America’s Cup: Sir Ben Ainslie and the Ineos Britannia team take lead in Louis Vuitton Cup
INEOS Britanna has broken the deadlock in the Louis Vuitton Cup final with two back-to-back race wins against the Italians.
Lymington’s Sir Ben Ainslie and the Ineos team are now on match point with a lead of 6-4 against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the first-to-seven series which determines who will face Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup match.
Sir Ben’s British crew pushed its AC75 race boat to the limit, nailing the starts and managing to maintain a lead in both races.
Ineos Britannia team principal and skipper Ben Ainslie said: “It was a great effort from the entire team. It’s very hard to sail these boats on these waves, and it’s difficult to explain to people just how tough it is.
“You’re constantly on a knife edge trying to keep these AC75s foiling whilst cutting through the wave chop, it’s a real challenge for both teams.
“It’s great to get the two wins. The guys managed the really difficult conditions well.”
The first race saw a very different pre-start than previous races; Sir Ben and his crew entered a little late and got straight on the tail of the Italians.
When the Italian boat turned back towards the start, the Brits kept it tight.
Luna Rossa had to keep clear of Ineos, who are backed by New Forest billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but there was an extremely close moment in the pre-start box, with Ineos unsuccessfully protesting.
The sea state was making it very tough sailing, with both boats on the edge of control.
Just after the round-up on leg five, Luna Rossa hit a bad wave and ventilated the rudder, costing them 100m before they got back to speed.
It was not over, though, with the conditions keeping both boats on a knife edge.
As everyone watched with bated breath, Ineos managed to get to around the final mark cleanly and sail across the finish line with a 23-second margin.
As in previous days, the British team went into the second race of the day with a one-point lead, and it was as crucial as ever to maintain the advantage.
Both boats were early approaching the start. They had to kill time running along the line, and when they turned up to start, Ineos made it difficult for Luna Rossa, and the Italians were soon forced away.
The British boat was able to round the right-hand mark leading by three seconds before extending it to 11 seconds, which proved vital after a rudder ventilation on leg four.
Sir Ben and the team struggled to get it under control, but they stayed calm and kept the lead to win the race with, Luna Rossa eight seconds behind, the deadlock finally broken to a 6-4 scoreline and match point.
The Louis Vuitton Cup final resumes on Friday, with two more races scheduled.
Ineos Britannia must win one more race to go through to the 37th America’s Cup match on 12th October.
The America’s Cup was first contested in 1851 in Cowes, Isle of Wight, and organised by the Royal Yacht Squadron.