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Sir Ben Ainslie will need to mastermind a stunning comeback if Great Britain are to win the America’s Cup for the first time in the race’s 173-year history, after New Zealand sped into a 2-0 lead on the opening day off the coast of Barcelona.
New Zealand are the chasing a third successive triumph in one of sport’s oldest competitions, and the early signs were promising as they cruised to an advantage in the best-of-13 battle.
A British boat has never won the America’s Cup but Ainslie’s crew overcame Italy 7-4 in the Louis Vuitton Cup series to qualify for the showpiece event for the first time since 1964.
There was a party atmosphere at the British base with tunes from DJ Rob da Bank as the crew docked out, with horns blaring and fans waving flags as the sailors and their support crew pulled away from their base.
Hundreds of New Zealand supporters sporting black kit, with many draped in the country’s flag, had cheered the Kiwis as they were given a Maori send-off before their boat was escorted away from their dock by a traditional waka canoe.
But Ainslie and co-helm Dylan Fletcher suffered a nightmare start when an equipment failure made them marginally late for entry into race one.
“There were a few little issues with one of the batteries which put us on the back foot slightly,” revealed coach Rob Wilson as the race quickly got away from Ineos Britannia.
They trailed their opponents by 24 seconds after leg one, brought the deficit down to 15 seconds during leg two before a strong upwind third leg saw New Zealand lead by 36 seconds.
New Zealand, led by skipper Peter Burling, at one stage held a 670-metre advantage and eventually came home 41 seconds ahead, but Ainslie played down his team’s misfortune at the start.
“We didn’t have the perfect entry to the race, but the guys did a good job to recover from that and keep calm,” he said on TNT Sports.
“We were in a half-decent spot on the start line, it was just dependent on where the breeze went from there and the Kiwis did a good job. It wasn’t that we did a lot wrong, they just put in a good race.”
Ineos Britannia got the better of a cat-and-mouse start to race two, but at the end of a tight first leg the 2017 and 2021 winners were 11 seconds ahead.
The lead changed hands during the downwind second leg, with Ineos Britannia twice protesting close crosses from New Zealand, but the umpires judged the boats were far enough apart.
By halfway the New Zealand lead was only 10 seconds, but the trailing boat could not recover any more ground and they came home 27 seconds adrift.
“Obviously it’s not the start we were looking for, but credit to the Kiwis,” said Ainslie. “For us, a few things we obviously need to work on and we couldn’t quite match them round the track. But I’m confident the team can work it out and we can come back tomorrow and get some scores on the board.”
In between races one and two there was disappointment for Great Britain in the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup.
Hannah Mills and her crew on Athena Pathway were edged out by just eight seconds by the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team from Italy.
“It’s been a long, amazing campaign, we’ve put so much into it and I’m so proud of the team,” said Mills.
“I’m gutted not to have delivered today, but for the sport of women’s sailing and for all the young girls watching, it’s going to be your turn next.”
Additional reporting by agencies
