- Great Britain suffered two big defeats this Friday in the Copa América
- Sir Ben Ainslie has not given up hope despite frustrating setbacks.
If Sir Ben Ainslie is to make America’s Cup history, then Britain’s hopes depend on him rediscovering his habit of saving lost causes. After two big losses on Friday, that outlook appears to be quickly sinking beneath the waves.
Having fought so hard for a couple of wins and some momentum on Wednesday, Ineos Britannia now face a match point trailing 6-2 against Team New Zealand in this best-of-seven showdown in Barcelona . Everything could be resolved by Saturday afternoon.
“It’s not over yet, so we’ll keep fighting,” Ainslie said. With him, that’s a certainty, but only a bold punter would bet on Britain ending their 173-year wait for the trophy right now.
Pete Burling’s defending champions were faultless in the seventh and eighth races of the series, with a gap between their stern and the British bow of more than 1,000m at the end of both. For clock watchers, that meant margins of 73 and 55 seconds: a beating in plain English.
Ainslie’s team pointed to rudder damage sustained in a collision with a submerged object during the last of those duels, and in these frustrated boats any loss of control is decisive. But by then Britannia had already been overtaken in the first race, when Burling detected an early change in wind that kept them well clear, and they were behind the starting line in the second, when the rudder problem occurred.
Great Britain suffered two big defeats to New Zealand in the America’s Cup on Friday
Sir Ben Ainslie hopeful Britain can respond after setbacks
Ineos Britannia now faces a match point with a 6-2 deficit to Team New Zealand
“It wasn’t a good day for us,” Ainslie said. ‘Hats off to the Kiwis, they sailed two really strong races with that changing material and managed to pick the right side of both starting lines and get that first turn. “They did a really good job defending when they were ahead and putting us in a bad situation.”
Compounding a difficult afternoon for Ainslie is Saturday’s forecast for a light breeze and calm sea state, which has so far favored the team they need to beat.
