Es war eine von zuletzt vielen langen Nächten in der hinter einem hohen Zaun liegenden Basis des Team Ineos aus Großbritannien am Rande des Port Vell in Barcelona. Und doch war dieses Mal alles anders. Wurde in den vergangenen Wochen des Öfteren bis in die Morgenstunden konzentriert an der 21 Meter langen Yacht gearbeitet, das fast 145 Quadratmeter große Segel auf kleinste Risse geprüft oder über mehrere Gigabyte an Wetterdaten gegrübelt, herrschte am Freitagabend ausgelassene Partystimmung bei der Segel-Crew um Sir Ben Ainslie und ihrem fast 50-köpfigen Stab an Trainern, Ingenieuren, Bootsbauern und vielen mehr.
„Es läuft alles so, wie wir es geplant haben“
Seine Crew hatte sich nach einem eher holprigen Start in die Runde der Herausforderer stetig gesteigert, war aber tatsächlich erst zuletzt gegen Luna Rossa wirklich stark gefordert gewesen: Nach den ersten acht teilweise dramatischen Duellen hatte es 4:4 gestanden, bevor den Briten am Donnerstag mit zwei Siegen der Doppelschlag und am Freitag dann der finale Coup zum entscheidenden siebten Sieg gelang.
Ainslie – the four-time Olympic champion who won the America’s Cup as a navigator with the Oracle crew from the USA in 2013 – founded the Ineos Britannia team eleven years ago, which is co-financed by British entrepreneur Sir Jim Ratcliffe, among others, and not only Ainslie as a helmsman on the water, but also as chairman of the board in entrepreneurial and development-related issues.
Ineos’ goal has always been: to bring the 67 centimeter high silver jug called the “Auld Mug” to Great Britain for the first time – and the America’s Cup for the first time since its first edition around the Isle of Wight in 1851 and the defeat against the yacht at that time “America” from New York to return to British waters.
A maximum of 13 duels with New Zealand
In 2017 and 2021, the crew failed quite clearly in the preliminary round, but Ainslie’s team didn’t give up, worked meticulously on a new multi-million dollar high-tech yacht in the development center northwest of London, and enlisted the help of German foiling experts, among other things Martin Fischer brought maximum competence into the development team and ultimately largely isolated himself from fans, journalists and tourists in Barcelona in order to focus everything on getting into the America’s Cup.
The last – and probably the most difficult hurdle to overcome – are the maximum of 13 duels from next Saturday with the two-time defending champions from New Zealand with the sailing superstars Peter Burling, Nathan Outteridge and Blair Tuke, who together with Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton has also been at the core of the New Zealand crew for almost ten years now. “It was a big fight against Luna Rossa and it will be an incredibly tough fight against the Kiwis. But we have a very fast boat, we are there to the point – everything is going as we planned,” said Ainslie on Friday evening with a view to the task at hand, after showering champagne first on the yacht and later on stage distributed to his team.
Meanwhile, disillusionment spread among the Italians at Luna Rossa. After the clear cup defeat against the New Zealanders in Auckland three years ago, the crew around the two helmsmen Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni had also prepared meticulously for the duels in Barcelona in order to bring the “Auld mug” to Italy for the first time.
Tactically and sailing-wise, Luna Rossa was also superior to the other teams in the first days of the challenger round. But in the final duel against the British, their yacht, called the “Silver Arrow”, had to contend with technical problems or damage on several occasions: once, a sail change that was necessary at short notice and the resulting late entry into the starting zone led to disqualification. And then, in the middle of the seventh race, several carbon covers on the hull came off when the boat suddenly entered the water, making it impossible to continue the journey.
In the last race, the head no longer played its part – Luna Rossa missed the start, was unable to make up the gap throughout the entire race and finally only crossed the finish line 17 seconds after the British. “I think we had a really good boat and that makes it a little harder to put the current feelings into words,” said the dejected Australian Spithill on Friday, before he thanked his crew profusely and initially left it open to what extent he and this were the first time The Luna Rossa team, which started in 2000 and belongs to Prada boss Patrizio Bertarelli, is interested in a new challenge at the 38th America’s Cup. Instead of on the Catalan Mediterranean coast, this could possibly take place in the English Channel in the south of England for the first time in more than 170 years. Ben Ainslie and his crew will be working on this again late into the night next week.
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