SATURDAY 12th October will see the final of the oldest competition in the world, as Great Britain face New Zealand in the America’s Cup final in Barcelona.
Ineos Britannia, captained by Sir Ben Ainslie, built the boat in Hythe, just 25 minutes from our headquarters at Solent University.
Carrington Boats, based in the small Hampshire town, has been instrumental to this year’s success.
The biggest sailing competition of them all, the Americas Cup began in 1851, which was a single race around the Isle of Wight, and took place before the first Olympics in Athens.
Despite founding the competition and competing in every edition of the event, Great Britain have never won it…ever.
Great Britain are up against the defending champions and most successful team, New Zealand, labelled the ‘All-Blacks’ of sailing, in the best-of-13 race series.
This is the first time that GB have made the final since 1964, and are heavy underdogs to end their 173-year drought.
Backed by billionaire businessman, and Manchester United stakeholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, they plan to ‘bring sailing home’.
The winner is the first team to reach seven wins, with the two races a day taking place between the 12th and the 19th of October.
Whilst Sailing may not be the country’s most popular sport, this moment could be a historic one in GB’s history.
Freddie Dorman reports on tomorrow’s final – listen here:
