British get tough draw but make progress with speed
Britain’s struggling America’s Cup team appear to have found a quick fix to their light air difficulties as they were handed the toughest possible start to the challenger series.
The Prada Cup starts next Friday and INEOS Team UK face a demanding opening day when they will face both American
Magic
Pirelli.
The tricky equation of having just three challengers means some lop-sided racing days and Sir Ben Ainslie’s syndicate are the first to face that, having two races while their opponents only have one when the action finally starts in Auckland.
The British, Italians and Americans face each other four times over six racing days, in a round robin format covering and Luna
Rossa
Prada two weekends from January 15-24.
The team with the most wins at the end of the round-robins goes straight into the Prada Cup final, while the other two teams contest a best-of-seven races semifinal from January 29 to February 2.
The loser of that goes home. The winner enters the Prada Cup final from February 13-22 in a best-of-13 races series to see who takes on defenders Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup match that starts on March 6.
INEOS Team UK have been in a race against time after their disappointing world series regatta where they didn’t win a race and had their lack of performance in light airs exposed. They were also losing alarming speed through their turns, even when performing well in the better winds.
But on Thursday they gave a hint that they may have found some solutions to their struggles in the lower wind zone that has a limit of 6.5 knots.
They were out in winds not much above that in the Hauraki Gulf and Ainslie reportedly had Britannia up on its foils and performing well.
The British have got a new rig and sail package and have gone back to some old foils that have surely been modified.
Just how competitive they are now will be brutally exposed on that opening day of the challenger series when they get to measure themselves against both of their opponents.