The 37th America’s Cup has gotten underway, with the Barcelona Preliminary Regatta kick-starting two months of racing to see who will win the world’s oldest international sporting trophy. INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, faced New York Yacht Club American Magic in their first race of the event. It was a historic pairing, given it was 173 years ago on this very day that the two nations battled it out in the first ever America’s Cup match around the Isle of Wight. The Americans won that race in 1851, and unfortunately for INEOS Britannia, history repeated itself today.
While the American Magic crew may have taken the win, the only thing it scores them is bragging rights, as the Preliminary Regatta does not count towards the official event. The preliminaries are purely to determine seeding and offer teams a chance to line up their AC75s against each other and refine their strategies and boats before the main event.
The return of AC75 racing has been a long time coming, 1,255 days to be exact, with the boats last being raced in the America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2021. The teams taking part in the 37th America’s Cup have spent years meticulously designing, building and testing their AC75s, and INEOS Britannia partnered with Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team to support that process.
The action on the first day of the Preliminary Regatta took place in a 12-14 knot breeze, blowing from the south-southwest. While conditions were perfect, not all six teams could have a perfect day in the four boat-v-boat match races. INEOS Britannia lost their race to American Magic after taking a strong windward position in the final approach to the line. They went on to win the start and the “first cross” – the moment on the race-track when the boats first come together and it’s clear who’s ahead and behind.
Ben Ainslie and his co-helm Dylan Fletcher chose to minimise the manoeuvres, going all the way to the left-hand boundary. They found the Americans in a strong position at the second cross, where the USA’s trajectory had put them into a better wind shift, leaving them with less distance to sail and one less manoeuvre.
The Americans rounded just six seconds in front, and from there on it was very difficult to find any passing lanes for Ainslie and his team. The British boat wriggled on the hook, but it just cost more manoeuvres and in the end the statistics of two extra tacks, one extra gybe and over 500m of extra distance told the story of a 29 second loss.
Elsewhere, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) handed a sail-over victor to Emirates Team New Zealand after a complete loss of control for a 20 second period on the first leg. Earlier, Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) had beaten the French Orient Express Racing Team, a result that the Italians then matched in the fourth race of the day.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “The Americans sailed a great race and they had the edge on us for pace. It was perfect conditions out there and we sailed a reasonable race, we were just lacking a bit of horsepower, so we will get the boat back to the shed and work out what we can do to get some more pace.”
Joining Ainslie on-board INEOS Britannia’s AC75, Britannia, for the first race was Dylan Fletcher MBE as Co-Helm, Bleddyn Mon and Leigh McMillian as Trimmers and Matt Gotrel MBE, Neil Hunter, Matt Rossiter and Ben Cornish as Cyclors (cycling sailors).
It was announced Olympic gold medallist and reigning Moth World Champion Fletcher would be joining Ainslie as Co-Helm for the 37th America’s Cup on Wednesday. INEOS Britannia Coach Rob Wilson said Fletcher was doing “really well” in the role and that the team were “very lucky to have three amazing Helms” with Ainslie, Fletcher and double Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott, who has taken on the role of Head of Sailing.
The Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta resumes tomorrow, with a double race day for INEOS Britannia. They face Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand before taking on Alinghi Red Bull Racing. The action takes place from 13:00 BST (14:00 CET) and UK viewers can watch it live on TNT Sports.