Sir Ben Ainslie has accused the Luna Rossa team of a classic piece of ‘America’s Cup gamesmanship’ over its successful protest against an irregularity on Britannia that could yet play a key role in the outcome of the Prada Cup.
His irritation remains all too obvious about a rules issue that could lead to his team forfeiting a race in the best-of-13 series.
“There’s a bit going on there, in terms of classic America’s Cup gamesmanship, in terms of ‘can the Italians try to use it against us?’ – I don’t know,” the British skipper told The Times.
Luna Rossa successfully filed a complaint of non-compliance against a sail system used on INEOS Team UK in the Prada Cup round-robin in January.
That was strike one for Ainslie and a second violation will see Ineos disqualified from its next race, potentially in this best-of-13 series that makes up the Prada Cup starting on February 13.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the sail system in question was originally passed by the measurement committee ahead of racing and was deemed non-performance enhancing, so Ainslie sought to get the yellow card dismissed.
Although meetings were held seeking consensus, they were in vain.
Ainslie concedes he will have to operate with the threat of disqualification hanging over his team at a crucial time of the regatta. He knows the Italians won’t be giving up that advantage.
“That’s the game. We’ll go into the Prada Cup final with our eyes wide open as to some of the tactics,” says Ainslie.
Because of this, Ainslie says there will be an added focus on compliance leading into racing. The addition of more available measurers following American Magic’s departure is a welcome bonus.
“In terms of getting that scrutineering and that attention to detail, hopefully that will be that much more thorough. We will work very, very hard with them to make sure that the boat is absolutely compliant, as it should be,” he says.
Over the last week, Ineos Team UK has taken the opportunity to make improvements while Luna Rossa and American Magic were still competing. It’s a period Ainslie says was much needed.
“The development has been going well for us. We have talked about needing to improve our speed and that list is ongoing, it is endless really,” says Ainslie.
“We have made certain changes to the boat in the period that we have had that we hope will improve its speed. We have got 10 days till we start racing and we have still got more work to do. The shore team have been working around the clock to try to get those upgrades on to the boat in time and hopefully that will make some difference.
“We know we need to be quicker in the lighter airs. We have been quite open that has been a bit of an Achilles heel to us and the question remains, can we bridge that gap to Luna Rossa who have been the real high performer in the lighter airs in particular?”
Ineos Team UK and Luna Rossa will meet in a best-of-13 series to determine the winner of the Prada Cup and official challenger for the America’s Cup. The Prada Cup final series begins on February 13.
Images courtesy of Studio Borlenghi.