With Emirates Team New Zealand just one win away from securing the 37th America’s Cup, there are no second chances left for INEOS BritanniaBen Ainslie, INEOS BRITANNIA. October 18, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 5. Nobody pours 10 years of their life \u2013 and millions of pounds of backers\u2019 money \u2013 into a project that they don\u2019t believe in. But right now, Ben Ainslie and his INEOS Britannia team will be digging deep into their reserves of self-belief.
\nThe British America\u2019s Cup Challengers are facing their final, most critical fight, with Emirates Team New Zealand driving home two dominant wins today to go 6-2 up. In the first to seven series, this is Match Point.
\nHow the two teams respond to this final act will be fascinating. Both Ainslie and Burling are talking in the same terms of taking each race as it comes \u2013 but in reality, that means very different things for each of them. Racing is scheduled to resume tomorrow, though very light winds are forecast.
\nBrits making history
\nAinslie, who told me before the regatta started that he was \u201cquite happy being an underdog\u201d, in truth would not have gone into this third Cup campaign without total confidence in his team\u2019s potential.
\nHistory weighs heavily in the America\u2019s Cup and the British had to achieve a greatness that has not been achieved in a century of sailing in order to take their place on the starting line alongside Emirates Team New Zealand this week. They were the first British team to qualify for the America\u2019s Cup match in 60 years, and Wednesday\u2019s double race wins were the first points scored by a British America\u2019s Cup boat in 90 years.
\nBut whilst what they have achieved is already exceptional, right now, they need to do something truly extraordinary in order to keep Emirates Team New Zealand, the most successful America\u2019s Cup team in modern history, at bay.
\nINEOS Britannia racing on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America\u2019s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nBoth before and during this America\u2019s Cup, Ainslie and the whole team have been utterly consistent in their view that they just need to keep improving, chipping away, making gains. But tonight they undeniably have their backs against the wall. Does this final act need them to find something beyond process and percentage gains \u2013 something more visceral, perhaps?
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think so. We\u2019re not going to pull a rabbit out of the hat here. I don\u2019t think anyone is,\u201d Ainslie told me.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s about this constant development. And I think we can sail faster tomorrow from what we learned so far through these finals, even though it\u2019s very different conditions.
\n\u201cWe know the Kiwis are developing as well, and they got so much experience in the Cup and in these boats. And also we\u2019ve got to go out and execute.\u201d
\nSiege mentality for INEOS Britannia
\nLet\u2019s not forget, Ainslie has been here before. He made his name in two epic dogfights against another Goliath of the sport \u2013 the legendary Brazilian Laser sailor Robert Scheidt in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, famously getting the better of Scheidt in 2000.
\nHe faced losing at his home Games to Danish Finn sailor Jonas Hogh-Christensen, at one stage lagging by 10 points, before surging back on a wave of outrage following an on-water protest call to take a record fifth Olympic medal, and fourth gold.
\nAnd he famously joined the afterguard of Oracle Team USA when they were 8-1 down in the 2013 America\u2019s Cup before performing one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been in far too many sh*t fights in my career,\u201d Ainslie observed today. \u201cThere were many scenarios, situations similar to this where it might appear pretty helpless, but actually you just never know what can happen.
\n\u201cAnd what you\u2019ve got to do is just keep digging and keep fighting. Like I said, you just never know what might happen.\u201d
\nINEOS Britannia trailing Emirates Team New Zealand on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton 37th America\u2019s Cup. Photo: Ricardo Pinto \/ America\u2019s Cup
\nWhat would have to happen, of course, is for the British team to not drop a single point, and stage a comeback equal to that in 2013.
\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s going to need to be something like that,\u201d Ainslie said after racing today. \u201cIt\u2019s 6-2 down. We\u2019re on the back foot, we don\u2019t have any second chances, but that\u2019s the nature of the game.
\n\u201cWe need perfection from here on in. We don\u2019t have any second chances, but in some ways that\u2019s easy. You know what you\u2019ve got to do.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way through this competition and improved a massive amount. You\u2019ve just got to keep that going, it\u2019s different conditions tomorrow. Why not come out, get a couple of bullets on the board?\u201d
\nCasting back to the conversation we had in the weeks before the Cup, Ainslie had described the team as having \u201ca bit of a siege mentality, which is never a bad place to be.\u201d
\nRight now, INEOS Britannia are truly besieged. It\u2019s a place he may be more comfortable than most \u2013 but can he and his team fight their way out one final time?
\nThe post Ben Ainslie: \u201cThere are no second chances\u201d Crunch time in the America\u2019s Cup appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With Emirates Team New Zealand just one win away from securing the 37th America’s Cup, there are no second chances left for INEOS BritanniaBen Ainslie, INEOS BRITANNIA. October 18, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, Race Day 5. Nobody pours … <\/p>\n