America’s Cup fans will of course know the story of the unpleasant jousting that has been going on recently between the two former campaign partners. Ratcliffe’s opening salvo came in the form of a surprise press release on his company website announcing that his team – INEOS Britannia – had parted ways with five-time Olympic medallist Ainslie and would be mounting a challenge for AC38 in partnership with the Mercedes F1 team.
Sir Ben’s irate retort followed quickly in which he declared his astonishment of the INEOS move and warned of the ‘significant legal and practical obstacles’ that would surely befall them in the coming weeks.
While British AC fans scratched their heads over the viability of the UK fielding two teams for the next edition of yachting’s oldest and most prestigious competition, the Royal Yacht Squadron maintained a steely and inscrutable silence on the matter.
This only led to more speculation over who they might choose to partner with. Might they pick Ainslie, a fee paying member of the club, or choose Ratcliffe, an outsider but a billionaire with ready access to the necessary funds for another tilt at the Auld Mug.
The answer came without fanfare earlier this week when the most minor of updates was made to the Challenger of Record page of the Royal Yacht Squadron, where Ainslie’s ‘Athena Racing’ was cut and pasted in to replace Ratcliffe's 'INEOS Britannia'.
Before and After.
There are those who say that the British club’s decision to back Ainslie over Ratcliffe was a forgone conclusion. But the truth is that they had other options too. They could simply have done nothing and waited until an obvious front-runner emerged, or they could have very politely withdrawn their Challenge and quietly stepped away from all the unpleasantness.
So where does that leave us? On the face of it we have two compromised British campaigns: Ainslie’s Athena Racing which has plenty of sailors and experience but is lacking in funds; and Ratcliffe’s INEOS Sailing (a company registered on January 22 this year, presumably as a vehicle for an America’s Cup campaign), which has funding but no (as far as we are aware) sailors.
Can Ben find the money? Can Jim recruit the right calibre of sailors? Both are unknowns right now, but if Ainslie can show he is capable of raising the required cash, then the sailors’ choice as to who to sign up with will be straightforward. The fact that the Royal Yacht Squadron chose to back Ainslie might suggest that he is further along with his search for new commercial partners than some have opined. He recently announced a new five-year deal with JP Morgan for his British SailGP team. That squad has Emirates Airlines as its title sponsor and is currently sitting atop the leaderboard of the Rolex SailGP Championship.
Meanwhile, there has been a firestorm of bad press in recent weeks about the INEOS Sports portfolio. From allegedly defaulting on an All Blacks shirt sponsorship deal with New Zealand Rugby, through swingeing staff cuts at Manchester United, to rumours that Ratcliffe wanted out of his one third share in the Mercedes F1 team, the bad news has just kept coming.
All this, plus recent negative reports in the business / financial press about INEOS, has led to questions as to whether Ratcliffe really has the stomach for a third expensive multi year America’s Cup campaign. Might he decide to cut his losses and walk away from the Cup? He could – but, again, he has other options available to him.
Rather than starting a second British challenge from the ground up he could join forces with one of the other billionaire team owners – like Luna Rossa’s Patricio Bertelli (an unlikely partnership admittedly), or Alinghi’s Ernesto Bertarelli (more feasible), or perhaps American Magic’s Doug DeVos (maybe). Alternatively, might he cosy up to the French Orient Express Racing syndicate (he lives on the French Riviera after all). Or might he simply put a call in to his great mate Grant Dalton and put his money into a fourth consecutive Kiwi victory? All just pure – and likely fanciful – speculation on my part, of course.
One thing that remains unclear is who owns the assets from the last campaign – in particular the all-important intellectual property from AC37 where the British team reached the final for the first time in 60 years. Both Ratcliffe and Ainslie will no doubt claim ownership and the involvement of lawyers seems increasingly likely and probably necessary.
How all of this will play out, only time will tell. The dispute has left the America’s Cup somewhat in limbo for the past few weeks – even a recent summit meeting of the teams yielded next-to-no new information as to the direction AC38 might be heading.
Perhaps the Royal Yacht Squadron’s discreet website edit this week might mean negotiations, or at least discussions, can begin between the Defender and Challenger of Record. America’s Cup fans can only hope so.
