The INEOS Interviews: Ben Ainslie
by Mark Jardine 19 Aug 23:00 NZST
Ben Ainslie - INEOS Britannia - AC75 - July 2024 - Barcelona © Cameron Gregory
Sir Ben Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor ever, as well as winning countless championships, and an America's Cup with ORACLE Team USA. But his obsession for over a decade has been bringing the Cup home to Great Britain.
In our series of interviews with INEOS Britannia team members, I spoke to Ben - who is the CEO, Skipper and one of the Helmsman in this 37th America's Cup - about the campaign, his many roles, the boat they will use in the Cup, and his team, to get a deep insight as to where they are, so close to the start of racing in Barcelona.
Mark Jardine: Ben, this campaign has the feel of being far more structured and defined, with the real goal in mind, the obvious goal. How have you found it compared to the last campaign?
Ben Ainslie: Yes, that's right, it's been a very different campaign. We had the ability to be more structured in our resources, with the relationship with Mercedes, and you have seen that in the program.
It's driven us in certain directions which, when you look back at the last three years, some have been really positive, whereas in others we could have done things slightly differently, but the nature of the partnership required us to go down a certain route, which has paid dividends in certain areas and in others we perhaps could have focused differently. But, ultimately, you make those decisions at the beginning of the campaign, and we are where we are, which is in a really strong position.
Like all the other teams, where it might look like it's really structured, we're working frantically as we're running out of time in terms of getting ready for racing. You obviously push the technical envelope and development as hard as you can. Then it comes to a point where you say okay, that has to stop to a certain extent, and you've got to get the boat race ready, which is where we are right now. Ours is in the shed for the next three days, and then we bring it out, and it won't totally be in race state, but it'll be not far from it.
Mark: With this one boat campaign, you have to rely a huge amount on computer modelling, so that first time you launch your race boat, while not quite the moment of truth, must have been a hell of a moment.
Ben: Yes absolutely, you're spot on. For example, the first time you trim the sails on and go for a take-off, there's definitely a few people holding their breath there. You know how close to predicted take-off we are going to be and if we don't make that, then we've probably got quite a lot on. So, yes, that first sail was a tense moment for a lot of us, but that went well.
The boat in general has been pretty good in terms of how it's performed to its predictions. But, like all the other teams, we have pretty stretched targets which are hard to get to, and that's what we're constantly trying to chase.
Mark: In this America's Cup cycle there are no weak teams, and you're here making sure you're leaving no stones unturned, but all of your competitors are doing exactly the same thing. Is that an extra motivating point?
Ben: I think it's quite possibly one of the most competitive, if not the most competitive Cup - certainly in recent times, if you look at the quality of the teams on and off the water, and the boats that are being produced. We're not strictly allowed to line up against one another, but what we can do in terms of crossing and tacking reveals there's quite a lot of similarities in performance.
Mark: When it comes to venues in which to use theoretical modelling, Barcelona's got to be one of the hardest, just due to the sea state and the variable conditions you have. Now you're sailing the AC75 out here, what's the biggest difference you're finding from what you've done through the computers and in the simulations?
Ben: I think you're right in terms of the sea state - it's a real challenge and we talked about that as soon as Barcelona was announced as a venue. Everyone was doing their weather studies and we knew that it was going to be a tough place to design for, because you get a range of conditions: flat water, strong winds, light winds, a big sea state - you get it all and that is a real challenge to design for.
Then, of course, as you go through the round robins, the semi finals, finals of the Challenger Series, and then to the Cup itself, inevitably, the season shifts and the predicted average wind strength drops away. So I think it's true that Mother Nature is going to have her say in the outcome of this to a certain extent. I'm not making excuses for anyone, but we all know that it's part of the challenge here.
Mark: Wasn't it always thus in sailing? As things ramp up, the tension must be building and you, personally, have multiple roles. You are the skipper, the helm, the CEO of the organisation, and managing people must be a massive part of your day to day activities. How is that part?
Ben: Sometimes I liken myself to chief firefighter - that's really the role you end up being, the CEO, a manager of a team or a business, when it gets to this size, inevitably, you end up a lot of the time making sure that the team are just staying focused, staying on program, and making sure that everyone's happy and got what they need really.
I've got a fantastic management team around me: people like David Endean have done a brilliant job for this team, and in this campaign, Jeff Causey, running the shore team, the technical program, both from the Naval Architecture side, or people with design knowledge, like Nick Holroyd, through to Martin Fischer at Mercedes.
Geoff Willis has really been a key person from the Mercedes side, helping us to drive that collaboration, so it's a great group around me. It's inevitably a real challenge. But, as ever with teams and organisations, it's about having the right people and the right support networks and I think we've got a fantastic team.
Mark: You've offloaded your F50 duties to Giles Scott as inevitably it was way too much to do all at once, but what do you do for your own downtime?
Ben: You're a dad as well, so you know it's spending time with the family. I'm incredibly lucky to do what I do and have this opportunity, but one of the downsides is I don't really get much free time - I don't get much time with my family. So whenever I do get free time, I spend it with them. I've got two young kids who are three and eight, and it's just great spending time with them and having fun. That's definitely a good way to get a reality check on life.
Mark: The data that comes back to the team from the boat gets distributed between you here and then up to the Mercedes base in Brackley as well. How are the teams then liaising on that data and getting feedback, to decide on modifications to the boat?
Ben: That's a great question and a massive part of what we do: getting that data, not only off the boat here in Barcelona, but then back to Brackley. One of our strengths is the scale of the resource that we've got back in Brackley in terms of the analysis, whether that's going into trying to fine-tune the simulation tools so they're as accurate as they possibly can be, or analysing the foil performance, the aero performance - the list goes on and on.
It's so hard as these boats are so complex when you really get into the nitty gritty of it, so you never have enough time and never have enough resource. The better we can get that data back, that performance data, back to either here in Barcelona or to Brackley, then the guys can start analysing that and move forwards.
Mark: When you're talking with your sailing coaches, such as Rob Wilson and your pre-start and match racing coach Ian Williams, how important do they become to your team?
Ben: Like everyone in the team, they're critical. I mean, Ian, Rob, Xabi Fernandez and the coaching side have been brilliant. They've done a really great job for the team, on and off the water.
When you start looking at the match racing start, for example, having someone with Ian's experience - he's the most successful match racer there's been - who is also really analytical, makes him a great coach. His analysis and ideas are not just something he's dreamt up, it's fact. You know he's really thought it through and analysed it and crunched the numbers.
Robbie is great in terms of his sheer sailing talent, his understanding of high performance boats, and what makes them tick as well. We've got a really good coaching squad from both a performance and human perspective. I think both Robbie and Xabi understand the team game, what makes people tick, trying to get the best out of people, so they've done a great job for us.