Emirates Team New Zealand beat Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR team in the first-to-five challenger semi-final on Thursday, ending British hopes in the 35th America’s Cup.
The New Zealand team held a 3-1 lead before Thursday’s races, and secured a 5-2 overall victory to end Ainslie’s dream of “bringing the America’s Cup back to Britain”. The New Zealand boat had capsized on Tuesday, with Wednesday’s four scheduled races then postponed due to high winds in Bermuda.
“We knew it was going to be incredibly tough at the first attempt,” Ainslie said. “Ultimately we weren’t able to catch up with the existing teams in time.”
Sailing’s most successful Olympian added: “I couldn’t be prouder of the team today. What we have achieved today is incredible.”
Ainslie has won the cup before, as tactician with Oracle Team USA in their 2013 comeback against Emirates Team New Zealand. But he wants to win it for “Queen and country” and under the banner “Bring The Cup Home” set about mounting his own challenge, launching BAR with the aim of doing something British teams have tried and failed to do on some 20 occasions.
New Zealand, helmed by Peter Burling, won the day’s first race by 31 seconds to move one race from eliminating the British crew. Ainslie steered his team to a 20-second victory to close the gap, but a mistake before the start line in the next race gave New Zealand a clear path to victory. Land Rover BAR tweeted shortly after their elimination, saying “our goal to win the 36th America’s Cup starts today”.
New Zealand will now progress to the challenger play-off, where they will face either Artemis Racing or SoftBank Team Japan. Sweden’s Artemis Racing currently lead their semi-final 4-3. The play-off winners will then take on the defending champions, Oracle Team USA, to determine the overall winners.
