Winging it

Precision engineering, electrifying competition and ballooning budgets define the America's Cup, the most coveted trophy in international sport, says Paul Henderson

- Paul Henderson

HAVE you heard the one about the British businessman who went out for a quiet drink at a club in London and got chatted up by a sailor? The tycoon in question was billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and that drink ended up being, by his own admission, ‘the most expensive gin and tonic in history’.

The man he met that evening was Sir Ben Ainslie, not only the most successful Olympic yachtsman in history, but a mariner who had acquired a reputation as one of the most ferocious competitors on the planet. It was 2018 and Sir Ben had recently turned 41, but he was clearly in no rush to hang up his life jacket. He was a man on a mission and he needed help. ‘As a youngster, I had two ambitions in life,’ he said. ‘One was to compete at the Olympics and the other was winning the America’s Cup for Britain.’

Sir Jim was intrigued. After much success running his petrochemicals business, the chairman and CEO of the INEOS Group decided he wanted to get involved in sport (his company would go on to invest in Manchester United, the Mercedes-AMG F1 team and the New Zealand All Blacks) and committed to coming on board. The particular brand of mother’s ruin the two men shared was not specified, but, if reports are to be believed, the bill came in at about £110 million. Then again, if the result was that INEOS Britannia could bring the ‘Auld Mug’ home to Britain after 173 years of hurt, it would be money well spent. Sir Jim’s nautical and patriotic ambitions are obvious: ‘It is the oldest sporting trophy and a trophy we’ve never won,’ he explained. ‘Sailing is part of the British DNA. We did rule those waves for a few centuries, but we’ve never won the America’s Cup.’