Sir Ben Ainslie exclusive
SIR BEN AINSLIE talks exclusively to Jonathan McEvoy
SIR BEN AINSLIE reached across the time zones last night to share how one of the most tantalising endeavours in British sporting history is going — with the invaluable support of his wife Georgie — more than 11,000 miles away in New Zealand.
It was 8.30pm on sunday in london; 9.30am on Monday over there. And the WhatsApp chime came, as promised. The caller being Ainslie, unlike a hundred other star sportsmen, the phone rang at the appointed minute.
Perfect timing, as he has proved again and again in a stellar career that has yielded four Olympic gold medals and one silver, is everything to him. As sir Ben is demonstrating once more in the Houdini- like magic he is performing in the 36th America’s Cup — the oldest international sporting contest of all, and, as lamentable history records, one Britain has never won in 170 years flat — on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
This weekend he skippered on the Hauraki Gulf his £120million state-of-the-art yacht, Britannia, to the brink of righting that indignity by helming the first British boat in nearly 40 years to go into the final challenger selection series to take on the holders, Team Zealand, in March.
‘There is a long way to go and we are keeping our sense of proportion,’ said Ainslie, who earned part of his fame after being drafted into the American boat in 2013 to take them from 8-1 down to win 9-8 to underline his alchemist qualities.
‘To win the America’s Cup has been one of the two dreams of my life, along with the Olympics, but because of the team work associated with this it maybe means more to me.
‘I have had a bad back over the years, but I am fine now. More than anything for me is the support of my family. That is a critical thing. My wife, Georgie (TV sports presenter) is here with me with our daughter Bellatrix.
‘Georgie understands sport and what is involved. To have her here with me is invaluable. I speak to her about things — she understands them — and that has been a massive boost, the biggest thing in the world to me. she knows what I am going through and obviously has been hugely supportive. I can speak to her in the good times and the bad, and that it is great, a real relief and a bonus.
‘ We came here and had to quarantine on arrival. We thought it might be hard, but our daughter (aged four) coped with it best of all of us. That was great. We are all together and enjoying the experience.’
What a rollercoaster Ainslie — and his 10 team-mates — have ridden to be so close, suddenly, to the Holy Grail.
In December they were nowhere. They had been humiliated in the first round-robin stages of the complicated qualifying competition, the Prada Cup — the process to take on the holders. They were unable to win a single race, losing 6-0, and derided as corgis against superior breeds of athletic dogs — against a greyhound and a couple of whippets, as his critics had it.
Oh dear, that is not the sort of comparison one lightly makes against a competitor of Ainslie’s zeal. Red rag to this corgi!
The fellow challengers to New Zealand — Italy and America — were cock-a-hoop as they pressed their own claims. Ainslie called his demoralised men together for pep talk. The massive investment by the British businessman, billionaire sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose company gives its name to the enterprise, Team Ineos UK, looked to be up in smoke.
But over the last two weekends those setbacks, those terrible doubts, have been turned on their heads. First, in summary, they won four races a week ago. The Us challengers, American Magic, looked anything but, capsizing heavily last saturday. Amid gasps of concern, they withdrew from this past weekend’s competition while they repaired their boat and some of their pride.
They live, just, to fight another day, hoping to complete the necessary remedial work to take on Italy for the right to face Britannia in a seven-race series between February 13 and 19 to take on New Zealand. That gives the Brits some 20 days spare to refine their boat - hoping their engineers, a reflection of Formula One upgrades and technology, use the valuable time advantageously, rather than, as opportunity also presents, go off on the wrong tangent.
But, for now, let’s confine ourselves to the British cause, which has been inspired by Ainslie
calling his troops together and telling them, just before Christmas, that they had to find solutions to their lack of pace. An essentially quiet man, who won his golds in the solitude of the Finn class at Olympics, he insisted all was not lost.
‘Come on, we can do this,’ he told them.
Actually, sir Ben is a brilliant leader, if not a naturally extrovert one. Yet I can attest — as an occasional ‘passenger’ on his Round the Island yachts of over the years
“The support of my family is so important”
“Georgie knows exactly what I’m going through”
— his undemonstrative words mean more than a lot of hyperbole, such is the respect in which he is held. Regardless he and his crew secured Britannia’s progress through pure skill this weekend in a remarkable race, against the Italians. The lead was exchanged an astonishing nine times in a 24minute encounter on saturday in a contest that came down to guile and experience. Clinching a straight fifth win, he — abetted by tactician Giles scott, who succeeded Ainslie as Olympic champion — read the shift winds expertly in a nerve- jangling ‘ cross’ towards the finish line at 45 knots (some 50mph) with the Italians having right of way but - hearts in mouths! — with the British boat marginally ahead. Most sailors would have ducked it. After you... But not Ainslie. He held his nerve and went on to take the important win. supremo Ratcliffe, who arrived by his own super-yacht, jumped on board. The champagne was uncorked. Yes, as Ainslie countered, too soon for such jubilation. For now.