INEOS Britannia has secured its spot in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, Ben Ainslie’s crew is the first team to progress to the Final, after winning the required five races against its opponent, Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI).
The Brits started the fourth race day on Wednesday with a 4-1 advantage over the Swiss. Alinghi Red Bull Racing was battling hard to remain in the competition, and claimed the win of the first race, but INEOS Britannia came back fighting in the second race to bank the all-important fifth win, in turn ending Alinghi’s America’s Cup journey. INEOS Britannia will either face Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) or New York Yacht Club American Magic (USA) in the first-to-seven series which starts on 26 September.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “We are happy and relieved to have secured our place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final. It was seriously hard out there, battling with the light air and that sea state. You have to give credit to Alinghi who sailed a great first race and put up a good fight, they were great competition. It’s obviously tough for them to go out at this stage but they’re a great team and have performed well. We are looking forward to the final and pleased our hard work has paid off so far, but it all starts over again now and we will concentrate on preparing for the final. Whoever we meet in that will be tough as they’re both strong teams.”
Ainslie’s crew began the Semi-Final with four back-to-back wins against the Swiss team, before losing its first race in the light conditions on Monday. Racing resumed on Wednesday, and it was light once again. There was an even start in the first race of the day, before the Swiss team tacked and had a brief touchdown. It allowed the British boat to tack in front of them and get control of the first leg.
Ben Ainslie and his team took the left-hand side at the top gate to minimise the tacks in the light wind, and the Swiss took the right, where they found a big wind shift going their way. It made it impossible for INEOS Britannia to cross in front of them. The British team had to do the extra tack to take the left-hand mark with Alinghi Red Bull Racing right on their heels, just six seconds behind.
The first gybe was crucial, both boats rolling into it simultaneously as INEOS Britannia reached the boundary. A wave rolled under the hull of the British boat as the team bore away. It pitched the boat and popped the rudder up towards the surface. The ventilation created a skid that the Swiss took full advantage of to move into the lead. By the time Ben Ainslie and his crew had reaccelerated they were 500m behind.
The gap remained steady at around a one-minute deficit, but on the approach to the final gate INEOS Britannia found the same right-hand shift that had benefitted the Swiss two laps previously. They were lined up for the left-hand mark in the shift, narrowing the gap to just over 30 seconds. It could have been game on for the final leg, but INEOS Britannia couldn’t quite squeeze around the buoy. They were forced to tack late and slow, touching down again and leaving the Swiss boat to sail to the win.
The second race saw INEOS Britannia take a penalty for entering the pre-start box early, but they did a fantastic job with their start strategy from there. The British boat started low and fast, ducking behind the Swiss to get rid of the penalty. It gave Ainslie and co. the right-hand side of the racecourse, where they found good breeze. They came back to the first cross with the right of way and eased into the lead. The two boats exchanged tacks all the way up the beat, each one on a seeming knife edge as the flaky conditions persisted.
It was the final approach where Ben Ainslie and his team found the key to the lock on the gate to the finals. After the Swiss ducked behind at the final cross, INEOS Britannia took the left-hand side, and picked their layline for the right-hand mark. They found the wind they needed and jumped out to a 25-second lead by the time the Swiss had rounded the opposite gate mark.
The conditions meant that no one – watching or sailing – could relax, with every manoeuvre a potential race-ender over the next two, nail-biting laps. It was the final tack at the last gate that settled it. INEOS Britannia was around and a couple of hundred metres down the final leg when Alinghi Red Bull Racing dropped off the foils on their last tack. It ended the race, the British boat finishing with a 1 min and 10 second advantage to seal a 5-2 series win and a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final.
The Final begins on 26 September, with INEOS Britannia facing either Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) or New York Yacht Club American Magic, whose tally currently sits at four wins to the Italians and three to the Americans, after the Italian crew suffered damage to their boat in the second race of the day. The first team to win seven races in the Final will take on Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup Match (12-27 October).