Ainslie to skipper Britain’s AC Challenge

by Sail-World.com on 15 Sep 2007
It was not exactly a Shock & Awe moment, but the announcement that Ben Ainslie will skipper Britain’s America’s Cup challenger, Team Origin, had the right 'feel good' factor about it. Ainslie’s golden Olympic background and his three years work experience with the New Zealand challenger make him a formidable competitor at this level.

He will be competing at the Beijing Games chasing a third Gold, but the prospect of a full-on British CA challenge has obviously captured his imagination, 'This is massively different to the Olympics,' he said. 'You're on your own there but this team will ultimately be around 80 to 100 strong and everyone makes a difference.'

Sir Keith Mills, the Team Origin boss, used the opening of the Southampton Boat Show to announce the line-up of British and international sailing, design, boatbuilding and management talent that will challenge for the 33rd America´s Cup in Valencia.

Finance of British AC challenges has been a major stumbling block in the past, with major UK companies showing little interest in backing a 150-year loosing streak. Crucially, Sir Keith also announced that Charles Dunstone, head of the mobile phone company, Carphone Warehouse, was on board as a partner in financing this project.

'I believe it is really important that Great Britain, the origin of the Cup, is represented competitively at this level. I believe that with the team that Keith and Mike have put together we can win. Consequently I have decided to lend my full personal support,' explained Dunstone.

Team Director Mike Sanderson stressed that - 'This is a modern team, diverse in its origins but already solidly thinking as one group with one aim - to ultimately win the America’s Cup for Britain,'

Although ten countries are currently represented in the line up, more than half of the team is British-born. Experience is also high, 70% of the line-up have previous America’s Cup experience at the highest level. Four members of the team are past America’s Cup winners, five are round the world race winners and two are recent Olympic gold medalists.

'This is a British challenge. At least 50% of our team is British. The funding is British, the flag is British, the race boats will be built in Britain, GBR will appear on the mainsail of every one of our racing yachts,' said Sir Keith.

Apart form the headline catching Ainslie, and not forgetting Iain Percy as Tactician - Mills and Sanderson know that in a design and technology-led competition, the back-room team is all-important and they have laid a strong foundation.

The design office will be lead by Briton Andy Claughton, with Argentinean Juan Kouyoumdjian, and German Mickey Ickert, the sail guru formally with Oracle, all highly experienced with complimentary talents in the refined fields of America’s Cup yacht design.

'I’ve been involved in designing and testing America’s Cup yachts since the 1980s, a period which has spanned three different types of yacht, five different venues and many different teams. Heading into a new era involving a fourth new class, but this time for a powerful British team, is really stimulating for me personally,' said Design Co-ordinator Andrew Claughton.

The next America´s Cup challenge, the 33rd, is expected to be held in 2009 in Valencia, Spain, once the present Cup holder, Alinghi and the challenger Oracle solve their differences over the next challenge. This is going through the US courts, in a wrangle over the Challenger of Record and the protocol, a not unusual situation in AC challenge history.

To date there are five other teams entered for the oldest sporting trophy in the world, sailing’s Holy Grail and the only major sports trophy Britain has yet to win.

The Team announced by Sir Keith includes most of the top British names in the refined world of AC competition. The lack of a British entry in the last series has possibly worked to Team Origins benifit. A large number of Brits took part in the 32nd Challenge series, either on board or in the on-shore teams, forming a deep pool of experienced talent that Mills and Sanderson have been able to tap.

It also means that the momentum of those years of training and competition will be maintained, essential for the British team with possibly a short time frame to gell and get a new boat up to speed before the early rounds of the next challenger series start.

British members include:

Ben Ainslie as skipper
Iain Percy as tactician
Rob Greenhalgh as strategist
Ian Moore as navigator
Andrew Simpson as aft grinder
Neal MacDonald as mainsheet trimmer
Grinders Chris Brittle, David Carr and Ian Weighell
Matt Cornwell as bowman
George Skuodas as mastman

Other nationalities include:
From Poland, Pawel Bielecki as grinder,
From New Zealand Robbie Naismith as trimmer and mid bowman Kevin Batten
From France Julien Cressant as mastman
From Ireland bowman Justin Slattery
From Australia boat captain Nick Bice