INEOS Team UK stun rivals
At a glance
The British have set the Prada Cup challenger series alive with their stunning double on the opening day of the challenger series. Just a week or so ago, this was looking like a two team race between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and American Magic after the pre-Christmas nightmare endured by INEOS Team UK.
Now you could argue there’s only one team in it, such was the unexpected domination of Sir Ben Ainslie’s comeback crew and their reworked boat Britannia.
The reality is that it’s early days and there’s plenty to play out over the next few weeks. But this looks like a genuine contest amongst a small but competitive fleet. Thank goodness for that given the challenger series runs until February 22.
The Americans and Italians might disagree, but this was just what the regatta needed. To have the Brits continue their struggle would have been a disaster. Now they have laid down a marker. No one doubted the ability of a classy British crew, dripping with Olympic medals and with Ainslie boasting an America’s Cup victory as part of Oracle Team USA’s incredible comeback in San Francisco in 2013. But there were so many doubts about their boat.
The British shore crew have worked overtime and gained instant rewards, banking two invaluable points when they were under enormous pressure with their demanding double-header on yesterday. Ainslie is a fighter as he has shown with Oracle and during the Olympics where he has won five medals, including four golds.
He’s always aggressive in the starting box and winning both starts were crucial allowing him to dominate the favoured right-hand side of the course.
Once in front, the British with their improved boat speed were able to control both of their opponents in a dream start to the real racing of this long summer.
Given what they’ve endured, the British will have enjoyed their wins but Ainslie won’t allow any complacency to creep in.
There will be tougher tests ahead, particularly if the wind dips as it is scheduled to today. Yesterday’s racing was in a mid-range where Britannia has always had a bit of gas, though it has a liking for even more wind. There’s no doubt the boat is much more potent, but we await to see how it goes in winds below 10 knots.
There will be no panic in the opposition camps though they will know they have got their hands full now.
The Americans and Italians were both guilty of some mistakes as the pressure of their catchup game took its toll.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the equation, Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton will allow himself a quiet smile after he warned against ‘‘writing off Ben Ainslie at your peril’’.
Dalton was spot-on – it’s game on now. Meanwhile yesterday wasn’t a good day for Luna Rossa as they lost their opening race of the Prada Cup which followed a series of late rulings where the Italians were seeking an advantage but came away bruised by a couple of decisions and defiant in another.
Interestingly, Luna Rossa had found a way to sail these radical boats without the use of backstays attached to their mast and the stern of the boat.
It’s a sail trim control that affects the shape of the mainsail and headsail but comes with the added drag of the two heavy lines in a high-speed game where aerodynamics are proving increasingly important.
Stuff understands that initially Luna Rossa wanted to carry the weight of the backstays by hiding them in their mast.
They then wanted to hide them inside the confines of the double-skinned mainsail. But they struck out in their battles with the rules committee and yesterday the backstays were restored, much to the frustration of the slick Italian boat.
There has also been an ongoing issue over the substitute weight on the boats after having guest racers on board was ruled out at the discretion of regatta director Iain Murray.
Murray ruled a couple of weeks ago, quite correctly and with agreement from the four teams, that these boats were too dangerous to have a non-sailor placed at the back of them while the AC75s fly around at top-end speeds of around 50 knots. But the class rule said that if there was no guest racer involved a substitute weight of 100kg, plus 5kg for equipment, would need to be placed on the boat.
But that required unanimous support and Luna Rossa refused.
The Italians sense they have an advantage in light airs, and they didn’t want to see their rivals get some leverage.