Ainslie confident ahead of America's Cup
Calling on Mercedes Formula 1 intellectual property, INEOS Britannia, under skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, is shaping up as a formidable challenger for the America's Cup in Barcelona.
Britannia is the regatta's challenger of record, and Britain would enjoy nothing more than securing its first win of the Auld Mug.
AC 37 image
Many have tried, but none have succeeded. However, few would argue with Ainslie's qualities to pull off the feat.
In building their AC75 to contest the series, the Brits revealed an innovative and radical difference from other contenders in May before setting about working the boat into shape for the event.
The Louis Vuitton Cup round-robin will be raced from August 29 to September 11, the semifinals from September 14 to 23, and the finals from September 26 to October 7. The America's Cup match will be raced from October 12 to 27.
The third preliminary regatta, starting on August 22, will be contested before the main event begins, and Ainslie is keen to see how Britannia compares to other craft.
"Like everyone, we're excited about getting into racing and getting a better read on the competition – who's going fast and in what sort of conditions and gauging what the racing is going to look like as we get into the round-robins.
"It's our opportunity to gauge ourselves against the opposition and start to get match fit.
"We will still be making changes to the set-up of the boat through the preliminary regatta then into the roundrobins as we progress through the competition. It's constantly tweaking the boat to try and find that optimum performance."
While Britain hasn't won the Cup, Ainslie knows the feeling of winning it. He was a member of Oracle Team USA, as tactician to Jimmy Spithill, when it overcame Emirates Team New Zealand's colossal lead to claim the Cup.
The Cup defenders, New Zealand, are expected to be a key rival in Barcelona.
"In the sailing we've seen so far, Luna Rossa and American Magic, seem to be going well and there's an element of the unknown with the French. You would expect similar performance to New Zealand, so it will be fascinating to see how it plays out."
Weather conditions in Barcelona will be a prominent factor in the final result.
"No doubt we'll end up with certain teams competitive in certain conditions over others and Mother Nature will have a large part to say in the outcome, but that said, as teams we've known that there's this variability for a long time, and that's part of the design challenge – trying to come up with a package that's fast enough in the majority of conditions."
As teams look to peak, Ainslie said there was probably five to 10 per cent performance left to be gained from the boats, possibly more in certain conditions.
"There a huge amount still to play for, a lot on the table and history tells us that the boats that develop the best through