Dalton fires timely warning shot across bow of fleet
Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton has warned the America’s Cup challenging fleet to ‘‘write off Ben Ainslie at your peril’’.
Ainslie’s INEOS Team UK syndicate has endured a nightmare start to their racing campaign, failing to win a race at the world series warmup regatta and failing to finish most of them due to speed and technical problems.
They have worked overtime to try to remedy those issues and look to have made good progress, though doubts still remain about their boat Britannia’s performance in light airs as the Prada Cup challenger series starts today.
‘‘You just can’t write them off – it wouldn’t be fair, it wouldn’t be right and with the talent behind that organisation, you write them off at your peril,’’ Dalton told The Times.
Dalton hired Ainslie as a training rival for Dean Barker during Team New Zealand’s 2007 America’s Cup campaign in Valencia that went all the way to the final.
Dalton also saw first-hand the influence Ainslie had when he was called in as a replacement tactician for the struggling Oracle Team USA in their America’s Cup match with Team New Zealand in San Francisco in 2013.
Ainslie provided some magic to help skipper Jimmy Spithill engineer the most remarkable comeback in Cup history, coming from 8-1 down to win 9-8.
Add that to Ainslie’s unrivalled Olympic sailing record of a silver and four consecutive golds, and Dalton feels he has the fight and bite of the British bulldog to keep at American Magic and Luna Rossa.
‘‘The one thing you can never dismiss or ignore is the fact that Ben is the most decorated Olympic yachtsman in history,’’ Dalton said.
‘‘That comes with fun tickets – the guy is really good. So I just never, ever dismiss him. The guy is determined as hell.’’
INEOS Team UK also have the cool head of Australian Grant Simmer as CEO. Simmer is in his 11th America’s Cup campaign, having won the Auld Mug four times with three different countries. He was also involved in the incredible 2013 comeback by Oracle. Dalton doubted there would be panic in the British camp and was impressed with how Ainslie had front-footed the struggles of his team.
‘‘I think he’s handling it really well,’’ Dalton said. ‘‘I didn’t know they are saying it’s a siege mentality in their team but that doesn’t surprise me because my philosophy with this campaign is the same.’’
Team New Zealand will now train alone during January and February as they wait to see who the top challenger is for the America’s Cup match that starts on March 6.
The three challengers face each other four times over the next two weeks. The leading team from the round-robin phase goes straight through to the Prada Cup final while the other two teams will contest a semifinal.