Ineos Britannia, the British challenger for the America’s Cup, will today begin to compete for the right to take on defending champions New Zealand.
Having come through a round-robin phase, Britannia – backed by billionaire Ienos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and skippered by British sailing legend Ben Ainslie – will face Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for a spot in the official 37th America’s Cup match.
“I think we are two pretty evenly matched teams, so it’s going to be a really amazing final,” Ainslie said.
“The beauty of this sport is that there are so many factors involved, from the human elements with manoeuvers and pre-start tactics to the technology with the design and engineering, as well as the weather – that’s the complexity of this competition and that’s why we love it.
“Conditions are tricky and changeable here, we’ve all seen that, so Mother Nature and the Italians – that’s what we are up against.”
The America’s Cup is taking place in Barcelona after the Spanish city won the right to host the cup won by New Zealand in 2021.
Britain hosted the first ever regatta, in 1851, but has never won the title.
Britannia co-helm Dylan Fletcher said: “The team has been building through this whole campaign and it really feels like momentum is building now.
“It’s been a lot of hard work from the entire team so to be in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final is amazing and it feels like we have the legs to go all the way.”
Britannia beat teams from Switzerland, the United States and France to reach the final three, where they or the Italians will progress through to the America’s Cup proper.