‘Lame duck’ has problem in lighter air

Sir Ben Ainslie has admitted to a major disadvantage with INEOS Team UK’s AC75 Britannia, saying the vessel struggles in the lighter winds.

The British entry to the America’s Cup were notable absentees during many of the practice sessions over the past week and had their struggles on the water. Their performances, or lack thereof, saw their boat labelled a “lame duck” by a British pundit.

Speaking ahead of the America’s Cup World Series, which starts this afternoon, Ainslie said there were some areas to work on but the criticism they had been receiving was “like water off a duck’s back.

“I think it’s clear for everyone to see we’re struggling a little bit in the lighter airs with taking off and some of the manoeuvres,” Ainslie said. “But this is a new class of boat; it’s a development class and you can see in the America’s Cup that as teams go through the series they get better and better. For us, in that area, we’ve got a bit of catching up to do.”

But Ainslie said they had experience sailing during some “pretty breezy days” over the past couple of months and were confident in how it would perform in the stronger conditions.

The America’s Cup World Series regatta, which runs from today to Sunday, provides the teams with an opportunity to address any such teething issues in a race format, being the first and only chance for competitive racing before the Prada

Cup challenger series early next year.

So, while the teams will be hoping for a strong showing in the races, the event doubles as a development opportunity which, in the long run, is more important.

However, much to the delight of Ainslie’s team, a decent breeze is expected on at least the first two days of this week’s regatta, with race director Iain Murray indicating course C, between North Head and Bastion Point, would be used in the opening day. However, that would be confirmed on the morning of racing.

“It will be interesting,” Ainslie said. “The breeze should be a little bit stronger so it will be interesting to see how the performances stack up then.”