Sir Ben Ainslie’s team suffered another blow in their tilt at sporting history as Ineos Britannia went 3-0 down to Emirates Team New Zealand after the second day of racing at the America’s Cup.
The first team to seven wins will lift the Auld Mug, and the British boat will need to regroup overnight to shift the momentum away from a seemingly dominant New Zealand side.
The defining moment pre-start was a near-crash where Ineos Britannia were given a penalty for not keeping clear of the New Zealand boat on starboard. This meant they had to lose 75 metres relative to their competitor and at such a crucial point in the race, there was no coming back.
We know that Ainslie performs well when fired up. He famously said of his rivals in London 2012, “they’ve made me angry, and you don’t want to make me angry”, before going on to win his fourth Olympic gold medal. Perhaps that is what is needed to turn this around.
Race four has been rescheduled to Monday, due to lack of wind on the waters of Barcelona on Sunday. The scheduled start time for the next showdown is 1pm UK time.
03:06 PM BST
More action tomorrow
Race four has been scheduled for tomorrow at 13:00 BST – we will see you there!
03:00 PM BST
Angry Ainslie
There’a a bit of chatter on social media. Listening back to the interviews post-race 3 again, Ainslie appeared to call commentator Stephen McIvor a “f—— w—–” as he got up after their exchange. I think he possibly misconstrued a comment from McIvor when the Kiwi commentator asked about Ineos’s performance and his crew’s belief, and felt he was questioning either or both. “Maybe that’s the Kiwi commentator in you, mate” he said. Then, as he got up, with his mic still live, he muttered: “F—— w—–.” He was clearly furious. Perhaps that is what he/Ineos need. Angry Ben.
02:42 PM BST
The critical moment of race three
Here is that race-defining moment from the pre-start where GBR picked up an incredibly costly penalty for not keeping clear of NZL on starboard.
02:36 PM BST
Racing abandoned for the day
We’ve just had an update from the race committee: “Racing is stopped for today.”
Shame but perhaps a good thing for Ineos. Can regroup and lick wounds.
02:21 PM BST
Racing postponed for now
The wind has decreased on the course, it is currently not consistently above the minimum limit. Standby – we will let you know when we are back on!
02:12 PM BST
Wind decreasing on the race course
The wind has just dropped below the 6.5 knot minimum limit, so the race committee have confirmed the next possible start time for race four as 14:20 BST.
Both teams have opted for headsail changes to reflect the decreasing wind.
02:10 PM BST
Ainslie “by far the most competitive guy I’ve ever met”
Sir Ben Ainslie famously said during the London 2012 Olympics: “they’ve made me angry and you don’t want to make me angry.”
Tom Cary sat down with one of the men at the receiving end of that comment – Danish sailor Jonas Hogh-Christensen – to discuss his former Olympic rival.
It will be interesting to see whether that fire comes out now with the Brits’ back up against the wall.
02:01 PM BST
Fighting talk from the teams
Obviously that race was all about the pre-start penalty. GB were always going to struggle to come back from that.
What I found really fascinating was NZ coach Ray Davies’ comments in-race. Asked about New Zealand’s aggression at the start, he said: “We’ve been practising it a lot. Ben’s been asking for someone to do it for quite some time. So it was good that it was us that gave him one of those.”
Fascinating comment. All the talk before this was of how “battle-hardened” Ineos would be after that series against Luna Rossa. How Ben would go after Pete Burling and look to intimidate him etc etc
That chat clearly riled NZ and they wanted to prove a point. Ainslie hardly said a word after that penalty was meted out. Clearly furious.
GB have to win a start soon. That will tell us a lot. Can they keep New Zealand behind them if they get into the lead?
01:58 PM BST
Foiling explained
For those new to the sport, foiling is a relatively recent introduction to sailing. The ‘arms’ that you see coming out of the side of the hull are the hydrofoils, which enable the boats to lift out of the water once the wind reaches around six knots. It means that boats can reach much higher speeds, as there is so much less drag through the water.
01:46 PM BST
Aggressive moves
That incident in the pre-start was probably the closest we have seen to a catastrophic collision between these AC75s during all the rounds of this competition. Both teams did well to avoid contact.
01:40 PM BST
New Zealand 3-0 Great Britain
Well that was a masterclass from Emirates Team New Zealand. They win race three by 52 seconds, having shown uncharacteristic aggression at the start and forced a boat-on-boat penalty on Ineos Britannia. The Brits then had to lose 75 metres after the start relative to their competitor, and there was no way back from there.
01:37 PM BST
Emirates Team New Zealand on the final leg
They just keep extending here. The two boats look pretty well matched on speed but with the New Zealand team in control and taking away any options tactically, the British team have had no overtaking opportunities. Pete Burling’s team also seem to lose less speed during their tacking upwind, with marginally better acceleration coming out of the manoeuvres.
