Sir Ben Ainslie explains explicit dig at Kiwi AmCup commentator

By Christopher Reive

In a bid to rally his team after falling 3-0 down in the America’s Cup match, Sir Ben Ainslie saw an opportunity and, with two words, took it.

The Ineos Britannia skipper caught the attention of many when he called Kiwi commentator Stephen McIvor a “f***ing w*****” in an on-water interview after the third race of the Cup match against Emirates Team New Zealand, before losing the fourth the following day.

Speaking on the Performance People podcast, Ainslie revealed he knew exactly what he was doing and what he wanted to achieve with the remark.

“We were really struggling, we just couldn’t match the performance of the Kiwis. In those moments, something’s got to give. The status quo is probably not going to work for you,” Ainslie said.

“I just had this opportunity with the commentator, I can’t remember the guy’s name. He [was] obviously clearly a little bit biased, being a staunch Kiwi that’s fair enough, but he was just a little bit cocky ... I was looking for an opportunity and he offered it up for me.”

It seemed that Ainslie misunderstood McIvor’s question when he asked: “Still believe that you’re as close [to New Zealand] when it comes to performance? Because I get that feeling coming off your boat.”

The British helmsman appeared to take it as McIvor questioning either his boat or his crew’s belief.

The savvy veteran sailor gave a jovial response as the interview ended before he was heard muttering “f***ing w*****” off-screen moments after the conversation concluded.

Ainslie explained how the incident unfolded from his point of view, saying he knew everyone – at least in his team if not on the broadcast – would be able to hear him.

“In those instances, you can either turn your comms pack off or you can keep it on, and I kept it on,” Ainslie said.

“It was just this comment; ‘how’s your performance looking now?’ sort of thing. As in, ‘you’ve just gone [3-0] down, are you still happy with your performance?’

“I just said ‘I think that’s the Kiwi commentator in you’ then left it a couple of seconds knowing the guys could still hear me – to be honest I didn’t know whether or not we were still broadcasting but it didn’t matter at that point – and yeah, called him a f***ing w***** under my breath.

“The response of the team, I walked around the other side of the boat and the guys were like ‘yes! Come on.’ That’s what you’re looking for. You’re looking for a bit of a rallying cry and that was just a great opportunity to offer that up.”

Ainslie said he was hoping to tap into a siege mentality in his team as they looked to change their fortunes in the Cup match.

Ineos Britannia out-developed and outperformed the rest of the challengers as they became the first British entry to qualify for the America’s Cup match in 60 years, but struggled to match the defending Team NZ.

Ainslie had been in a similar situation when part of Oracle in 2013 in San Francisco, when the American defenders went down 8-1 against Team NZ before rallying back.

“I’ve always been a believer in siege mentality. I’ve seen that in other sports and I’ve experienced it. I experienced it with Oracle in 2013 when we were 8-1 down and managed to somehow, against all the odds, come back to win it 9-8. That was a siege mentality moment,” he explained.

“I’ve experienced it in my Olympic sailing and seen it in many other sports. I had a fascinating conversation with Jose Mourinho over dinner many years ago, talking through it. So I do believe in that.”

While the Brits went on to win the two races in a row when racing resumed following a lay day to bring the series back to 4-2, again proving how good they were when the sea state got a bit choppier, Team NZ closed out the series 7-2 to lock the Auld Mug away again.

As they were for the 37th edition of the Cup, Ineos Britannia will again be the challenger of record in the next cycle, with Ainslie also confirming Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe had signed on for another campaign with the team.

Heading into the Cup match in Barcelona, Ainslie revealed there had been no commitment from their billionaire backer beyond the 2024 regatta.

“Jim and Ineos have been incredible backers for the last two campaigns, and have effectively underwritten both campaigns. They’re keen to keep going,” Ainslie said.

“I think they really enjoyed the experience in Barcelona and they’re, like the rest of us, really disappointed to get that far and not get the job done, but can see the gains the team has made and with the collaboration with Mercedes being so strong, they’re up for the fight.

“But we need to bring in more partners – particularly commercial partners – to help unload the burden on Jim and Ineos.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission