Ineos Britannia have qualified for the Louis Vuitton Cup final that will determine whether GB, the US or Italy will take on New Zealand
BY Tom Cary
Great Britain moved a step closer to lifting their 173-year America’s Cup curse after Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia qualified for next week’s Louis Vuitton Cup final, completing a tense but ultimately convincing 5-2 semi-final victory over Swiss challenger Alinghi.
Ainslie’s team will face either Luna Rossa or American Magic in the challenger series final to determine who goes through to face defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in next month’s 37th America’s Cup.
Britain hosted the first ever Cup match off the Isle of Wight in 1851. But they lost, and despite countless challenges in the intervening years have never managed to lift the Auld Mug; sport’s oldest international trophy.
Ainslie admitted he was “very relieved” to have come through a difficult week of light, shifty breezes in Barcelona and to have got their boat back safely in the shed, all the more so given that Luna Rossa and American Magic are locked in an extraordinarily tense contest 9in the other semi-final.
The Italian challengers were leading 4-0 in the first-to-five series. But American Magic won three races on the spin to move back to 4-3. Momentum may also have switched decisively in the Americans’ favour on Wednesday afternoon when Luna Rossa had to abandon their second race after a dramatic mainsheet traveller failure, which may have caused serious structural damage to their boat.
The teams were locked in a gripping battle on the fourth of six legs when a loud crack was heard on the Italian boat as an estimated 10 tonnes of load appeared to rip the car from the traveller track, causing the mainsail to buckle.
Luna Rossa were perhaps lucky not to lose the rig entirely, or capsize. But their day was over, and it remains to be seen what state the boat will be in on Thursday afternoon when the series concludes.
Luna Rossa co-helm Jimmy Spithill put a brave face on it. “We’ve got a lot of faith in our shore team,” the Australian said. “They’re some of the best in the business.”
Tom Slingsby, his opposite number on the American boat, offered his sympathies. “It’s not the way you want to win those races,” he admitted. “I’ve been there and it’s not a nice way to lose. But hats off to our guys. We kept the pressure on them really well. We’re still in this. Momentum is going our way.”
Ineos had their own wobbles. Having surged into a 4-0 lead over the weekend, they lost their first race of the series in light winds on Monday as they were unable to keep their boat up on its foils so Alinghi were able to overturn a 1km deficit.
It looked as if the Swiss may have exposed an Achilles heel on the British boat when their first of two races on Thursday followed a similar pattern. Ineos led at the first windward gate, but lost their rudder in a poor gybe near the top of the first downwind leg, splashing down and handing Alinghi a lead they never relinquished.
With their lead cut to 4-2, Britain then made a mistake at the start of the second race, entering the box too early and incurring a penalty. But a good decision to split tack and head out to the right boundary saw them claw back ground and they led by 25 seconds at the first gate.
Despite a couple of messy gybes – something they will need to look at – Alinghi could not capitalise and Ineos held on to win by more than a minute.
Ainslie admitted afterwards that his team were relieved to have won in what were very challenging conditions.
“For people watching on the telly it probably looks like we’re doing a really bad job but it’s seriously tough out here,” he said. “We’re all very relieved because in this stuff anything can happen.”
