Should the British start dreaming?
by Mark Jardine 17 Sep 20:00 BST
Alinghi Red Bull Racing vs. INEOS Britannia on Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals Day 2 - 15th September 2024 © Ricardo Pinto / America's Cup
I remember back in 1996 England hosted the football European Championship and, ahead of this, comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner with the band the Lightning Seeds released the song 'Three Lions', with the refrain, "It's coming home."
In the song is the line, "Thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming," referred to the England team not winning a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup. We're now 28 years on from that, and the situation is just the same... hey ho for England footie fans!
That timescale pales into insignificance compared to the America's Cup, which departed Britain's shores in 1851 and, while the trophy itself has travelled to the UK on numerous occasions, a British team has never won it. Could 2024 be the year that changes, or is it too soon to start dreaming?
With significant backing from Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS, the British team called on the Formula One expertise of the Mercedes team (also backed by INEOS) to design an AC75 which could win the America's Cup.
There have been setbacks and disappointments along the way, including a disappointing 36th America's Cup campaign in Auckland, their LEQ12 prototype catching fire, and the rudder suffering a catastrophic failure.
Just before racing it was announced that Dylan Fletcher would be Ben Ainslie's co-helm, when many had expected Giles Scott to fill that role. Was there discord in the camp, or had the data indicated Fletcher was better in the AC75?
Come the competition itself, the mood was relatively subdued in the INEOS Britannia camp, with boatspeed being the primary concern. This was borne out in the Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, which was the first time the teams went head-to-head in Barcelona. The British team picked up hard-fought wins against the Swiss and French teams, but were beaten by the Italians, Americans and the defenders, New Zealand.
Come the Round Robins series, things started to improve and the Brits ground out results, but had a number of boat handling and tactical errors which could have proved costly. The focus was not being the team to be eliminated at this stage. Winning the Round Robins, and the prize of choosing your Semi-Finals opponent, seemed far-fetched.
But things can change rapidly in sport.
The helm pairing of Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher began to really gel, each bringing different strengths to the table. Ainslie is a quick-thinker on the race course and can make instantaneous and bold decisions. Fletcher has an incredibly strong 49er and Moth background, and brings superb wind reading and technical detail to his role. As Ben freely admits, Dylan pestered his way into INEOS Britannia, almost to the point of being annoying, but relenting to the pressure and giving him a trial could have been a tactical masterstroke.
At the same time, the boat itself, RB3, found a turn of pace. When I went to visit the INEOS Britannia base just before the Preliminary Regatta, they had the boat in the shed for a few days while all the others were on the water practising. Coach Robbie Wilson told me that he thought some of the modifications would work, and some probably wouldn't. Importantly he thought the changes which might not work could be easily reverted if need be.
The turning point for the British team's fortunes came on Day 7 of the Round Robins. With two races scheduled, they first beat Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and then went on to defeat the all-conquering Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, who had been unbeaten up until that point.
It still looked a dead-cert for Luna Rossa to top the group before the final day of racing in the Round Robins, but a technical issue for the Italians meant they forfeited their race against Alinghi, which meant the two teams had to go head-to-head in a sail off, which the British team won.
Come the Semi Finals, it all looked to be going swimmingly, 4-0 up, until the third day when INEOS Britannia's Achilles' heel was brutally exposed in light winds. On a couple of occasions we saw how RB3 is prone to falling off the foils when winds are around the 6.5 knot lower wind limit, when Alinghi managed to keep going and win their first race.
Granted, we also saw Luna Rossa suffer the same fate, also 4-0 up on American Magic, but this wasn't due to a tack, but instead an aggressive manoeuvre gybing inside the US team at the leeward gate, which is far more likely to cause problems.
We'd seen this happen before for the British, and it does look like the boat is better optimised for higher winds, but the trend is for winds to get lighter towards the America's Cup itself, not heavier.
Developments move fast in the America's Cup world, and if INEOS Britannia progress as early as Wednesday to the Louis Vuitton Cup final then they can spend some time in the shed optimising the boat more for light wind tacks and gybes. They are no doubt analysing their processes, their approach speed, when they put down and raise the foils, as well as looking at what the other teams do in the manoeuvres in light winds.
It was very interesting listening to the discussions on other boats, where they often bore away slightly to gain speed or looked for a patch of strong wind to tack. This is commonplace in classes like the Moth, and will be where Dylan Fletcher's foiling racecraft could come more to the fore.
I know the America's Cup and sailing isn't as high profile as football, and it's unlikely we'll have comedians and pop stars lining up to write songs that become chants in stadiums, but winning the Auld Mug would be a massive achievement for Britain. I may well be dreaming too early - with Luna Rossa and the defenders Emirates Team New Zealand next, the hurdles just get higher and higher - but I'll admit I have got my hopes up!
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor