Following a proper drubbing at the hands of America’s Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand last October, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, was anointed Challenger of Record for the 38th America’s Cup. The Squadron’s team, led by Sir Ben Ainslie and billionaire backer Sir James Ratcliffe, had clear unfinished business, but that business promptly soured to point of a public divorce and the possibility of two British Challengers: one under the banner of Ratcliff’s group and one led by Ainslie’s Athena Sports Group. INEOS Britannia is now walking away from the regatta after two failed attempts.
The news came this week in a statement from INEOS Sport, which announced that the team has “withdrawn its intention to challenge for the next America’s Cup.”
According to the statement, INEOS’ decision came after “protracted negotiation with Athena Racing Ltd…The agreement that had been reached with Athena Racing would have allowed both parties to compete in the next Cup but it depended on a rapid resolution.”
Athena Sports, they contend, failed to “bring the agreement to a timely conclusion,” and therefore “undermined its ability to prepare for the next Cup.”
While modern America’s Cup campaigns are indeed long-term efforts with in-house design teams continuing to push forward while awaiting a Protocol, venue and updated AC75 class rules, INEOS claim is dubious at best.
Ratcliffe’s statement on the team’s termination was, “This was a very difficult decision to have taken following our challenge at the last two America’s Cups. We were the most successful British challenger in modern times with an exceptionally quick boat and we felt with the very effective input from the Mercedes F1 engineers, that we had a real chance at the next Cup. Unfortunately, the opportunity has slipped away.”
INEOS’s departure clears the table for Ainslie’s Athena Pathway to proceed as planned with the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd.’s blessing as Challenger of Record, but it also leaves a substantial void in the financials of the team. Once the best funded of Barcelona’s challengers, the task now for Ainslie, Britain’s most beloved yachtsman, is to deliver a competitive challenge without Ratcliff’s purse.
