{"id":81358,"date":"2025-04-10T11:04:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=81358"},"modified":"2025-04-14T13:40:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T17:40:51","slug":"ineos-britannia-exits-the-americas-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/ineos-britannia-exits-the-americas-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"INEOS Britannia Exits the America’s Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Sir James Ratcliffe, backer of the last two British America’s Cup campaigns, brought money and vast resources to the twice-failed British challenge.<\/span>\n Ricardo Pinto\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Following a proper drubbing at the hands of America\u2019s Cup defender Emirates Team New Zealand last October, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, was anointed Challenger of Record for the 38th America\u2019s Cup. The Squadron\u2019s 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\u2019s group and one led by Ainslie\u2019s Athena Sports Group. INEOS Britannia is now walking away from the regatta after two failed attempts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news came this week in a statement from INEOS Sport, which announced that the team has \u201cwithdrawn its intention to challenge for the next America\u2019s Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the statement, INEOS\u2019 decision came after \u201cprotracted negotiation with Athena Racing Ltd\u2026The 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Athena Sports, they contend, failed to \u201cbring the agreement to a timely conclusion,\u201d and therefore \u201cundermined its ability to prepare for the next Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While modern America\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n INEOS Britannia’s Ben Ainslie led the team through the Louis Vuitton Cup races and into the Match before the team ultimately fell to the superior Emirates Team New Zealand defense.<\/span>\n Ian Roman\/America’s Cup<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cThe split was sharp, public, and frankly, a little bizarre given the team\u2019s progress in Barcelona,\u201d writes insider and British yachting journalist Justin Chisholm, who served with the America\u2019s Cup recon program and its media operations in Barcelona. \u201cStill, Ratcliffe insisted he wanted back in. He talked about a new campaign in partnership with Mercedes F1. Hinted at fresh ambition. But let\u2019s be honest\u2014nobody really believed he was all-in.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ratcliffe\u2019s statement on the team\u2019s termination was, \u201cThis was a very difficult decision to have taken following our challenge at the last two America\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INEOS\u2019s departure clears the table for Ainslie\u2019s Athena Pathway to proceed as planned with the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd.\u2019s blessing as Challenger of Record, but it also leaves a substantial void in the financials of the team. Once the best funded of Barcelona\u2019s challengers, the task now for Ainslie, Britain\u2019s most beloved yachtsman, is to deliver a competitive challenge without Ratcliff\u2019s purse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INEOS Sport announces that it’s America’s Cup plans have been terminated, exiting after two unsuccessful campaigns. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":81356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[170],"class_list":["post-81358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-americas-cup"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}