Ben ainslie: 'we haven't achieved anything yet. Our goal is to win the america's cup'

Christmas wasn't a happy one for Ben Ainslie and his Ineos Team UK. They are in Auckland, New Zealand, trying to win the America's Cup, the oldest trophy in world sport, taken from

British waters under Queen Victoria's nose in 1851 and never won back. But in the preliminary America's Cup World Series, Ineos Team UK was embarrassingly off the pace. They lost

to the Americans, failed to even finish against the Italians and lost to the Kiwis. Then they lost to them all again. Six races, nul points. "It was dire," says Ainslie.

"There's no sugar-coating it, we were in a real mess performance-wise. But the most important thing is the team stuck together, everyone working together. A bit like not losing a

dressing room in football, you've got to keep everyone together, you can't allow any finger-pointing." He's talking to me on a video call from the team's base in

Auckland. It's 8.30am there. Someone hands him a coffee, he thanks them, then manoeuvres his laptop so I can see the boat and the guys working on it. They'll be out on the water

training later. Ainslie seems relaxed. Happy, even. With reason. Things got better – much better – after Christmas. First, a quick recap on how it all works. Don't worry about that

World Series, it doesn't count for much apart from pride (and there wasn't much of that in the British camp). It gets serious with the Prada Cup, which began on 15 January between

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, NYYC American Magic and Ineos Team UK, the winner of which races for the America's Cup in March against the holders, Emirates Team New Zealand. Ainslie and his

team totally turned it round. They beat the Americans and the Italians. And again. Six races, six points, putting them straight through to the Prada Cup final, which starts on Saturday,

against Luna Rossa (because the Italians have since seen off the Americans). Such was the change in the British boat's fortunes that there was talk of deliberately underperforming, even

from the man himself. "The Kiwis are so into their sailing, they would come up to you in the street and say [adopts Kiwi accent] 'What's wrong with ya boat?'. My

response was 'We're sandbagging' and keep walking." There was no sandbagging, Ainslie says. The underperformance was unintentional. They made some big changes, though –

to the rig, to the boat's systems, to the foils on which these AC75 monohulls lift out of the water to reduce drag. Ineos Team UK began to fly. The mood in the camp took off too.

"But on the other hand we haven't achieved anything yet, we've won a few races, our goal is to try to win the America's Cup," he says. Ainslie is no stranger to a

turnaround. He came from way behind in the 2012 Olympics to take gold (his fourth) in the final race in the Finn class. "One of the best pieces of advice my Olympics coach gave me was:

you need to get to a level whereby having a bad day you've still got a chance of winning, you're still in the game." He did it in the America's Cup the following year,

coming on board Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA as technician and helping them to complete a comeback Liverpool Football Club would be proud of. That was for an American team though –

he wants to do it for his own country. "Britain has never won the America's Cup, it's the oldest international sporting trophy. For the sport of sailing in the UK it would be

a massive deal. This new class of boat is providing a great showcase for the sport." Ainslie thinks the AC75 class of boats has proved perfect for the Cup. "They have that wow

factor, they really look amazing. When you're on the water one of these sails past and people are just left aghast, they are just phenomenal boats," he says. "They are a real

handful for us as sailors, you have to be really on your game to sail one. Technically they are a real challenge as well." The one improvement he would like to see is for costs to come

down so more teams could be involved and that could be achieved by having more shared components. "Much like Formula One, there is technology that trickles down to the marine industry

so it has a big impact in our world, but the cost needs to lower substantially." American Magic was involved in a spectacular capsize. Are they dangerous? "Ultimately, if

you're sailing around 50-60mph, any wipeout at that speed … yeah, it is dangerous," says Ainslie, whose friend Andrew Simpson died during a capsize of one of the AC72 catamarans

used in the 2013 Cup. The boats have helped to make sailing something it hasn't always been: a spectator sport. TV coverage has improved, with the boundaries and distances superimposed

on the water of Waitemata Harbour, even the landlubber can understand what is going on. "Plus a race now is 25 minutes long. Ten years ago they used to be two and a half hours, it was a

bit like watching paint drying." Being in New Zealand, there are spectators, in boats and watching from the shore. Because of the Covid numbers there, it's probably about the only

place it could be happening. They know and love their sailing in New Zealand – it trails rugby and cricket in popularity, but not by much. "We're very fortunate in terms of their

approach to the pandemic and supporting the event," says Ainslie, whose wife, Georgie, and four-year-old daughter, Bellatrix, are there for the duration. After seeing off the Americans,

Jimmy Spithill, the Australian helmsman of Luna Rossa, turned his sights on Ainslie and Ineos Team UK, said it was "payback time". "Just a load of bluster really," says

a laughing Ainslie, who knows and likes Spithill well, they were on the same boat in 2013. As well as being king of the comeback, Ainslie has a reputation for having a bit of a temper on

him. It was anger that fuelled his turnaround at the 2012 Olympics. Then there was the Sydney Olympics when he – legally, but some said unsportingly – took out a Brazilian sailor. Not to

mention an extraordinary attack on a press boat. That was all in his single-handed sailing days. "When you're on your own you can react the way you want and if you want to fire

yourself up it sometimes works. It used to work for me quite a lot. You can't really do that in a team sport. Having someone losing their temper doesn't really help." So is

Sir Ben, former firebrand, now level-headed team player and family man, going to win this thing? First, there is Spithill and the Italians to get past, who have shown to be pretty evenly

matched to the Brits, and are particularly strong in the lighter winds. If they overcome that hurdle, the Emirates Team New Zealand awaits. "In the America's Cup, when you have a

really good defender who is well-backed, has great sailors, designers, it's very, very difficult to beat them," Ainslie says. "It's not impossible, but it's just

about one of the most difficult things you can do in sport, so we are really massively up against it. But yeah, I think we can win it." _The Prada Cup final begins on Saturday, 13

February_