Ainslie always feared Britannia would capsize
Sir Ben Ainslie described American Magic’s high-speed capsize as ‘‘horrific’’ and revealed he was concerned about his British team ‘‘wiping out’’ on the same day.
INEOS Team UK lead the Prada Cup 4-0 and will need just one win from their two races with Luna Rossa this weekend to take out the round-robin phase and go straight through to the challengers final.
The wounded Americans are absent but there is plenty of pressure – if Luna Rossa can win both of their remaining clashes with the British, they will join them with four wins and the tie-breaker is decided on the result of the last race between the two teams, meaning the Italians would go through.
The loser of this weekend’s races will take on American Magic in the repechage semifinals with American Magic in a race against time to get their boat, Patriot, race-ready again after extensive damage from the capsize last Sunday that continues to dominate headlines and has catapulted the regatta into the global sporting news.
Ainslie has nothing but sympathy for his Auckland neighbours, hoping American Magic can get back into action.
‘‘I don’t know much about what happened. I’ve seen a video of the manoeuvre, and it’s just horrific,’’ Ainslie said.
‘‘You don’t want to see that happen to anyone, either your own team or any other team. But everyone is OK, which is the primary concern.
‘‘We go out there and race hard against each other, but at the end of the day it’s a sporting contest, and we want everyone to be safe, and we want everyone to be racing.
‘‘I feel for those guys, Dean [Barker] and Terry [Hutchinson] and the rest of the team, and I really hope they are able to sort things out and get back on track. No-one wants to see that.’’
Ainslie said he had concerns of his own on Sunday when they raced against Luna Rossa in the challenging seas with winds pushing the upper limits set for roundrobin racing at 21 knots.
They initially had the race abandoned because of a wind shift that took the course out of its windward-leeward configuration. They did a fine job in the restart to hold on for an exciting win with plenty of match racing playing out.
‘‘That was a full-on day. We had between five and 25 knots on the racecourse and big sea waves out in the Hauraki Gulf. It was a big challenge,’’ Ainslie said.
‘‘The team did an incredible job dealing with the sea state in particular. We had a few near wipeouts and were very close to losing our rudder out of the water.
‘‘In those conditions you just have to hang on and muscle your boat around the course and the guys did a really good job.’’
Italian co-helmsman Francesco Bruni echoed the feelings of Ainslie as he discussed the situation of American Magic.
Luna Rossa were trailing the Americans by about 500m coming into the final upwind mark when they saw the drama unfold in front of them. They had to sail past the carnage on the last downwind leg to gain victory while chase boats rushed to save Patriot and the American crew.
‘‘The conditions were very hard, it’s no surprise there was a capsize,’’ Bruni said. ‘‘The conditions were very puffy and gusty and still some chop around. It was very hard to do some manoeuvres because it was a one-way track so the Americans decided to do a tack bear away which is a very hard manoeuvre to pull off in those conditions.
‘‘They were brave, I feel sorry for them.’’
Ainslie now has an eye on this weekend’s conditions to try to get Britannia configured right to finish the job and complete a remarkable comeback in roundrobin racing after they were so off the pace in the world series regatta before Christmas.