Britain Defeats Italy to Secure First America’s Cup Spot in Six Decades

 

Ineos Britannia Defeats Luna Rossa 7-4, Advances to Face New Zealand in America’s Cup Final

It has been forty years to the day when a British team became a match race contender in the America’s Cup, as Ineos Britannia beat Luna Rossa of Italy 4-7 in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Prior to the event the team led by Sir Ben Ainslie caught up the Kiwis in the overall standings and won the decisive race in Barcelona that set them against the current champions from New Zealand Angie in a first-to-seven series starting from October 12. The last series between Ineos Britannia and Luna Rossa were quite close reaching an equal score of 4-4 after four days of competing. Despite all these, the British team was also able to warm to the challenge and won the last three races. Sailing’s Ainslie and British co-skipper Dylan Fletcher displayed great communication skills on board Rita, an AC75 yacht that led the team to victory. Henderson confirmed that Backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe also joined in the celebrations in the water as the team embraced their success. The progress that Ineos Britannia made in the course of the challenger series was thus apparent; while the team struggled somewhat in August at the preliminary regatta, in the subsequent races it was always solid and often superb across practically all points of the wind range. Light air to a higher range of wind, the team demonstrated their capacity to deliver so well. The next competitors with whom the American team will fight are the New Zealanders who have won two previous America’s Cups and used the time between the challenger series to improve their boat. The British team, of course, understands that such an outcome will not be easy to achieve. After the victory, Ainslie reflected on the significance of the moment: There is such a lot of joy to be grateful for today: This is the ultimate stage, a considerable day for our team. We began this a decade ago and are now into the last one.” Now it goes to the actual America’s Cup race where Ineos Britannia has the daunting task of ending the British’s 173 year wait for the trophy.

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