INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, has secured two race wins against Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup Match. The double win day has taken the score to 4-2 to the Kiwis in the first-to-seven series. INEOS Britannia is the first British team to enter the America’s Cup Match in 60 years, and the last time a British team scored points in an America’s Cup Match was 90 years ago.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “That was a solid effort from the team to get two wins in those difficult conditions. It was a big team effort to make some performance gains. There’s still a long way to go and we need to keep pushing. Every day we get better at sailing this boat, and that’s down to the shore team delivering us a reliable package and the designers, technicians and engineers helping us understand how we can improve the performance and then obviously the sailing squad out here on the water doing their thing.”
The first race of the day, and fifth of the series, began in very light conditions with a high sea state. Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) fell victim to the tricky conditions and fell off their foils in the pre-start box during a manoeuvre to keep clear of the Brits. They turned downwind and started to roll into a gybe, but at a lower speed than they would have liked. The British boat immediately turned upwind to sail between the New Zealanders and the wind. It may not have changed the outcome, but it certainly shut down the power supply just when ETNZ was struggling for speed, and the New Zealand boat came off the foils. With such little breeze in the air, it was extremely difficult for the Kiwis to take flight again, and INEOS Britannia opted to add to that difficulty, by sailing directly in front of Emirates Team New Zealand’s AC75 and leaving them in their dirty air.
The New Zealanders were still struggling to foil as INEOS Britannia sailed off up the course alone. It was more than two minutes before ETNZ was fully airborne and in pursuit, and by this time the Brits were almost a whole leg ahead. The only thing that would change the outcome now was a mistake by the British team, but the crew were sailing flawlessly, pulling off slick manoeuvres and maintaining flight. INEOS Britannia crossed the finish line with an advantage of one minute and 38 seconds, the biggest win margin of the Match so far.
An incredibly tense second race started in a much improved breeze of 11 to 12 knots – but still with the same difficult sea-state. The Kiwis went for defensive action in the pre-start box attempting to lock the Brits out, but INEOS Britannia managed to roll over the top of ETNZ to regain control and lead across the start line. While the two boats were not far off each other crossing the start, INEOS Britannia was 10 knots faster than the Defenders.
The British boat was ahead at the first cross, but it was a much closer race than the one before, with ETNZ just six seconds behind at the first gate. By the third gate INEOS Britannia had added a little to their lead, and leg four was another good one, finding better breeze downwind and moving out to a sixteen second advantage.
It was the second half of the race when ETNZ started to come back into it. On leg six the gap narrowed back to just six seconds as the Kiwis found the better lane of wind. The final leg was an unbearable watch for British fans, as ETNZ began closing the gap after INEOS Britannia had some difficult manoeuvres. The 130m lead they had at the start of the final leg decreased to just 40m at one point, but the Brits managed to stay strong and finish first with a seven-second advantage.
INEOS Britannia Trimmer Leigh McMillan said: “It’s great to get a couple of wins under the belt that’s for sure. Emirates Team New Zealand have set the bar pretty high and we feel like we are clawing into them now. We are looking forward to getting back out there on Friday and keeping the pressure on and momentum going.”
Racing resumes in the 37th America’s Cup Match on Friday. Two more races will take place and UK viewers can catch all the action live on TNT Sports from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST).