01:32 PM BST
GBR still trail NZL
Ineos Britannia will be hoping for a misstep by Emirates New Zealand here. There is little else they can do to make up a 33 second deficit with two legs left to go.
01:27 PM BST
Halfway point in race three
GBR trail by 32 seconds at the windward gate after leg three of six.
01:26 PM BST
Frustration for Ineos Britannia
“Is there anything else we can do lads?”
“I don’t think we can.”
Communications on the Ineos Britannia boat illustrate the frustration at being unable to get any leverage on Emirates Team New Zealand on this upwind leg. Textbook match racing from NZL.
01:22 PM BST
NZL matches on downwind speed
Ineos Britannia appeared to have a little bit of an edge yesterday on the downwind speed, but Emirates Team New Zealand have at least matched them for speed on this downwind leg. Pete Burling’s team lead the Brits by 27 seconds at the end of leg two. We have a split at the leeward gate but it looks like New Zealand will tack over and maintain that classic loose cover and control to minimise the passing opportunities.
01:17 PM BST
NZL lead at the windward gate
We know that whoever leads at the first gate is almost always the winner at the finish, but it is never guaranteed. The wind is decreasing and patchy breeze creates opportunities.
01:15 PM BST
Still a close match
The Brits are only around 50m behind but New Zealand is consistently tacking on them to give them dirty breeze, giving Ineos Britannia little choice but to tack away. Manoeuvres are slow in these boats compared to straight line speed, so it’s costly to be forced into turning corners unnecessarily.
01:12 PM BST
GBR will look to split
The Brits will try to get a split away from New Zealand to get a 75m drop back, which they will hope to claw back by having the leverage across the course. This is not good news for Sir Ben Ainslie’s team.
01:11 PM BST
Both boats protest each other
That was very close! Penalty has been given to GBR for failing to keep clear of NZL on starboard. They will have to drop back 75m after the start. That will be very costly.
01:08 PM BST
Race three in start sequence
The wind limit has been met. We have three minutes to go until the start of race three.
01:07 PM BST
Wind speeds currently looking sailable
There is a breeze of 8-10 knots over the race course. This is due to decrease at some point during the afternoon so the race committee will be looking to get racing underway on time.
12:54 PM BST
“Good learnings” overnight for Ineos Britannia
Trimmer Leigh McMillan has described yesterday as being a first chance to have a good look at New Zealand and the data. He says little tweaks have been made and is “confident that will bring a bit more performance.”
We know that Ineos Britannia have really adapted and improved as a team throughout the qualifying rounds and Louis Vuitton Cup finals series, so we shall see whether they can continue that momentum.
12:50 PM BST
Ties between America’s Cup and F1 teams predicted to strengthen
Bumped into F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali at Ineos dock-out today. He was there with Pietro Beccari, chief executive of Louis Vuitton, with whom F1 have just signed a new long term sponsorship deal. Domenicali, an Italian, admitted he enjoyed Luna Rossa’s victory in the women’s America’s Cup yesterday but claimed to be supporting GB in the sailing today. Predicted that ties between America’s Cup and F1 teams would only deepen following Ineos’s successful campaign in this Cup.
12:44 PM BST
Celebratory dock out scenes from the New Zealand camp
The New Zealand fans certainly know how to send their team off in style.
12:40 PM BST
Ineos Britannia cyclor Neil Hunter “pretty confident” ahead of day two
12:26 PM BST
Ben Ainslie and Ineos Britannia looking to bounce back
Strap yourselves in for another instalment of high speed action as we look forward to day two of racing in the America’s Cup. Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team take on the defenders, and winners of the last two Cup matches, Emirates Team New Zealand. It is 60 years since a British boat has contested the final of the event, and Ineos Britannia is bidding to win international sport’s oldest competition for the first time ever in its 173-year history.
It was a tough day one for the Brits on the waters of Barcelona yesterday, going 2-0 down to a formidable-looking New Zealand side. This is a long game though, and while the team that is first to chalk up seven wins will take home the Auld Mug, famously Oracle Team USA overhauled New Zealand from an 8-1 deficit to win by 9-8 in the 2013 iteration of the event. There is a lot more racing left to go.
Matches three and four are scheduled for 13:10 BST, but the forecast looks lighter than yesterday, so we may well see some short postponements, or ‘professional waiting’ as sailors like to describe it.
No doubt Ineos Britannia will have regrouped overnight and will come out all guns blazing today. Emirates Team New Zealand appeared to have a small boat speed advantage upwind, but in the shifty conditions experienced yesterday it is hard to tell whether that was the defining factor, or whether they simply read the patchy wind better. Once they got their bow in front, they then had control with a classic match racing cover over the Brits, making passing opportunities very tricky. One thing we have seen in this regatta is that the boat that leads around the first windward gate almost always goes on to win the race, making the start absolutely critical. With seven-time-World-Champion match racer Ian Williams in the team, the Brits will be looking to draw on that expertise to nail those starts today.
