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Before the AC75s all arrived in Barcelona Grant Dalton said the only team he was uncertain about (nervous is not in the Dalts’ vocabulary) was Ineos Britannia. There were two reasons for this, the first and more obvious was that being late to arrive in Port Vell and having done a first class job of concealing their new design, rivals ‘claimed’ to know little about what the enormous Ineos engineering and design group had come up with. The other more subtle reason… the first two Ineos AC75s were completely different from each other and boat 2 was certainly no rocket. So with evolution off the table the Brits had no choice but to tread the path of revolution… and so it turned out


cyclors, which seemed to leave them short of hydraulic power. Alinghi – a two-time Cup winner returning to the arena after a decade-long absence – suffered a number of breakages, including a dramatic capsize after their series was over. That left the challenger final with Ineos


Elise Beavis. ‘When one of the sailors presses a button, moves a toggle, or cranks a twist- grip, that human signal goes through the software and moves a foil flap, a rudder elevator or a sail. It is critical not to have any power losses through the system, because accuracy and instant responses translate into speed across the water.’ A striking example of New Zealand’s


tacking superiority came in Race 4. Ineos Britannia came off the startline in the lead and immediately clamped a tight cover on the Kiwi boat. Halfway up the first beat ETNZ moved


to escape the stranglehold, throwing in two tacks in just over 20 seconds. The double manoeuvre cost them not much more than 10-15m, but gained clear air and set them up for a pass further up the course. By contrast, the second beat underlined


the difference. With NZL now leading, GBR attempted a double tack within one minute, but at a cost of more than 60m. It was no coincidence that the next day – a lay day – the British were out in the race area practising tack after tack after tack. ‘We felt we were the best out of any of


the challengers in that respect, but now we are up against the America’s Cup defenders, so we need to raise our game again,’ said Olympic 49er gold medallist and British co-helmsman Dylan Fletcher. ‘They (NZL) have been looking at our


data and onboard video throughout the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals and finals,’ he added. ‘We are only now getting to see their onboard video and data. They have been learning from us the whole time. Only now are we learning from them, and it shows.’ This was a reference to a provision in


the Protocol that gave ETNZ’s sailing team access to the racecourse before racing each day of the challenger series. It meant the defender could sail in a similar area in the conditions of the day and then


46 SEAHORSE


harvest data from the challengers to measure, analyse and compare perfor- mance. Although the eventual challenger gained from the battle-hardening advan- tage of more actual racing, the defender was


collecting valuable intelligence


throughout the Louis Vuitton Cup, while its own progress remained under wraps. The eventual challenger in this case was


somewhat of a surprise. Starting proceed- ings well off the pace, the British team was seriously talked about as a potential early- exiter. However, on the back of more aggressive starts, dramatic improvements in technique and classic match racing tactics, Ineos Britannia achieved meteoric performance gains through the Louis Vuitton rounds. Renowned as a ruthless, aggressive


match racer, Ainslie benefited under the expert coaching of seven-time world champion Ian Williams. After early losses Ineos Britannia underwent a noticeable change of style, playing hardball and taking the fight to opponents. The protest button also took a hammering, with Ainslie not shy to berate the umpires for not seeing things his way. It paid off. After the completion of the


double round robin the British crew emerged as top challenger – behind ETNZ, which won the series before head- ing into fortress mode to enter a period of pre-planned equipment upgrades and refinement ahead of its Cup defence. The French Orient Express team came


late to the contest and, notwithstanding flashes of serious pace, missed the cut and were excused further participation. France’s early exit was followed after the semi-finals by Ernesto Bertarelli’s Swiss Alinghi Red Bull Racing outfit and, more surprising, the well-resourced New York Yacht Club American Magic. The Ameri- cans had a very low-profile, low-drag hull package, requiring recumbent aft-facing


Britannia up against the highly favoured Italian Prada Pirelli team. British confi- dence grew as honours swapped back and forth in the opening rounds, before they pulled ahead. Two race-ending break- downs and uncharacteristically passive and predictable pre-starts by the Italian boat helped Ineos Britannia on its way to claiming the Louis Vuitton Cup, 7-4. As the British crew crossed the line as


challenger champion, one of the lasting images of this regatta will be of British cyclor Freddie Carr rising out of his onboard foxhole, spreading his arms wide and, head thrown back, bellowing triumph to the skies. The six-time America’s Cup vet- eran looked for all the world like a medieval knight, ready to slay the next dragon. ‘We hit a rough two weeks and made


mistakes. We’re not in the final because we made more errors than others,’ lamented Italy’s team boss Patrizio Bertelli, who immediately committed to an unprecedented seventh Cup challenge for the 38th Cup series. Prada Pirelli’s combative Jimmy


Spithill, who began his Cup career as a cocky 20-year-old skipper of a shoestring Australian challenge 25 years ago, announced he was hanging up his gloves as an on-the-water competitor. No doubt he will continue to add to his Cup CV – which includes two victories with Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team in 2010 and 2013 – in other roles. Having despatched Italy, Ineos Britannia


stood on the brink of a major milestone. For the first time in 60 years a British challenger would do battle to return the America’s Cup trophy to its birthplace – a quest that had eluded 22 previous attempts by fellow countrymen. ‘The America’s Cup is steeped in history


and is the one sporting trophy Britain has never won,’ said Ainslie before battle com- menced. ‘We are aiming to change that… It will undoubtedly be one hell of a chal- lenge, but we are up for a fight.’ And a fight it was, lopsided at first





MARTINA ORSINI


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