http://www.boatinternational.com | February 2016ON BOARD
PHOTOGRAPH: JONATHAN GLYNN-SMITHatune-upboattoraceagainsteachotheron
theCupcourseforthefivemonthsleadingup
totheevent.Tomakesurewearereallysharp
in both the new boat and the match racing
format,wehavejustsignedLeighMcMillan.
Heisoneof,ifnotthetophelmsmanonthe
high-performance multihull circuits; he’s
wontheExtremeSailingSeriesandtheGC 32
circuit.Hisskillswillgiveussomeverystrong
in-houseracingaswebuilduptotheCup.
TimeonthewaterinBermudawillalsohelp
familiariseuswiththeracecourse,bothin
termsofthetechnicalsideoftheboatandthe
nuancesoftheconditions.TheGreatSound,
wherethecourseislocated,isn’tanidealplace
totesttheboat’sperformancebecauseit’squite
small,butthereisanareajustoutsideit–andstill inside the reef – which will
be better. It’s significantly bigger
than the Great Sound and the
wind should be steadier there.
We will take about 50-60
people with us, so 2016 will also
be about getting all the logistics
in place. We have to build a
temporary base out there at the
America’s Cup marina and that requires a lot
of planning. We will still have almost half the
team here in Portsmouth.
Much of the design team will be here and
we will feed data back in a similar way to a
FormulaOnepitlane.Theteam here will
be able to see the performance of the boats
in Bermuda, allowing them to be part of the
development process, and fully utilising the
resource that we have in the UK.
Everyone always says the America’s Cup
is all about money, but it’s also about time. Of
course, you can buy the latter with the former,
butthereisalimittohowmuch resource you
can bring online effectively. We have to use
what we have efficiently and effectively – that’s
agoodmottofor2016.BT
he clock is ticking. This will be the
last full year before we go to Bermuda
for the f inal stages of the 35th
America’s Cup. We have to use this year wisely,
but there are many things competing for our
time and attention.
The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World
Series will give us an opportunity to race
against the other teams but it is f leet racing,
which is a different challenge to the match
racing in the America’s Cup. The AC45F that
we use in the World Series is also a different
boat. It’s less powerful and doesn’t rely so much
on sailors to power the wing and dagger boards.
It also has a Code 0 downwind sail that won’t be
on the America’s Cup boat.
We will be competing in at least four World
Series events in 2016. So far, the venues and
events that have been announced are Muscat,
Oman, 26-28 February; New York, 6-8 May;
Chicago, 10-12 June; and our home
event in Portsmouth, 22-24 July.
While I want us to perform well in
the World Series, we must remember
that developing our eventual race
boat and the skills for match racing
are more important to our ultimate
goal: winning the America’s Cup.
So when we’re not competing we
will be back at our Portsmouth base,
testing and developing our race boat.
We already have Testing Boat 2 in
the water and there will be more
iterations and more components before we get
to our f inal race boat. This will be assembled in
Portsmouth before being shipped to Bermuda
for its f irst sail on America’s Cup waters.
The decision to launch the boat in Bermuda
rather than Portsmouth comes down to a rule
in the protocol: teams can launch their race
boat only 150 days before the f irst race of the
America’s Cup Qualif iers. This means that we
have to launch at the venue because we can’t
afford the time we would lose if we launched
the boat in Portsmouth and then put it on
a ship to Bermuda. We would also be launching
in the middle of winter back home. So the best
strategy is to launch in Bermuda and stay there
until the end of the competition.
In Bermuda we will have the race boat and
Winning isn’t
ever ything – yet
Sir Ben Ainslie picks priorities, hires a star sailor
and chooses a Bermudan practice ground as he
begins the final countdown to the America’s Cup20