America’s Cup: double disappointment for the British in practice races

Another day, another disaster for the British America’s Cup union.

The INEOS UK team suffered a double disappointment when they finally met practice races in the Hauraki Gulf on Monday.

Having missed all three practice opportunities last week while battling damage to the ship, Sir Ben Ainslie’s team had the frustration of light winds erasing their first practice run against defenders Emirates Team New Zealand.

They then pulled out of the second race during the pre-start as the Kiwis raced down the track.

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The New Zealand team did a couple of stages of the field by themselves before retiring.

The Kiwis will not have been happy either, as the meager opportunities for them to compete against opponents never materialized, although they had plenty of time for their own training outside the bounds of the field.

The Challenger of Record Luna Rossa proved too strong for American Magic in the only race of the day as conditions frustrated teams and race officials.

Up and running, and yet they were beautiful, athletic at times as they turned in tandem. Luna Rossa controlled the race from the start and expanded her lead as she progressed.

With light winds from the north, regatta director Iain Murray led the four unions to the northernmost location on Course A, located off Long Bay and within the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

The new scenario did not change the fortunes of the British and Monday’s efforts will put more pressure on the union backed by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

They are under increasing scrutiny as the well-funded campaign fails to achieve its objectives. They have talked about a good game and even gotten some tips on how to deal with pressure from the great Dan Carter of the All Blacks.

But they have nothing to show so far in terms of lining up against another ship.

They returned to their base, towed in an hour before the other teams arrived around 7 p.m.

It’s hard to see them wasting time under these difficult circumstances in a year in which Covid has eliminated warm-up races in Italy and England. After solidly operating their last block of training, they appear to be beset with trouble on a ship class that is highly technical.

A new round of practice races is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon after the official opening of the America’s Cup Village at Auckland’s Viaduct Basin. But the expected light winds could again hamper that.

On Wednesday, the four skippers and the regatta hierarchy face a press conference ahead of Thursday’s start of the World Series and the Christmas Cup regatta that runs through Sunday.

The teams will then split up with the three challengers preparing for the Prada Cup qualifying series that begins on January 15 and ends in February.

Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand will train on their own during that period, waiting for the main challenger to emerge for the America’s Cup match, a best-of-13 event that begins on March 6.