INEOS Britannia, the Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd in the 37th America’s Cup, announced its race crew that will challenge to create history by becoming the first British team to win sport’s oldest international trophy.
Joining Sir Ben Ainslie as co-helm aboard its AC75 Britannia for the America’s Cup will be Olympic gold medalist Dylan Fletcher MBE, who won the 49er class at Tokyo 2020 and is also the reigning Moth World Champion. The two trimmers will be Leigh McMillan and Bleddyn Mon, who are both on their third America’s Cup campaign with the British Team. The four Cyclors on-board will come from a pool of nine athletes, who will rotate on and off the boat between races to ensure optimum performance.
The on-board crew will be bolstered by a stellar line-up of support crew, including double Olympic gold medalist Giles Scott MBE as Head of Sailing [and previously expected to be the starting helmsman], Olympic gold and silver medalist Iain Jensen as Trimmer Support, Emirates GBR SailGP Team Coach Rob Wilson, gold and silver Olympic medalist Xabi Fernandez and seven-time World Match Racing Champion Ian Williams as Coaches, as well as Pete Cunningham as Head of Human Performance.
“The process of developing the sailing squad and defining what that race line-up looks like has taken some time,” Ainslie said. “We have 15 sailors in our squad but eight sailors on the yacht at one time, so clearly we are going to have rotations. We have a bunch of really talented sailors, so in a way we are spoilt for choice. It’s a very difficult decision to define who you’re going to select in these roles, particularly when you have two such talented sailors in Dylan and Giles. It’s obviously going to be tough for the one that misses out but that said Giles has the key role of Head of Sailing in this campaign and is pivotal to the team’s progression.”
INEOS Britannia’s Cyclor crew includes returning America’s Cup athletes: Freddie Carr, Ben Cornish, Matt Gotrel MBE, Neil Hunter and Luke Parkinson. The further four Cyclors are America’s Cup rookies, with some never having sailed before joining INEOS Britannia. They include Olympic silver medallist Harry Leask, Matt Rossiter and Ryan Todhunter, who have all moved over from the world of rowing and were selected for their power potential. The 2019 Finn National Champion James Skulczuk completes the Cyclor line-up, having moved his attention to cycling to stay fit while the Covid-19 pandemic halted his sailing career.
