, the one-design software given to all challengers by defenders New Zealand, which gives them their time and distance to the line. Asked later whether it was another example of that, Ainslie said: “Maybe. We were both looking at it and we both thought we were fine. I don’t know. It may have been an issue with the app. Or we may have misread it. We’ll have to have a look.”

A good decision to split tack off the line and head out to the right boundary saw Ineos claw back ground and they led by 25 seconds at the first gate.

Despite a few more messy gybes, Alinghi could not capitalise and Ineos held on to win by more than a minute.

Ainslie admitted the team were relieved to have won in very challenging conditions but denied that Alinghi had exposed any Achilles heel on their part in the light air.

“I think it’s just really difficult conditions,” he said. “For people watching on the telly it probably looks like we’re doing a really bad job but it’s seriously tough out here,” he said. “With the wind up and down so much, and really nasty sea state. We’re all very relieved because in this stuff anything can happen.

“I think our boat, the way it’s set up, if we really nail the manoeuvring we are fine. But there is no margin for error. I imagine that is the same for all the teams. And yeah, we got it wrong in a couple of gybes, as we did with the tacks the day before yesterday. And we paid the price for that. So that’s a big learning process for us, to try to figure out how we can avoid that as we go through to the next round.”

Ainslie added that no decision had yet been taken with regard to how much time they would spend off the water. In theory, the fact that they have managed to advance a day ahead of their rivals should give them more time to plan and test a few tweaks before declaring their components for the final, which begins next Thursday.

“We’ll go back and have a huddle with the guys and look at the long range forecast, look at the program, and make some decisions about what to do over the coming days,” he said. “But it’s a big moment for the team to have made it to the final.

“Credit to Alinghi Red Bull Racing really pushing us hard, particularly in those lighter conditions. I think it was a good test for us.”