Ben Ainslie: 'We have a responsibility to get competing again'

The last time Sir Ben Ainslie went over three months without sailing a boat of any description, he may well have been in nappies. Ainslie is not 100 per cent sure because he “cannot actually remember” a time when he spent so long off the water. “It must be 30-odd years, maybe longer,” the four-time Olympic champion mused on Thursday.  “Certainly, not since I was a kid.”

Naturally, then, it was some relief to the Ineos Team UK principal to find himself back in his natural habitat; on board his America’s Cup yacht Britannia and back sailing on the Solent for the first time since lockdown began in March.

“It felt great to be out there again,” Ainslie said after coming off the water. “A really positive day for the team. A bit overcast after all the sunshine we’ve been enjoying but just great to be on the water, with a good 15-knot northerly breeze in our sails.”

It was not all plain sailing. As with other sports which have cautiously returned this week, strict measures had to be put in place to ensure the team complied with government guidelines.

The boat itself was modified, with an “e-grinder” taking the place of two sailors, allowing Ainslie to helm with nine crew rather than 11. Numbers on the chase boats were also reduced, while off the water a wide array of protocols are in place at the team’s Portsmouth headquarters; from taking the temperature of every staff member on arrival to limiting the number of sailors who can use the gym at any one time, to rotating “pods” of people through the canteen.

Ainslie’s team are even working with a company called Mafic to monitor the movement of staff around the base, and on the boat, to try to find potential pinch points. “The idea is that the software highlights where people might be spending too long in proximity and we can then change our working practices,” Ainslie explained.

The team are just grateful to be back. They were in Sardinia, preparing for April’s America’s Cup World Series event in Cagliari, when Covid-19 hit Europe. It was, Ainslie says, “a mission” getting everyone home safely.

They adapted well to the new normal, however. The simulator has been “a godsend, not stopping once", the design team have continued to work from home developing RB2, the team’s second race boat for the 36th America’s Cup, which takes place in New Zealand next spring, while the boat builders have worked throughout.

“Jason Carrington and his team in Hythe have done a fantastic job keeping RB2 on schedule, working within government guidelines,” Ainslie said. “Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of how everyone has stepped up during what has been a really difficult period.”

In a parallel universe, Thursday would have seen thousands of people gathered on the Portsmouth shoreline to watch all four America’s Cup teams in practice ahead of the second World Series event of the year. But while that had to be cancelled, and while the SailGP series which Ineos Team UK had entered this year in an attempt to sharpen their competitive skills has also gone overboard, Ainslie is positive. His team remain on schedule to head out to New Zealand in late August/early September.

There are hurdles still to overcome, not the least of which is New Zealand’s current quarantine regulations, which represent a potential competitive handicap for the visiting teams.

“New Zealand have done an amazing job in terms of how they’ve responded to the Covid crisis,” Ainslie explained. “You have to take your hat off to them. Naturally, they’re concerned about foreigners coming in and ruining all of that. There is currently a two-week quarantining process in place. Whether that can be streamlined over the next couple of months … hopefully, it can be, but regardless we will work with the authorities over there to do what is required.

"We’ve been working with the UK High Commission out there and I have to say they’ve been fantastic. Really helpful. And also the New Zealand major events minister."

Ainslie adds that with his team likely to spend upwards of £10million while they are over there, and the other teams likewise, the boost for the local economy will not be insignificant.

Either way, he says, motivation is no issue at all. Ineos Team UK may not have been able to get out on the water for three months, but Ainslie says he and his crew are fitter than they have ever been.

All of his sailors were supplied with a grinding machines at the start of lockdown, with some “pretty intense” targets set for them. As helm, Ainslie would not normally be expected to hit the same targets as the boat’s “muscle”, but found himself shamed into doing so after everyone committed to posting their efforts on the group. “I was like, ‘S---. I’m going to have show leadership here!’ So I ended up getting 15 hours of aerobic training in a week as well as the other guys … I’m absolutely knackered.

“But no, it’s just great to be back. Obviously, the world is in a really difficult spot. Everyone can see that. And there is that question: how does sport fit into the recovery? The way I see it, sport is normally the thing that people look to in tough times. And that has been one of the terrible consequences of this crisis, that it hasn’t been able to fulfil that function. As we are slowly seeing these sports coming back, I think it will be a boost for people. The America’s Cup is part of that. So, I think actually, strangely, we have a responsibility – in a safe manner – to get out there and get competing again.”

Ainslie is similarly confident that next year’s Cup is going to be fascinating. “As things stand, there is going to be virtually no racing heading into it,” he pointed out. “Maybe a race in Auckland at the end of December, although that could get pushed back now, but essentially there really won’t be any warm-up or any chance to line up with other teams in any racing mode. We’re all totally reliant on our simulation.

“When we do finally line up there is going to be this massive development rush as everyone tries to gauge what other teams are doing well and how to react to that and so on. It’s going to be absolutely fascinating.”