Ineos Britannia beaten but still on course for semi-final

A frustrating loss for Ben Ainslie’s crew but one that threw up a potential weakness in their rivals American Magic

Ineos Britannia are inching their way towards the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup after a frustrating defeat at the hands of American Magic on day six of the challenger selection series on Thursday.
Ben Ainslie’s team lost a topsy-turvy race, throwing away a lead on the final downwind leg having snatched it dramatically just minutes earlier. But they were not too downhearted afterwards, especially with speculation building that they may have exposed a weakness on the part of their old rivals from the New York Yacht Club.
If things continue as they are, Ainslie’s men look likely to face the Americans in the semi-finals of the series, which determines which of the five challengers for the 37th America’s Cup gets to face New Zealand in October’s final.
That is because Luna Rossa, who currently have a perfect 5-0 record, will get their choice of semi-final opponent if they finish top of the round robins. The Italians are likely to pick France or Switzerland, whichever of them has avoided elimination.
Of course, either still could. Or Luna Rossa could throw a curveball and pick Britain or America.
But assuming Ineos Britannia and American Magic do face each other, it is set to be a fascinating battle of wits and designs.
The American boat is undoubtedly quick, but a number of observers are now speculating that it may suffer a power issue.
Uniquely among the challengers, the American AC75 has its ‘cyclors’ – the sailors who power the boat’s hydraulic systems – pedalling in a recumbent position, facing backwards and looking up towards the sky. That allows them to package their boat very neatly, giving them a beautifully aerodynamic hull shape. But the number-crunchers believe it may be costing them as much as 10-20 per cent in terms of watts. If they get into a dogfight, or have to perform a number of manoeuvres in a short space of time, it could leave them exposed. Or so the theory goes.
Thursday’s racing suggested that might have been the case. American Magic just about won the start after Britannia fell off its foils in the pre-start. And they increased their lead when Britain incurred a boundary penalty on the first upwind leg.
But Ineos fought their way back into it, again showing much-improved upwind speed. And by the time the teams reached the final windward gate, the two boats were locked in combat. The Americans then splashed down while bearing away, leading some to speculate that they had run out of juice.
Luke Parkinson, one of the cyclors aboard the GB boat, was one of them. “We put them really under pressure with power consumption and it looked as if they paid the price a little bit at the top of the course,” Parkinson said.
Asked whether he felt American Magic might have a power issue, Parkinson added: “You know, a team who releases on their GCN Network that they can do 500 watts for an hour wouldn’t think they have a power problem. But today it didn’t come across that way to us. Maybe it is linked to the recumbent position, or maybe just the way they get their power in, but we took it as a positive for our guys. We were digging in pretty hard, and it’s pretty motivating when you get on top like that.”
In the end, American Magic recovered, finding some good pressure on the final downwind leg, which combined with a poor gybe from Ineos, allowed them to cross the line 13sec ahead of the British team. But they later encountered a number of issues in their second race of the day, a defeat against Swiss challenger Alinghi.
And Parkinson said he and his teammates were looking forward to day seven on Saturday, when they will face Alinghi and Luna Rossa. “I guess we’re pretty positive going into a two-race day, with similar power required, to be able to deliver the boat in both those races,” he said. “And if that is the case [that American Magic have power issues] further into the event, that’s going to be a weakness for them.”
Paul Goodison, co-helm of American Magic, denied there was any problem. “I don’t think it’s an issue,” he said, attributing the splashdown to a lack of pressure at the gate. ““We didn’t have much pressure. I need to go back and look,” he said. “But some of our guys can put over 500watts down for 20mins, which as any cyclist will know is phenomenal. And that is from a recumbent position. So I don’t think it is that.
“I think it’s just how we use our power. You look at how we manoeuvre and manipulate this boat. At times in light winds we are moving a lot more mainsheet, jibsheet, jib cunningham, main cunningham, to power the boat up out of manoeuvres.
“At some point you have got to make the conscious decision of how optimised you want to make the sail shapes for the accelerations out of every tack, versus not easing it, to give yourself more power for straight lines. And that is quite a complex job I guess for the two helmsmen and the two trimmers about what we do or don’t want to ease, and then trying to justify how much oil we are spending.”
Ineos later lost a one-sided second race against New Zealand, but there were no points at stake with the defenders already through to the final. One more win from their final three races against Switzerland and Italy on Saturday, or against France on Sunday, should see Britain through to the semis.