Ben Ainslie is confident that rivals Team New Zealand will be strong challengers at the 2017 America’s Cup despite the team being highly critical of the controversial decision to reduce the boat size for the competition.
Earlier this year plans were approved to change boats from 62ft (AC62) catamarans to AC45s in the 45ft to 50ft range for the 2017 competition in Bermuda. The decision resulted in the Italian team Luna Rossa withdrawing from the America’s Cup and Team New Zealand’s chief executive accused the remaining four crews of “self-serving manoeuvring”.
Ainslie, who won the 2013 America’s Cup in remarkable circumstances against the New Zealanders with Team Oracle USA, is fronting a new British team for the 2017 competition and on Wednesday announced a new partnership with Land Rover. Ainslie’s team was renamed Land Rover BAR at their new multimillion pound base in Portsmouth that became operational this week.
Ainslie, who won the 2013 America’s Cup in remarkable circumstances against the New Zealanders with Team Oracle USA, is fronting a new British team for the 2017 competition and on Wednesday announced a new partnership with Land Rover. Ainslie’s team was renamed Land Rover BAR at their new multimillion pound base in Portsmouth that became operational this week.
Of the row regarding boat size for 2017, Ainslie said: “It was regrettable that Luna Rossa decided to withdraw from the cup – Team New Zealand have been having a pretty tumultuous time of late and I think there is a lot more going on within that team other than just the issues around the class rule.
“Now we have teams committed to moving forward in this exciting new class of boat, sharing a common goal. Team New Zealand, like ourselves, are heavily reliant on commercial funding. I’ll be hugely surprised that as a commercial team they could suddenly decide to not compete. I’m confident they will be there and be a strong challenger like they have been in the past.
“We supported the shift to smaller boats for two reasons. Firstly, the longer-term vision from all the teams was to have continuity in the circuit, that we could collectively design a boat for the next America’s Cup and use the same one beyond. The other side was to reduce the costs; this new class of boat is containerized so the logistics of getting it around the world are more achievable.”
Land Rover, the British automotive manufacturer, becomes a central part of Ainslie’s technical innovation group. It is the latest move by the four-times Olympic sailing champion to cement links with the motor industry, having already recruited Adrian Newey – Formula One’s most decorated designer – and Martin Whitmarsh, the former McLaren team principal who became BAR’s chief executive in March.
Next month the America’s Cup World Series event takes place in Portsmouth, a qualification race for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda. More than 90,000 tickets have already been sold for the four days.
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