Americas Cup - INEOS Britannia splits from Ben Ainslie

Laser310 said:
i don't really agree

the INEOS AC team has made good progress.

I think anyone who thinks they are going to start a team and win the cup in two attempts is asking a lot.

yes, it's ton of money - but he surely knew that.

they raced in the final last year. In my mind, that is a pretty good result, and shows good progress towards the goal of eventually winning the cup.

If Ratcliffe thought winning the cup would be easy or quick, he's not as smart as I think he probably is.
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The cup is Binary though. You win it or you don't. "There is no second"

Yes, I totally agree that the team has made enormous progress, and if they'd continued in that vein they had a good shot at racing for the cup itself again. But clearly progress was not enough to satisfy Ratcliffe.
 
benjenbav said:
Ratcliffe will get his way. If he still wants to bankroll AC38 he will either do it through the RYS or, if they don’t like the smell, through another YC. Maybe the Royal Monagesque (if there is such a thing).
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I don’t know if it is true but during the AC regatta someone mentioned in passing during a chat about the racing (in person, not on here) that Ratcliffe is a Royal Thames member. FWIW.
 
Looking more and more like Radcliffe wanted to be more than just a sponsor, wanted a stake in the team and Ben said no.

The really interesting bit is that all the press releases from INEOS talk about the INEOS Britania team splitting with Ben, but as far as I can see the team was actually Athena, which is owned by Ben, who sold the naming rights to INEOS.

So on the one hand we have a team with sailors and designers under contract, but which now needs money.
And on the other hand we have a man with all the money, and who has appointed a CEO but needs sailors and designers. But does have access to the Mercedes link up.

And they are seemingly both claiming to be "the" team.

Excellent, we haven't had a decent Americas cup legal battle for ages!
 
flaming said:
Looking more and more like Radcliffe wanted to be more than just a sponsor, wanted a stake in the team and Ben said no.

The really interesting bit is that all the press releases from INEOS talk about the INEOS Britania team splitting with Ben, but as far as I can see the team was actually Athena, which is owned by Ben, who sold the naming rights to INEOS.

So on the one hand we have a team with sailors and designers under contract, but which now needs money.
And on the other hand we have a man with all the money, and who has appointed a CEO but needs sailors and designers. But does have access to the Mercedes link up.

And they are seemingly both claiming to be "the" team.

Excellent, we haven't had a decent Americas cup legal battle for ages!
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Just need Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack…
 
flaming said:
Looking more and more like Radcliffe wanted to be more than just a sponsor, wanted a stake in the team and Ben said no.

The really interesting bit is that all the press releases from INEOS talk about the INEOS Britania team splitting with Ben, but as far as I can see the team was actually Athena, which is owned by Ben, who sold the naming rights to INEOS.

So on the one hand we have a team with sailors and designers under contract, but which now needs money.
And on the other hand we have a man with all the money, and who has appointed a CEO but needs sailors and designers. But does have access to the Mercedes link up.

And they are seemingly both claiming to be "the" team.

Excellent, we haven't had a decent Americas cup legal battle for ages!
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Doubt you will get one now - the good ones are billionaire against billionaire, and the winners are the lawyers.

I imagine that Radcliffe is frustrated at pouring money into the project and achieving nothing. Mind you I can understand why he bothers in the first place. 173 years of failure! We British arent winners at anything much
 
There’s an excellent interview with Magnus Wheatley discussing the whole debacle here:
. I suspect he’s a lot closer to the reality than any of our armchair musings.
 
MikeBz said:
There’s an excellent interview with Magnus Wheatley discussing the whole debacle here:
. I suspect he’s a lot closer to the reality than any of our armchair musings.
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He's an interesting character... And I have no doubt he pays closer attention to the cup than almost anyone. And his analysis of what has already happened is often worth listening to.

However.... I am given to understand that he's burnt a lot of bridges over the years, so I'm not sure how many of the actual players still talk to him. I am only superficially connected to the AC, at best, but most times I've had any actual knowledge of something that he's written about, what I knew to be true from the horses' mouth wasn't really reflected in his writing. So his analysis of "what might be happening", whilst interesting, is not something I'd give any particular weight to.
 
flaming said:
He's an interesting character... And I have no doubt he pays closer attention to the cup than almost anyone. And his analysis of what has already happened is often worth listening to.

However.... I am given to understand that he's burnt a lot of bridges over the years, so I'm not sure how many of the actual players still talk to him. I am only superficially connected to the AC, at best, but most times I've had any actual knowledge of something that he's written about, what I knew to be true from the horses' mouth wasn't really reflected in his writing. So his analysis of "what might be happening", whilst interesting, is not something I'd give any particular weight to.
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Well I certainly find your analysis of his analysis enlightening :) I think Radcliffe has shot himself in the foot really. I don't see himbeing able to get a credible team together (I'm far too busy LOL :D ).
 
Puffin10032 said:
Well I certainly find your analysis of his analysis enlightening :) I think Radcliffe has shot himself in the foot really. I don't see himbeing able to get a credible team together (I'm far too busy LOL :D ).
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He has a lot of money to waste so there will be more than enough people eager to join in wasting it. So the question is whether he wants to indulge himself again.

He who pays the piper calls the tune.
 
Just heard on the radio, that Ineos have pulled the plug on their sponsorship deal with the All Blacks, and the Kiwis are suing them.

Ineos is beginning to emit a smell. One that nobody will want to go near.
 
Maybe fit out some AC75's identically, to control budgets, then have a race around the Isle of Wight on the original course - even if it is a separate event.

Maybe the teams then focus on foil design - how close do we think we are to the ultimate foiler?
 
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Egret said:
Maybe fit out some AC75's identically, to control budgets, then have a race around the Isle of Wight on the original course - even if it is a separate event.

Maybe then teams then focus on foil design - how close do we think we are to the ultimate foiler?
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That sounds like a very sensible suggestion. However this is the Americas Cup and I suspect that the word "sensible" is banned by their rules. It's always been a billionaire's w**ly waving competition and I'm not convinced that that will change in the next decade or so.
 
Bobc said:
Just heard on the radio, that Ineos have pulled the plug on their sponsorship deal with the All Blacks, and the Kiwis are suing them.

Ineos is beginning to emit a smell. One that nobody will want to go near.
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The term toxic Ineos was rife around south Wales when Radcliffe reneged on his promise to make his land rover copies there. At the time I thought I was mishearing the company name and it was a mistake to call it something that could be mistaken for Toxic Ineos!
Allan
 
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