Emirates Team New Zealand began their America’s Cup defence in ominous style on Saturday, cruising to wide-margin wins in the opening two races over challenger Ineos Britannia.
Skippered by Peter Burling, the Kiwis were faultless as they drew first blood by 41 seconds in the opening race of the best of 13-series final.
And they doubled up later in the day, claiming the second race by 27 seconds to leave four-time Olympian Ben Ainslie’s Ineos on the back foot ahead of races three and four on Sunday.
The futuristic foiling yachts may have cost millions of dollars to develop but the AC75s are rendered redundant without a crucial free ingredient – wind.
And that source of energy required to make the boats fly across the water was in short supply off the coast of the Catalan capital early Saturday afternoon, delaying the scheduled first race by over half an hour.
Once the 37th edition of the world’s oldest international sporting trophy finally got underway, New Zealand were quickest across the line with Ineos Britannia struggling from the start.
At speeds touching 40 knots (74kph) New Zealand carved out a comfortable lead.
“We got a great start, I was a little bit nervous sitting there with no wind before the start,” said Burling ahead of race two.
“Hopefully we can get another one,” he added.
“We didn’t have the perfect entry to the race, but the guys did a good job to keep calm,” Ainslie said.
“The Kiwis did a nice job, we didn’t do a lot wrong, they just did a better race.
“There’s a long way to go yet, we’ll keep pushing!” he added.
After a break to take breath the finalists set off for race two, with Ineos this time enjoying a much zippier start.
It was neck and neck to the first gate of the eight-leg race, the boats tacking often only metres apart as the 2024 final sparked into life.
Though much tighter than the opener the Kiwis had the upper hand at the fourth gate.
– ‘Credit to Kiwis’ –
They went on to pull well clear by the line, to cheers from the New Zealand supporters back on shore.
“We did a great job as a crew, taking smart options. It’s nice to get another one on board” smiled Burling.
For Ainslie this double-defeat underlined the task he has ahead of him as Britain seeks its first win in the 173-year old competition.
“Not the start we were looking for,” he reflected.
“Credit to the Kiwis, obviously we have stuff to work on.
“It was always going to be tough against New Zealand but I’m confident in the team and looking forward to getting some scores on the board tomorrow.”
Ineos Britannia, bankrolled by Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, earned its place in the high stakes match on the Mediterranean by coming through the Louis Vuitton challenger series culminating in their 7-4 defeat of Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team last week.
The Kiwis are the double defending champions and they had the luxury of sitting and waiting to see who emerged as their challenger in Barcelona.
Despite hosting the inaugural race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, Britain has yet to take the nautical chequered flag in the competition compared to Formula One on water.
Skippered by sailing great Ainslie, Ineos is flying the flag for Britain in the final for the first time in 60 years.
Ainslie is already a winner of the America’s Cup as tactician with Oracle Team USA in 2013.
nr/dj
