After an early morning photoshoot at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, one of the truly iconic and stand-out features of the stunning city of Barcelona, the four helmsmen that will contest the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, faced the glare of the world’s media at the Press Conference.
Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge represented the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand whilst for INEOS Britannia, the Challenger of Record, Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher took to the stage.
A coin toss was conducted during the Press Conference to decide the starting ends and with Emirates Team New Zealand winning the toss, they will start from port entry.
The Press Conference began with the 173-year-old America’s Cup Trophy being led into the auditorium by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei followed by a stirring Haka to lay down the challenge with INEOS Britannia to contest the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match.
Peter Burling, skipper of Emirates Team New Zealand encapsulated the building sense of excitement and tension, saying: “It’s an incredibly special moment and incredibly exciting time, and we’re looking forward to getting out there, and getting racing underway tomorrow.
"I think the intrigue of the America’s Cup is that you don’t really know until you line up for the first start but we’re really happy with the package that we’ve put together – and I’m sure the British will be really happy with the package that they’ve put together. Two different looking boats, but probably going reasonably similar speeds and it will make for an awesome competition.”
Sir Ben Ainslie, skipper of INEOS Britannia contextualised just what reaching the final meant – not only for the team, but also for British sport – saying: “It's a really proud moment for us as proud British, we’ve got a very proud sporting and maritime heritage, and the America’s Cup is the one thing that has always been missing from our trophy cabinet.
"So, this is an incredible opportunity for our team, but at the same time we are coming up against incredible Defenders – who are going for a third win in a row – and we know that’s the ultimate challenge. In a way, for us, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain – so we are fully up for that and excited for what’s ahead.”
Ainslie continued: “I’ve been really fortunate to have won the Cup before, but not with Britain. But it’s not about me, it’s about the team. We know that the America’s Cup is the ultimate team game and that’s what motivates us as an organisation. We’ve been going for ten years now on this mission to get ourselves into the final and what a great opportunity – we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”
Looking towards the racing, Nathan Outteridge was asked about the premium that was placed on the pre-start and getting off the line cleanly, commenting: “As everyone saw, the Louis Vuitton Cup Final was a great event and we saw some amazing battles in the pre-start and around the course as well.
"We’ve been watching pretty closely what Ben, Dylan, and the team have been up to, trying to study their moves and counter-moves and I’m sure they will be trying to guess what we’re going to do come tomorrow as well. I think what we’ve seen in the racing is these boats are incredibly close in terms of performance and the start is going to be really critical and both teams are going to put a lot of effort into their starting execution. I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.”
Looking ahead to the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, so many questions and permutations lie unanswered. In the previous America’s Cup matches there was an old saying that the moment the two boats lined up off the start line was the moment that ‘we know’ who would come out on top.
In this Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match, that is almost certainly not the case and with both teams able to change mode to adjust to the conditions and how their opponents are sailing, this is a series that is very unlikely to see a run-away winner.
Let’s look at the strengths and weaknesses of both teams:
Emirates Team New Zealand
The word ‘team’ in Emirates Team New Zealand is powerful and emblematic of one of the finest organisations in world sport, where everyone across this flat-structured team wears the New Zealand fern and the team logo with pride.
Have we seen their yacht Taihoro at full race pace yet, is the question that will be answered on Saturday. The answer is almost certainly ‘no’ but they won the Preliminary Regatta and topped the standings at the end of two Round Robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup before they exited.
Chinks in the armour of the Defender are hard to find, but starting was shown to be a weakness and it’s here where the British will be looking to capitalise and try to force an early advantage – alongside downwind VMG angles that could also possibly be exploited by the deep-running ‘Britannia.’
On the plus side, what Emirates Team New Zealand has peerlessly shown is an ability to front-run when ahead and close out races by making virtually no tactical or positional errors. To beat the Kiwis is an awesome challenge but the British will hope that their close-fought series with Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the Louis Vuitton Cup makes them more match-fit from the outset. Nevertheless, Emirates Team New Zealand remain the favourites to retain the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.
INEOS Britannia
The team that has shown remarkable improvement throughout the Louis Vuitton Cup come into the Match with confidence having won the final three races on the bounce against a fast Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
The way they won is as important as the fact that they won, and the British will be looking to eke boatspeed gains all over the course. After they won the Louis Vuitton Cup, Bleddyn Mon – mechanical engineer by trade and trimmer onboard Britannia – said the team still had "a few things up our sleeve” and they will certainly need them to take down the Kiwis in the Match.
As a technology-first challenge, INEOS Britannia have the computing power and support of the Mercedes F1 Team – powerful enough to take on anyone – and their helming duo Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher, have five gold and one silver Olympic medals between them.
On the negative side, in earlier rounds they have been prone to scoring unforced errors, boundary penalties, and late starts – all of which would be sorely punished by Emirates Team New Zealand – and whilst a lot of the sail calls in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final were spot on, they have, on occaision, made some poor sail selection decisions too.
It’s the first time in 60 years that Great Britain has made an America’s Cup Match and as the team say it’s a “challenge of a lifetime” to try and bring the trophy back to the clubhouse of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, but anything is possible in this most unpredictable of tournaments.
Racing starts tomorrow, Saturday October 12, with two scheduled races beginning at 1400 CET. The forecast is for lighter airs over the weekend that will test the lower end performance windows of both teams but will make for a fascinating spectacle on the waters off Barcelona.
For sailing fans around the world, the pinnacle event on the sailing calendar is here. The Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is all set to be a classic and whoever emerges on top will lift the oldest, continually contested, trophy in international sports.
The Marquess of Anglesey, the great war hero from the Battle of Waterloo, who bought the trophy in 1848 before donating it to the Royal Yacht Squadron for a race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, would no doubt thoroughly approve of what the then ‘RYS Challenge Cup’ has become and what we are about to see unfold on the crystal waters of Barcelona some 173 years later.
Let the 'Battle in Barcelona' begin.