October 19, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup, Prizegiving. EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND, winners of the America’s Cup.
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credit: Ian Romain, America's Cup
FREE FOR EDITORIAL USE
October 19, 2024. Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup, Prizegiving. EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND, winners of the America’s Cup.
picture supplied
credit: Ian Romain, America's Cup
FREE FOR EDITORIAL USE
Not only is the America’s Cup the oldest competition in international sport, it is also one of the most idiosyncratic.
So it was that, as New Zealand crossed the finish line in Barcelona, to seal an ultimately comprehensive 7-2 victory over Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia and lift the Auld Mug for the third time in a row, an official letter was being passed by Bertie Bickett, chairman of the Royal Yacht Squadron, under whose flag Ineos Britannia race, to his opposite number in the New Zealand Royal Yacht Squadron, challenging the Kiwis to another match. The challenge was accepted and Ineos are, as a consequence, official Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup. The race for the next Cup has already started.
Image 1 of 23: Peter Burling holds the America's Cup trophy aloft at the awards ceremony on shore at Barcelona. Photo / Ivo Rovira, America's Cup
There will be those who will look at the final scoreline here and laugh at that statement, imagining this to be some sort of drubbing, as if it was a football score. Who will consider the millions spent as money down the drain. The truth is, the America’s Cup match is a two-horse race. And in a two-horse race, the fastest horse usually wins. New Zealand were definitely the faster horse.
The America’s Cup is so hard to win precisely because it is not fair. The odds are always stacked in favour of the defender. They set the rules, they decide the class of boat, they decide the venue, the challengers. They even run the event itself. That is why only four countries have ever won it in 173 years.
That is why the New York Yacht Club retained it for the first 130-odd years of the Cup’s existence.
Ultimately, Ineos were unable to upset the odds. New Zealand, who were able to spend two months longer designing their boat as they knew they were already in the final, who tested out different foils during the challenger series before deciding on their final package, who spent three weeks making refinements to their boat while assessing the opposition in the knockout rounds, were just too good. As Ainslie was happy to admit.
Great Britain’s challenge ‘sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean’
Riath Al-Samarrai, Daily Mail UK
After Britain’s latest challenge to win the America’s Cup sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean, Sir Ben Ainslie vowed that his pursuit of history will continue. Whether he remains on board the yacht is less certain.
The 47-year-old has made winning this trophy for his homeland his grand obsession and so the 7-2 defeat by Emirates Team New Zealand, which was rounded off on Saturday, will leave a painful scar and raise a number of questions.
Not the least of which concerns Ainslie himself. While he has confirmed he will front another assault on the Cup, he was coy on the topic of his precise role, having served as team principal and skipper in Barcelona. That Ineos Britannia became the first British boat in 60 years to reach the final means the campaign ought to be viewed as a success, but Ainslie will now take time to decide if he wishes to be at the wheel when the 38th edition of the Cup is staged.
With New Zealand and their skipper Peter Burling firmly settled on a winning formula – they are the first team in the modern era to claim the Cup three times in succession – Ineos Britannia have other matters to resolve beyond Ainslie. Chief among them is Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s involvement, which has seen the Manchester United co-owner pump in £250 million [$537m] since 2018.
Time will tell how that pans out and whether it impacts on the positive momentum that has been accrued by Ainslie’s team, which has excelled in the past two months, having been desperately poor in 2021 in Auckland.
If there is a source of frustration for Ainslie, beyond the pain of a comprehensive defeat, it will come from the nagging feeling that his yacht was dealt an iffy hand by the sea conditions.
All but two of the nine races were contested on flat water, which favoured the Kiwi boat. That could be chalked down to bad British luck or smart work by Team New Zealand’s designers, though ultimately there was no doubt that the strongest crew won.
Sir Ben Ainslie defiant
Rachel Steinberg, The Independent UK
Sir Ben Ainslie vowed to come back even stronger after his bid to end Great Britain’s 173-year wait to win the America’s Cup ended in a 7-2 defeat to Emirates Team New Zealand.
Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia challengers were the first British team to contest the America’s Cup in 60 years, and on Wednesday in Barcelona became the first Britons in 90 years to score points when they took two wins from the two-time Kiwi holders.
