INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, had a tough day in Barcelona as the 37th America’s Cup Match moved to 6-2 in favour of Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand. The Kiwis managed to take both race wins on Friday after picking the best breeze across the course in tricky conditions. It is now do or die for the British Challenger, with the Kiwis on match point, needing just one more win to secure the America’s Cup trophy for the third time in a row.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “It wasn’t a good day for us. The Kiwis managed to pick the shifts and did a really good job of defending and putting us in a bad spot. You have to take these things on the chin though, but it’s not over yet, we will keep fighting. The team has fought all the way through this competition, we’ve been on the backfoot before and made some huge gains to get us this far. We’ve seen in the history of the Cup there’s been some amazing comebacks and we know we’ve got a great team and a great boat.”
The first race on Friday, and seventh race of the series, was a tough one for the British team. INEOS Britannia dominated a very dynamic pre-start and crossed the start line ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) and at a faster speed. The advantage swung back to ETNZ though, as the wind shifted to where they were on the right-had side of the course. Both teams sailed to the respective boundary, and at the first cross New Zealand was able to tack in front of the British boat, forcing them back to the left-hand side. At the top of the course, Ben Ainslie and his team found a favourable shift, and wound back some of their losses, but at the first gate ETNZ went round the left-hand mark with a 12-second advantage.
The British crew took the split, rounding the opposite gate, and with a further shift to the right, both boats were almost pointing at the second gate for a while. Ainslie and co. were able to find enough latitude on the course to sail their own race, and there were no gains to the New Zealanders at the bottom of the course.
It was the third leg where ETNZ managed to step away, with the breeze now firmly favouring the right-hand side all the way down the racecourse. The New Zealanders were able to dominate that side and leave the British crew with only bad options. By the third gate the Kiwis had extended their lead, and from there they kept going, taking their fifth win by the margin of one minute and 13 seconds.
The eighth race of the series saw Emirates Team New Zealand slightly quicker off the line than INEOS Britannia. The Brits tacked away to the right and at the first cross ETNZ was ahead. The Kiwis took the right-hand side of the course where the breeze was better and at the first gate they were 15 seconds ahead.
On the second leg, some slight damage to the rudder in the first race caused a ventilation and a touch-down just before INEOS Britannia’s first gybe. This lost the Brits speed and distance, with the Kiwis extending their lead to 460m. Emirates Team New Zealand’s lead extended and decreased over the next couple of laps, but they managed to find some good wind shifts on leg seven. This doubled their lead, and they took race eight; and the Match to a scoreline of 6-2.
Ainslie said: “We did have an issue with the rudder but I don’t think it affected the result. It will just be something we need to look at and figure out how to avoid in the future. Despite today’s result the team is in a good place, we know there are no second chances now and that we have to win every race, but the team is positive and they’re all up for the fight as long as it takes.”
Racing resumes on Saturday from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST) and UK viewers can watch it all live on TNT Sports.