INEOS Britannia have broken the mould and are in uncharted waters . . . the question now is can they go on to win the America’s Cup, something no British yacht has managed to do in 173 years.
- First British challenger in 60 years
- First British race winner in 90 years
- Ineos Britannia first . . . TBD
Back in the match, Ineos Britannia must now turn their game-changing efforts into a winning score.
With a reserve day Thursday, it looks like they will miss what could have been a perfect weather window for them, although the early forecasts seem to have an optimistic tendency.
Going by their strong performance in the bigger wave/wind conditions of the second race Wednesday, and the rising error rate on the Kiwi boat, back-to-back race days would have maintained the British momentum.
We shall have to see if the improvements in the British speed and handling carry over to the lighter forecast conditions of the weekend, and hope that we are not back with the wind lottery, even although it worked so well for them in the first race Wednesday.
It’s still a long haul to claim the five more race wins required for victory, but Ben Ainslie and the Ineos team are breaking down historic barriers, and have already equalled the highest score ever by a British America’s Cup yacht.
Can they now continue their record breaking efforts and finally lay the Auld Mug jinx to rest.
The 37th America’s Cup is won by the first team to win seven races.
The remaining schedule includes racing days with a maximum two races per day on the 18, 19, 20 and 21 October as required.
Next races Friday 18 October from 13:00 hrs BST (14 CST).
There have been 36 editions of the America’s Cup since the intial round the Isle of Wight in August 1851, won by the 93ft yacht America from a fleet of 15 yachts, starting and finishing at the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes.
Since then Britain has entered 23 time, actually competing in the Cup match as the challenger 17 times (including 2024).
The America’s Cup has been contested 36 times with the most successful nations being the United States with 30 wins, New Zealand with three wins, Switzerland with two wins, and Australia with one win.
