Alan Bond was a rogue and a rich man, in every way your typical Aussie larrikin. In 1983 he bankrolled Australia’s challenge for the America’s Cup, the blue-riband sailing trophy held permanently until then by the New York Yacht Club. Sensationally, Australia won and that triumph did as much as anything to put rocket fuel under the young country’s confidence and self-belief. Australians still remember the massive crowds pouring out to welcome their winning boat’s return to Sydney Harbour. Now, whisper it, something very similar could be happening for Great Britain across the Tasman Sea.
There on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland, Sir Ben Ainslie is leading one of the most remarkable recoveries in the history of sport. After a dismal start, the Team Ineos yacht Britannia is now in pole position to mount the challenge against New Zealand for the America’s Cup. A complicated series of elimination races are taking place with Britain, Italy and America racing to see who takes on the title-holders NZ. Who would bet against Ainslie?
Ben Ainslie is a true sporting genius, ferociously motivated and ruthless on the water
This racing is as far from a gentle tootle in your dinghy as Formula One is from a weekend spin in the Austin. It is more like flying than sailing, with practice speeds clocked at nearly 100 kph, as these futuristic boats mount on to their foils and fly across the waves. The boffins are as important as the sailors as modifications are continually made to the boat’s operations. And on board while Ainslie helms, his tacticians are working out how best to take advantage of the ever-changing conditions.
When he was a teenager Ainslie told a friend he had two ambitions: to win an Olympic medal and to regain the America’s Cup, which we hadn’t held since 1851.
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