Lame ducks? Water off a duck’s back to Ainslie

British skipper Sir Ben Ainslie has opened up on his team’s America’s Cup struggles, insisting they are surmountable.

Ineos Team UK had a disastrous official practice period, plagued by breakdowns that saw them have just one race which they lost to rival challenger American Magic and raised questions about their competitiveness.

‘‘Clearly we have been struggling in the light airs at the moment . . . taking off and some of the manoeuvres, so that’s our focus,’’ Ainslie said yesterday as his team gets ready for the world series and Christmas Cup regatta that starts today and runs until Sunday.

He said their focus was on getting competitive for the start of the Prada Cup challenger series in January and February with the winner of that taking on Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup match in March.

‘‘We have to work on the whole package. These types of boats are a development class – you see that with the America’s Cup, they get better and better, and we have some catching up to do.’’

British pundit Marcus Wheatley has been particularly brutal in his assessment of Ainslie’s outfit, alleging internal struggles and labelling their new boat ‘‘the lamest of lame ducks’’.

Ainslie brushed that aside: ‘‘In all honesty, it’s so busy getting ready for this competition . . . it’s water off a duck’s back.

‘‘It’s not something that we even consider. Ultimately it’s the whole team together, so we have to sort out our [boat] issues.

‘‘We have got a fantastic team. We have got some brilliant designers, engineers, shore team . . . if anyone can sort out those issues, I think it’s our team, so that’s really our focus.’’

Questioned about speculation they were making modifications to the hull of Britannia, Ainslie smiled and said: ‘‘I can’t confirm or deny that.

‘‘Needless to see we are making changes as I’m sure the other teams are making changes.

‘‘Some of them you can’t see . . . some internal, some external.

‘‘There will be a lot more changes made to all these boats as we go through the next couple of months.’’

In the meantime, Ainslie is hoping for a better breeze to help make his boat more competitive.

Britannia has shown decent speed in training in the upper wind range but hasn’t had that tested in any racing situation.

‘‘If we get more breeze tomorrow, that will be fascinating.’’