Britain beat Italy to qualify for first America’s Cup in 60 years

Sir Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia beat Luna Rossa 7-4 in Barcelona and will now face New Zealand in America’s Cup, starting on October 12

A British challenger has successfully made it through to an America’s Cup match for the first time since 1964, with Ineos Britannia taking the one remaining race win they needed against Luna Rossa to lift the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Ainslie’s team will face defenders New Zealand in a first-to-seven series beginning a week on Saturday.
An extraordinary challenger series final, which swung this way and that for the first four days, eventually ended 7-4 to Ben Ainslie’s team, and they celebrated with gusto on the water, backer Sir Jim Ratcliffe invited on board Rita, the team’s AC75 yacht, to celebrate with the rest of the team.
In the end, after all the drama of the week, the see-sawing emotions, with Britain and Italy trading blows for the first four days, going 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4, it was all pretty convincing.
 
 The huge improvement Ineos made through this challenger series – after a shaky start in August’s preliminary regatta – was there for all to see as they took the final three races.
From light winds last weekend, to heavy winds in the first part of the week, to light winds again on Friday, they have proved themselves across the wind range. New Zealand, who have won the last two Cups and have been able to sit out the final stages of the challenger series and make significant upgrades to their boat, will be another step up again.
The big question at the start of the day was whether there would be enough breeze to get racing. But this Cup continues to confound. A steady 8-15 knots greeted the boats as they made their way out to the race course, and that was right in Ineos’ sweet spot.
Britain won the start, hitting it at 40 knots and forcing Luna Rossa to tack away. And from then on, they were in control, the excellent communications between Ainslie and his co-helm Dylan Fletcher, who replaced Giles Scott at the 11th hour in what was a very bold call by Ainslie – on full display.
As they crossed the finish line, the massive release of emotion, both on the boat and back in the team’s base in Barcelona, where friends and family were gathered, was obvious. A sign perhaps of just how long this has taken. Ainslie’s team are 10 years old, this is their third campaign and their second with partners Mercedes F1. 
But British challengers have been trying to win the Cup for 173 years, since the competition was born off the Isle of Wight in 1851. They have not managed it yet, in 23 attempts.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Ainslie admitted after everyone had calmed down. “It’s a massive day for our team and I’ve got to say how proud I am of everyone, not just here on the water but back on shore, and back in Brackley. It’s a massive moment.
“We started this team 10 years ago when Britain wasn’t in the America’s cup. It took a lot of people to come in and support, and then Jim of course. So it’s a big thank you to all those people and to all our supporters.
“It’s a big moment. There’s a lot of pressure. All the investment, and time and money and you just want to make it count.”
This Louis Vuitton Cup win is undoubtedly a huge moment for British sailing. But Ainslie, the most successful sailor in Olympic history, is not a man who will be satisfied with anything less than gold. Perhaps the most significant thing said in the immediate aftermath of Ineos’ win on Friday was muttered by the helmsman to his crew just after they crossed the line: “One more to go, boys.” Bring on the Kiwis.