INEOS Britannia named as challenger for 38th America's Cup

INEOS Britannia has been accepted as the Challenger of Record for the next edition of the America's Cup sailing competition, organisers announced on Friday.

Emirates Team New Zealand completed a commanding 7-2 victory against their British opponents on October 19 and the challenge was lodged immediately.

"The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) and Emirates Team New Zealand are pleased to confirm that the RNZYS has accepted a Notice of Challenge for the 38th America's Cup (AC38) from the Royal Yacht Squadron Limited, represented by INEOS Britannia, which will act as the Challenger of Record for AC38," said a statement.

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton said: "The 38th America's Cup effectively started the moment the team crossed the finish line in Barcelona on 19th October.

"It is very exciting to have continuity with the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia, to continue to build the scale of the America’s Cup globally."

The AC38 will be a "multi-challenger event". INEOS Britannia won a qualifying competition that enabled them to take on defending champions New Zealand for this year's trophy.

The Royal Yacht Squadron said it would "work alongside The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron" to deliver the protocol for the trophy.

The class of yacht will be the AC75 and teams will be restricted to building one boat.

No date has yet been set but the statement from the organisers said it is "intended that the AC38 match be held within three years of the completion of the AC37 match".

Team New Zealand won the world's oldest international sporting trophy for the third consecutive time to end the best-of-13 series.

The British boat was skippered by four-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie and is bankrolled by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, chairman of petrochemical group INEOS.

Ainslie said he would keep going until he won Britain the trophy, but did not know if that would still be as a sailor or in a different position.

jw/dmc