Sir Ben up for the 35th America’s Cup

At 21:00 this Friday, the 35th America’s Cup starts with the defender, Team Oracle, against the French Groupama. Oracle should win this first match very easily.

Anything  else would leave team owner Ellison with copious quantities of egg all over his face. The multimillionaire has a net worth of some $49bn. So failure is hardly a option for Mr Ellison’s.

However, Ben Ainslie has been having some ups and downs on his way towards coveting the pinnacle of yachting; the 35th America’s Cup.

Unfortunately, the final race of next Friday’s opening round has Ben meeting his long time friend and close yachting adversary in the shape of Iain Percy, skipper of Artemis – the outstanding leader of the challengers so far.

But even though the Ainslie boat has shown a tad less speed than anticipated, Sir Ben is quick to point out the crew is getting the boat moving ever quicker.

He told The Sunday Times the training races he and his crew sailed against the New Zealand boat had been “within touching distance the whole way round the course.”

This was not just talking the boat up. Read our story of last week about Landrover BAR causing a little damage to ETNZ.

That caused some awkward comments from ETNZ, but Ben simply told the Sunday Times; “There are times when you have to take risks. That’s my approach and it won’t change.”

However, Ben did later call ETNZ’s general manager Grant Dalton and chief operations manager Kevin Shoebridge and apologise.”

There’s a long way to go yet, with some undoubtedly exciting racing in prospect. My money’s on Ben Ainslie and his crew.