Interview with Sir Ben Ainslie

from The official Cowes Harbour Handbook 2020-2021

Cowes town – Enjoy all that this area has

SIR BEN AINSLIE

At the helm: Sir Ben Ainslie is Team Principal for INEOS TEAM UK bidding to take home the 36th America’s Cup

For more than 25 years, Sir Ben Ainslie has been known as one of the finest sailors in the world. He’s the most successful Olympic sailor of all time with four golds and one silver medal, has won 11 World Championships, been awarded World Sailor of the Year four times, and shows no signs of slowing down. Ben is currently helmsman and Team Principal for INEOS TEAM UK, campaigning for the 36th America’s Cup from their base at The Camber in Portsmouth. With some of this crew he will also be representing Great Britain racing an F50 catamaran in the exciting SailGP series, which returns to Cowes for the second time in 2020.

Ben has been a regular sailor in Cowes waters throughout his career and in 2016, with his family, chose to make the Isle of Wight his home. He says, “Cowes has a huge amount of sailing history and Cowes Week is a massive event on the world sailing calendar. One of the main things that draws people here are the challenges of sailing and racing in the Solent, with its many sand banks and big tidal ranges. From a tactical and strategic standpoint this makes it a really fascinating racing challenge. My personal highlight was with JP Morgan in 2013’s Round the Island Race, when we took the race record in an AC45 catamaran. We raced in memory of our dear friend Andrew Simpson, which made it that extra bit special.”

There’s a very good reason why some of the INEOS TEAM UK squad will be taking part in the spectacular SailGP series this year. Ben explains, “So far we’ve been focused primarily on the design and development of our America’s Cup boats. We really haven’t done that much racing, other than some events in the GC32 foiling catamaran. We felt that in the build up to the Cup, we really needed to up the intensity for some of the sailors. SailGP offered a fantastic opportunity for similar racing in high powered, high performance foiling boats of the highest level.”

This event is certainly one to watch, as one of the most spectator-friendly and exciting races on the water, and Ben continues, “I think SailGP built on the learnings from the last America’s Cup, using

Great Britain SailGP Team leading the field ahead of Denmark SailGP Team, United States SailGP Team and Australia SailGP Team during race day 1 at Sydney SailGP

live line graphics to help spectators understand where the boats are on the racecourse, and having boundaries to ensure closer racing. Also, developments to the boats in the last couple of years have increased performance, and the data now coming off them help spectators better understand performance differences between the teams, which is always interesting whether you’re a sailor or not. Ultimately it all comes down to the teams themselves and their individual personalities as to which team spectators choose to follow.”

Ever since winning the coveted America’s Cup trophy in 2013 with ORACLE TEAM USA, Ben has been working hard to bring the prize home to Britain. The Camber provides a high-tech base and essential deep-water access for INEOS TEAM UK’s revolutionary 75-foot monohull boats. “The America’s Cup is very much a sail event but also a design race. It’s commonly referred to as Formula 1 on water and for a very good reason. In the history of the Cup the fastest boat has pretty much always won, and therefore huge emphasis goes into the boat design and development. It’s fascinating for the teams, and one of the big drives for people in the America’s Cup. Also, like Formula 1, a lot of fans are really into the technology and that’s what draws them into following different teams and developments through an America’s Cup cycle. It will be fascinating to see how all the teams develop with this new AC75 class of boat through to the racing in New Zealand, when we’ll all probably be in our second-generation boats. As a helmsman and Team Principal, I’m also conscious of the dangers of racing these boats with their power,

Great Britain SailGP Team helmed by Ben Ainslie cross the finish line and go on to win all three races on Race Day 1 at Sydney SailGP

speed, and the wing foils acting as they do when they’re out of the water. I want to make sure that we can operate and race flat out, but in a safe manner.”

Although currently focussed on the America’s Cup challenge and SailGP series, there’s still a sailing feat Ben hopes to achieve one day. “I’d love to sail around the world. My dad did that (Roddy Ainslie competed in the 1973 Whitbread Round the World Race), so growing up that was always an

inspiration. The Jules Verne is a challenge I’ve followed for many years and I’m always in awe of those boats and teams that have been able to sail around the world in such record times. It’s also an area of the sport where Britain hasn’t traditionally performed that well, so it would be a great challenge to try and get the British breaking some records.”

It’s this great diversity in his chosen sport that keeps Ben’s love of it so constant. He explains, “There are so many different dynamics in sailing. If you master one element there’s always another design of boat, another type of race, be that offshore or inshore, a different team, many different fantastic personalities to try and work with, and learn from. This means there’s always a new challenge, and it’s always exciting.”

You can support Ben from shore in Cowes at the SailGP 2020 event on August 14 and 15, and in Portsmouth for the Emirates America’s Cup World Series from June 4 to 7, as INEOS TEAM UK continue their challenge to win the 36th America’s Cup.