America's Cup: Sir Ben Ainslie set for pivotal couple of months with INEOS TEAM UK
The team principal and skipper of INEOS TEAM UK is in Auckland where they are refining their second race boat; the first chance to pitch themselves against their rivals will be in the America's Cup World Series and 'Christmas Race' on December 17, live on Sky Sports
Wednesday 18 November 2020 14:10, UK
Sir Ben Ainslie believes INEOS TEAM UK are ready for a pivotal few months in their quest to become the first British team to win the America's Cup.
The team principal and skipper, who was speaking to Sky Sports News from their base in Auckland, has full belief that they can make history next year and take the Auld Mug home with them to Portsmouth.
For this 36th edition of the America's Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand are the defenders which means they have been able to set the rules and parameters for boat development, and have selected the venue for the race.
Teams will be racing 75ft foiling monohulls against each other and within the AC75 Class Rule, each outfit was allowed to create one test boat and two race boats.
INEOS TEAM UK's second race boat - BRITANNIA - was launched in October and is now going through a process of rigorous refinement.
"We've been down in Auckland for about a month now and we've been getting BRITANNIA out on the water," Ainslie told Sky Sports News.
"It's been a really intense period for the team; putting that boat through its paces, making sure that all of the structural testing is fine and trying to get the boat up to speed."
On December 17, Ainslie and INEOS TEAM UK will get to pitch BRITANNIA against the other teams bidding to face Emirates Team New Zealand in the America's Cup race. This will be the first time that they have been allowed to race against each other, and the defenders.
Waitemata Harbour, or Auckland Harbour as it is also known, is the venue for this first race.
It is a space that Ainslie admits isn't vast for multiple 75ft foiling monoholls and as a result, competitors have been able to see a little of each other's work without breaking the rules and lining up against each other.
"It's been interesting [to watch others], the Italian boat is performing well in the lighter airs and the American Boat is perhaps a little better in the stronger airs," he said. "The Kiwis, they're still in the shed and are about to launch their second boat.
"A lot is going to change over the coming weeks as we get closer and closer to racing."
INEOS TEAM UK's second race boat took over 46,000 construction hours and 90,000 design hours, and all of that was on top of the time spent working on their earlier test boat and first full-size race boat.
"It looks incredibly fast, and the trick is to make sure that it's as fast as it looks," Ainslie said of BRITANNIA.
"It's not just the boat and hull of the boat, it's the mast, the sails and really critically the foils, which lift it out of the water. The task of getting all of those components properly tuned is a big challenge and that's really our main focus as we get closer to racing."
We're looking to keep on improving. The team that can keep on gaining in terms of performance in these new and faster boats, will be the team that ultimately wins out.
It's safe to say that a global pandemic wouldn't have been top of too many teams' lists to scenario plan for, but INEOS TEAM UK navigated their way through it well and now have their sights fixed on what's ahead of them.
"It's not anything you can control, you just have to react the best that you can," Ainslie said of the pandemic. "As a team, I was really pleased with how everybody hunkered down and did the best we possibly could.
"Now, we're here in New Zealand and that's behind us, so it's what happens in the next couple of months which is important.
"We obviously think that we can do it [win for the first time]," he added. "We wouldn't be down here and have put this much effort into it, if we didn't think that we could win it.
"That said, going up against the New Zealanders, in particular, on home waters... it doesn't really get any tougher than that in our sport.
"It's a big, big challenge. The next couple of months are going to be pivotal, if we can get maximum performance out of our boat then I think that we've got a very good chance. That's the deal for us, we've got to make sure that we can do that."
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.
