Watch all the drama of the America's Cup on Sky Sports with the World Series, Christmas Regatta and PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series all shown live, before the 2021 America's Cup match in March 2021
Monday 19 October 2020 14:57, UK
Sir Ben Ainslie has, since 1992, called every one of his boats 'Rita'...
Whether it was the small Lasers and Finns he raced at five Olympic Games to become the most decorated Olympic sailor in history, or cruising around the Caribbean in a beautiful teak-decked neoclassical ketch - it is always 'Rita' he sails in.
Ainslie's mother, Sue, had visited St Rita's church during the Optimist World Championships in Tenerife and brought back a badge that was sewn to her son's lifejacket. Rita has been his talisman, painted on every boat, ever since.
On Saturday morning, while the rest of New Zealand were heading off to polling booths to re-elect Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, Sir Ben and his colleagues at INEOS TEAM UK were down at the waterfront in Auckland.
It was there where they quietly christened, with English sparkling wine - no champagne or Kiwi sparkles - the boat they hope will win Britain the America's Cup for the very first time.
As the bottle hit the side, it appeared that this boat, the one they hope is the world-beater, breaks with Ainslie's lifetime tradition - painted proudly on the flank is the name 'Britannia'.
A closer look at the painted letters of this sleek 75-foot hull, and within the word Britannia, highlighted in red, is 'Rita': B-Rita-nnia. This one carries both Ainslie's history and his country's. The pressure is clearly on.
The America's Cup is the world's oldest international sporting trophy, predating the modern Olympic Games by 45 years, older too than the FA Cup and golf's Ryder Cup.
The first Cup race, a one-off sprint around the Isle of Wight in 1851, was held 35 years before the invention of the motorcar and 52 years before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
It has a remarkable history, traced over the waves to the United Kingdom, but still to this day, no British team has won it. Team Principal and Skipper Ainslie is bidding to make history and become the first UK team to bring the 'Auld Mug' back home.
"Today marks a landmark moment for all of us," Ainslie said at the launch.
"A huge amount of hard work and dedication has gone into designing and building this race boat, including over 90,000 design hours and 46,000 construction hours. This is a big step forward for us as a team, and we can't wait to get out on the water in the Auckland Harbour.
"The coming months will be an intense time, as we will need to make every second out on the water in this new boat count to get the full potential out of her by the time we start racing in the America's Cup World Series.
"We are all looking forward to taking on this challenge of a lifetime."
The team is backed by Monaco-based British billionaire and INEOS founder and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who sent this message of support to Ben Ainslie and the team during the official naming ceremony.
"The America's Cup is a magnificent competition with an extraordinary history and now I believe, that for one of the first times in British history, we are going to arrive at the start line with a truly competitive boat.
"As the song goes, "Britannia rules the waves", and we are all extremely hopeful that the team will finish by ruling the waves in Auckland and bringing the Cup back home for the first time in its history."
Fighting talk from the newest team on the block, however Ainslie knows more than most that they have some stiff competition out on Auckland's waters.
As the defenders of the America's Cup, Team Emirates New Zealand set the design parameters. In 2017 in Bermuda they won the Cup racing in 50-foot catamarans.
This time they've gone for something even more radical - the AC75 - seven tonne, 75-foot foiling monohulls reaching unprecedented speeds.
"To say the racing is going to be exciting is something of an understatement," Ainslie tells Sky Sports.
"They're the first monohulls that are lifting up on foils and flying, certainly on this scale of 75 feet. They're a huge amount of fun to sail, incredibly challenging trying to balance to boat on one foil and a rudder.
"When we get up there we're up around 50 knots of boat speed, which for a power boat is going some, but for a sailing boat is really phenomenal speeds."
INEOS TEAM UK, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team from Italy and American Magic from the New York Yacht Club are all preparing to fight for the right to be part of the America's Cup race and potentially get their hands on the 'Auld Mug'.
Before that, they will be testing their mettle in the Prada Cup Challenger Selection Series in January, and joining Emirates Team New Zealand in a World Series Regatta and 'Christmas Race' in December.
The World Series and 'Christmas Race' will be the first time that teams will have a chance to race their AC75s against each other, the America's Cup itself gets started in early March 2021.
As the gleaming new INEOS TEAM UK boat was lowered into the Waitemata harbour, Sir Ben said, "She looks like a rocket - let's hope she sails like a rocket!" Will Rita rule the waves? Only time will tell...
Watch every moment of the America's Cup challenge, live on Sky Sports. Coverage starts with the America's Cup World Series on December 17.
