America’s Cup 2024 dwell: Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia vs Emirates Team New Zealand – race 4

Well it was quite the dramatic day in Barcelona yesterday with a near-crash and a heated exchange between Sir Ben Ainslie and the Kiwi commentator Stephen McIvor, but ultimately it was more disappointment for Ineos Britannia as they fell 3-0 behind to Emirates New Zealand.

Today was supposed to be a reserve day, but due to light breezes yesterday race four has been rescheduled to run at 13:10 BST this afternoon – the only planned race of the day.

The Brits will hope to have used the delay to their advantage, and had a serious regroup overnight. One thing is for certain – they will be getting increasingly anxious to put a win on the board in this historic first-to-seven America’s Cup match. It is the first time that a British team has contested the final match in 60 years. Ainslie’s team will not want to lose this long-sought-after opportunity to lift the Auld Mug and bring it home to Great Britain, a feat never achieved in the competition’s 173-year history.

The critical moment of the third race yesterday happened before the start gun went off when the two AC75 yachts had a boat-on-boat incident before the start and got far too close for comfort. GBR was penalised for not keeping clear of NZL, who were on starboard, and they had to lose 75 metres relative to the other boat, from which there was no way back.

There was further drama after the finish, when Kiwi commentator Stephen McIvor was coming to the end of his post-race interview with Ainslie and asked: “Still believe that you’re as close [to New Zealand] when it comes to performance? Because I get that feeling coming off your boat.” It’s possible that there was a communication misunderstanding, but Ainslie replied, “Maybe that’s the Kiwi commentator in you, mate”. Then, as he got up, with his microphone still picking up, he was heard to mutter off camera: “F—ing w—–.” We know that a fired up Ainslie is a successful one. He famously said of his rivals during the London 2012 Olympics: “they’ve made me angry, and you don’t want to make me angry,” before going on to collect his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal. Perhaps that is what it will take to turn this around.

Source: telegraph.co.uk