Emirates Team New Zealand, skippered by Peter Burling, replied with two more wins to set up Saturday’s match-point ninth race and, despite what was at times a closely fought battle, clung on for a 37-second victory in what was also the 37th edition of the sailing competition.
Ainslie told the event broadcaster: “It’s been a hell of a road through this event to get to these finals, and we had our moments in the finals but at the end of the day the better team won.
“I’d just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported us in Barcelona and back home. It’s just been incredible to see, and I tell you it’s made a huge difference to the team.
“Especially because we’ve had a few tough moments, which inevitably happens in these campaigns, the support we’ve had is just amazing.
“This isn’t going to be the end of the journey for us. We set out 10 years ago to win the America’s Cup, we’re getting closer each time.
“The trick is to keep going and get it home the next time.”
Three in a row
Alexander Smith, Reuters
New Zealand retained the America’s Cup with a 7-2 win over Britain on Saturday, after a performance that prompted defeated skipper Sir Ben Ainslie to label them as the “best team ever”.
The victory makes it a third win in a row for New Zealand, who again lifted the “Auld Mug” which they had won against Italy in Auckland in 2021 and against the US in Bermuda in 2017.
There were hugs among the victorious crew of eight on board Taihoro before the sleek AC75 headed back to shore with an armada of supporter boats, horns blaring and flags fluttering, for a traditional Māori welcome.
“It’s a pretty surreal feeling for me. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” New Zealand skipper Peter Burling told reporters before going for the prizegiving ceremony as evening drew in on the Barcelona waterfront.
“I’m looking forward to hoisting the trophy ... it’s going to be an incredibly special moment. It doesn’t really feel like you’ve won the America’s Cup until you’ve done that,” he said.
New Zealand’s America’s Cup win marks a successful finale to a three-year campaign to retain the coveted trophy, which is billed as the oldest in international sport.
‘No coincidence’
Andy Bull, the Guardian
Ineos Britannia’s challenge for the 37th America’s Cup is over, and Ineos Britannia’s challenge for the 38th America’s Cup has just begun.
Emirates Team New Zealand won the ninth of the head-to-head races, and with it the match, 7-2. It means the New Zealanders are the first team in modern history to win the Cup three times in succession, and that Great Britain’s 173-year wait to win the Auld Mug will go on for who knows how long.
But in the moments after the defeat, Ineos Britannia’s skipper, Sir Ben Ainslie, confirmed that he will lead the team through another campaign, and that they will, again, be the official Challenger of Record.
If they’re going to win, they will have to beat a New Zealand team which Ainslie admiringly described as “the best team in the history of the Cup”.
They were too good for Britain this time, at any rate.
Team New Zealand’s boat Taihoro had the edge in the calmer waters and low winds that have prevailed in Barcelona during the regatta. Their boat goes so well in light conditions that you could blow it along with a paper fan.
It was no coincidence that Britain’s two wins came on the only racing day when the waves were up, and Taihoro, which has smaller foils than Britannia, struggled to cope in the choppy water.
‘Writing on the wall’ for Ineos
Live Sail Die
Emirates Team New Zealand concluded a historic chapter, winning the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup after an epic final showdown in Barcelona against the Challenger of Record, Ineos Britannia, in a single race that ebbed and flowed from the outset but ultimately saw the Kiwis secure victory by 37 seconds.
On a day where the Barcelona waterfront was treated to the spectacle of a record-breaking 350 Patí Catala catamarans on the racecourse before racing, the British came out looking for a pre-start fight. In a shifting breeze of 7-11 knots on flat water, they entered on starboard before gybing immediately on to the Kiwi line to trail them out to the far-right boundary of the box and the race was on.
For Ineos Britannia, the writing looked to be on the wall, but the never-say-die attitude that has been carefully cultivated within the team came to the fore, and on the second windward leg, a rare miscalculation on the pressure from the Kiwis opened the door for the British to stage a comeback.
Onboard Taihoro, the sails were quickly and efficiently stowed before the New Zealand flag was raised above a banner with the Catalan words: “Moltes Gràcies Barcelona” – many thanks, Barcelona. Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, was welcomed aboard Taihoro by the Kiwi sailors before the customary spraying of Moët & Chandon champagne in celebration.
Emirates Team New Zealand have officially made history as the first continuous team to win the America’s Cup three times in a row, and the sense of elation around the dockside was palpable.
