Ineos Britannia secure America’s Cup semi-final spot

Ineos Britannia have secured their spot in the semi-finals of the challenger selection series for the 37th America’s Cup thanks to a scintillating performance on day seven in Barcelona.

On what Sir Ben Ainslie described as a “massive day for the whole team”, the British challenger of record beat not only Swiss rival Alinghi but also inflicted a first defeat of the series on favourites Luna Rossa.

Ainslie’s men have been quietly building momentum through this initial round-robin stage of the series to determine who goes through to face New Zealand in next month’s Cup match.

They have not necessarily had the results to show for it, partly due to costly unforced errors, of which there have been plenty.

But they got it spot-on on the second “Super Saturday” of the round robins, so called because the day featured a packed schedule of five races to catch up on those lost in the week due to adverse weather.

Ineos Britannia’s win over Luna Rossa in the final race of the day, in particular, was a huge confidence boost, given the Italians had won all six of their races against the other challengers prior to that, as well as beating defenders New Zealand in a non-scoring race earlier this week.

Ineos, who briefly lost the rudder on the final downwind leg of that race, also had to overcome a collision with debris on their way out to their first race, leaving Ainslie very pleased.

Ainslie’s growing confidence in British prospects

“It’s massive for the whole team to get two wins, and especially the win against Luna Rossa,” he admitted. “It’s not just the team on board but those back at our base and back in the UK, it’s a huge win for everyone. Looking ahead to the [semi-finals], I think we’ve got plenty of potential, it’s just all about getting the maximum out of the boat and sailing well.”

Ainslie added: “It was cracking conditions out there, but it was also tough in that sea state. We hit some debris before the start and then changed our jib too, so our pre-race preparations weren’t what we had hoped, but the shore team did an amazing job to get that done under some real time pressure. The team on board also did a really good job to compose themselves and get in the zone for the race and secure the win.”

Britain face France on the final day of the round robins on Sunday, after which one of the five challengers for the 37th America’s Cup will be eliminated.

France must beat Britain in the first race of the day on Sunday to have any hope of surviving, and must also hope that Alinghi do not upset Luna Rossa in the second race of the day. If both those things happen, it could then come down to a sail-off between the two to determine which of them goes home.

Luna Rossa may choose to face Ineos in semi-finals

Once that has been decided, the top-ranked challenger from the round robins — almost certainly Luna Rossa — will pick which of their three remaining rivals they wish to face in the semis.

There is some speculation that Luna Rossa might plump for Ineos rather than allow the British team another week to improve, although the odds are they will pick whichever of Switzerland or France has avoided elimination.

That would leave Britain facing American Magic in a first-to-five semi starting next Saturday.

American Magic co-helm Tom Slingsby, looking ahead to that potential match-up, admitted Britain’s form was a concern. “They are getting better and the way they came at us yesterday [on Friday] when we had a nice lead and were able to chip away at us, and then what they did today to Luna Rossa, that’s really impressive,” he said. “Their rate of improvement has been a little higher than us recently, but we’ve still got time, and we’ll try to get on a roll because we know we can beat them. They’ve improved but we’ve got to improve quicker.”