Speed duels come at cost
Sir Ben Ainslie has issued a warning about increasing speeds bringing increasing consequences as they became the first team to break the 50 knots barrier in America’s Cup racing.
INEOS Team UK hit 50.29 knots in their thrilling win over Luna Rossa that booked them a place in the Prada Cup final, starting February 13.
The speed translates to just over 93kph. Teams have been pushing past that in training but this was the first time it had been achieved in a bow-to-bow battle with all the pressures that come in match racing situations.
That was never better displayed than in the brave last gybe by Britain as they held off a charging Jimmy Spithill in a cross so close sailors could almost have boarded the other boat in front of the finish line.
Ainslie survived a protest call to claim the crucial victory that has given him three weeks to work on increasing Britannia’s speed and fine-tune the crew work that is looking increasingly slick.
Ainslie says all the teams are getting more and more comfortable with these radical foiling monohulls and performance levels are rising.
So are the risks, especially as the stakes rise and that will certainly be the case in the Prada Cup semifinal that starts on Friday, a first-to-four wins affair that will see the loser eliminated in this multi-million dollar extravaganza.
‘‘These boats are getting closer and closer as we are learning to race them better and handle them better,’’ Ainslie said.
‘‘The prestarts are interesting as well . . . you try to push as hard as you can.
‘‘We’ve talked about this before, but especially [now] we’ve seen these boats with foil arms hanging out the side of them . . . I guarantee you that every sailor is doing absolutely everything they can to avoid these boats coming together because you know the consequences are severe.’’
Talking of the dramatic cross, that looked touch and go, to see off the Italians, Ainslie felt it was always going to be close – but safe.
‘‘Francesco’s team pushed it pretty hard and came down on us, we pushed it pretty hard and came down too. It’s a battle of inches but I don’t think at that point there was any danger of the boats coming together.
‘‘It was a great final moment to finish off the race neck and neck. It was as close you could get.’’
Ainslie felt the semifinal was going to be a thrilling matchup as Luna Rossa find new speed in the stronger winds, an area American Magic were excelling in before their capsize.
‘‘It’s going to be great to see these two great teams duke it out to see who gets into the Prada Cup final, and we know we are going to be up for a massive fight here,’’ he said.