by As Ben Ainslie and his crew turned blue on the Red Sea after nearly going down in the final fleet race of this hot America’s Cup regatta, it was hard to escape a familiar feeling about America’s Cup challenges the British. It is 172 years after all.
There were mitigating factors to this outcome. And Ainslie can certainly point to the boats handling and speed being much better compared to their last trip to Vilanova back in September, when they finished dead last year. But in the end it ended with Ineos Britannia in fifth place in a fleet of six boats, with only the French newcomer behind them. It was not the result they wanted.
The good news is that it was just a practice event. The British team still have nine months to sharpen their racing skills ready for the real thing, the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona next autumn, when they will be sailing the much larger 75ft Cup boat they have been busy with building behind closed doors with partners. Mercedes F1. That could still blow everyone out of the water.
But it is fair to say that questions are being asked of the British Challenger of Record with less than a year to go; about their sailing, their management structure, perhaps most important of all, their chief assistant.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s immediate acquisition of 25 percent of Manchester United for £1.35 billion added further dynamism to the America’s Cup challenge. Does plowing that much money into his youth football club make it less likely that Ratcliffe will renew another America’s Cup campaign? Will he be willing to continue putting north of £100 million per campaign if he doesn’t see a big step forward? Do they need to win the Cup this time, for example? If he steps back, who steps in?
As you might expect, Ainslie doesn’t seem too concerned. He insists that all his discussions with Ratcliffe were positive in nature. “It’s obviously a question to ask,” he admits. “But from the conversations we’ve had we’re already talking much further than the next America’s Cup. I don’t think United as an investment really changes that.
“Obviously it’s not a great economic climate right now. Where he will be in 12 months is anyone’s guess. I hope in a better place. But I think that would probably be a bigger deciding factor than the United investment.”
Ainslie would lose more than most of Ineos’ sporting properties if Ratcliffe decided to pull the plug. The America’s Cup project is almost a perfect illustration of the ‘cross-pollination’ that Ineos likes to talk about to show how their different properties can help each other. Between 50 plus Mercedes F1 engineers going out in Brecla on RB3, the Ineos Cup boat, to the work being done with Ineos Grenadiers – formerly Team Sky – to help prepare the Ineos Britannia ‘cyclors’ (the four sailors on the a Cup boat generating hydraulic power through static bicycles).
Again, Ainslie insists it’s business as usual. He reports to Ratcliffe bi-monthly in Monaco or London. He still attends biannual ‘CEO days’, where heads of various Ineos companies come together to brainstorm ideas. He regularly checks with James Allison, the Mercedes F1 engineer who was the chief technical officer of both the F1 team and the America’s Cup team, except for his involvement in the questionable sailing project earlier this year when Mercedes F1. A poor start to the season campaign brought Toto Wolff back into the F1 pit as technical director.
“I’d be lying if I said [Allison’s move] which had no impact,” admits Ainslie. “But it’s probably not as big as people think or fear. I mean, James…you’d put him in a Dave Brailsford sort of way. He’s one of these people, because of his vast expertise and experience, he’s overseeing a lot… so he’s not necessarily so hands-on all the time. It was always more ‘What are the resources at Mercedes? What do we need in a Cup team? How do we get the right people in the right jobs?’ And he’s brilliant with it. We still meet every two weeks to talk about strategy and the campaign in general. He has a huge emotional investment in the Cup.”
Ainslie: I’m confident we’ll get to where we need to be
It’s not just a matter of design and technology. Questions have also been asked of the Ineos sailing team. It goes without saying that other teams were smoother in Jeddah, especially the Kiwis and the Italians. Luna Rossa’s performance was particularly notable because 19-year-old Marco Gradoni was one of their co-directors.
Gradoni is like a mini-Ainslie: a three-time wedge-shaped world champion hopeful. Instead of just going through the Olympic classes he jumped straight from a simulator into the America’s Cup. “It’s very impressive,” says Ainslie.
It begs the question, is this a young man’s game now? Do the likes of Ainslie and Jimmy Spithill still have what it takes to handle these flying machines?
There are other issues, too, surrounding Ainslie. Ineos Britannia’s management structure is quite unique in that almost all senior positions are held by the four-time Olympic champion. He is the principal of the team, the face of the project, the helmsman and skipper, the chief executive, not to mention a husband and father of two small children.
Ainslie admits that he has so many different roles that “it can be a challenge” but denies that he wears too many hats. He has become better at delegating, he says. Giles Scott has been promoted to head of sailing. Grant Simmer, former CEO, is still involved as a consultant. And so on.
In terms of sailing, Ainslie admits he didn’t have the best year, and gives himself a “B-“. “But in terms of peaking for the Cup I can see a good way to get myself to where I need to be,” he says.
To that end, the team has just received a second AC40 so they will be able to test two boats in Barcelona from January. And with the key design features of RB3, their race boat, now signed, it can focus more on the sailing side.
“We are in a much better place than we were four years ago,” he concludes. “Obviously we don’t know what our competitors will be doing, but our expectation is that we will be in the field. Right now there isn’t one area where I’m afraid we’re really deficient. We can definitely ship better. I know her. But I am confident that next year we will have the time to get ourselves where we need to be.”
