60 years of waiting for a British Copa America finalist gave way to a painful realization in the space of a soggy afternoon in Barcelona. Sir Ben Ainslie was certainly right when he described the other boys as favourites.
Having been beaten by Emirates Crew New Zealand in the first two races, Ainslie and his INEOS Britannia team already need a major comeback and more luck if they are to become the first team from these shores to lift the Auld Mug.
The Kiwis, chasing a third consecutive victory, were faster, more skillful and, above all, free of technical problems. To illustrate the differences in Ainslie's experience, consider the battery malfunction that occurred on his yacht less than 10 minutes before the first skirmish in this best-of-13 series.
In the captain's words, the lithium-ion cell powering its blades had “blown out” and urgently needed replacement, both as a means of performing pre-start and, more fundamentally, to protect against a serious fire risk. They flipped the switch, but they were a little late to the starting block: when you're operating under the weight of 173 years of lost history, it was no way for the British crew to seize their big opportunity.
It was also quite out of character for a 75-foot boat whose reliability was a key asset during the Challenger series.
New Zealand were faster, more skillful and without technical problems in Barcelona on Saturday
Sir Ben Ainslie reckons Britain has a lot of work to do to prevail
Ainslie said: 'Lithium-ion batteries are quite temperamental in all walks of life and unfortunately one of ours decided to literally crash a little before the start of the race. We had to get it off the boat quickly and replace it.
'The reliability of our boat has been incredible, so that's just one of those things. The fact that the guys saw it and managed to get out could have saved our race, because if we hadn't changed it, we could have been in big trouble.”
As that minor crisis unfolds, a sharper question will dominate Ainslie's investigation: how do they keep up? The data will offer a cold test of reality: Pete Burling's New Zealanders won the opening race by 40 seconds and the next by 27.
At least the second was much more competitive, especially in the first four of the eight stages in which Ainslie twice had a small lead, but even that race had a deficit of about 400 meters at one point. It was something of punishment.
Ainslie struck an optimistic tone, believing the two rival boats were well matched on most points, but it was still noticeable that the Kiwis had a good advantage upwind on a day of light, sneaky breezes. The theory within the Ainslie crew is that they will recover when the winds increase beyond the first day's 12-knot peak, so it is presumably worrying that calm weather is forecast for both races on Sunday.
Privately, they could be hoping for a postponement, although admitting it would be too big a concession in the psychological game part of this last.
Ainslie said: 'It was a very, very tough day. It wasn't the start we were looking for, but there were some positives.
“I think the performance, although at times they had a bit of an advantage, was close and certainly that second race showed that we can give them a good fight.” There are many things we will learn from today in terms of improvements to make and there is a long series ahead of us.
Britain's hopes of success were hampered after suffering a battery failure.
“We have shown that we are a resilient team and no one lowers their head.”
“So there is a long way to go and the opportunity is still there. We always said that facing the Kiwis would be the biggest challenge and today we proved it. But at the same time, I think we will continue to learn and develop and we will come back.”
This last point was demonstrated by quickly overcoming some desperately poor results in the preliminary rounds to win the Challenger series.
But if Berling's crew, who haven't competed in a month, had hopes of fighting the rust, then they were misplaced.
Instead, the responsibility will fall on the broader infrastructure of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS network, whose squad of boffins at Mercedes' Formula 1 base in Brackley have shaped a
They might have a few nights in store, although they will at least be encouraged to see that the British had a decent downwind lead, albeit one that merely reduced deficits rather than establishing leads.
Responsibility will now shift to the broader infrastructure of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS network.
Ainslie added: “Again, we knew it was going to be difficult, but of course it will be difficult.” Losing the first two races is not what we wanted.
“But nothing has changed – we have to get seven wins, so the challenge is still on and I think we can do it.”
'I think New Zealand sailed two big races and performed well. His speed was good. They managed to do a good job finding the breeze and maneuvering well. But I think we can beat them.
“We showed it in that second race; It wouldn't have taken much to go the other way. It's easy to look at it and say, 'Oh, two wins.' And, you know, there's a big gap there, but I think maybe it's closer than it seems.”