New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America’s Cup opener

Emirates Team New Zealand began their America’s Cup defence in ominous style on Saturday, cruising to a wide-margin first race win over challenger Ineos Britannia.

Skippered by Peter Burling, the Kiwis were faultless as they drew first blood by 0.41 seconds in the opening race of the best of 13-series final.

The futuristic foiling yachts may have cost millions of dollars to develop but the AC75s are rendered redundant without a crucial free ingredient – wind.

And the source of energy required to make the boats fly across the water was in short supply off the coast of the Catalan capital early Saturday afternoon, delaying the scheduled first race by over half an hour.

Once the 37th edition of the world’s oldest international sporting trophy finally got underway, New Zealand were quickest across the line with Ineos Britannia struggling from the start.

At speeds touching 40 knots (74kph) New Zealand carved out a comfortable lead.

“We got a great start, I was a little bit nervous sitting there with no wind before the start,” said Burling ahead of Saturday’s second scheduled race.

“Hopefully we can get another one,” he added.

Despite hosting the inaugural race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, Britain is still seeking its first win in the 173-year history of the competition compared to Formula One on water.

Skippered by sailing great Ben Ainslie, Ineos Britannia is flying the flag for Britain in the final for the first time in 60 years.

Ainslie, a four-time Olympian, is already a winner of the America’s Cup as tactician with Oracle Team USA in 2013.

“we didn’t have the perfect entry to the race, but the guys did a good job to keep calm,” Ainslie said.

“The Kiwis did a nice job, we didn’t do a lot wrong, they just did a better race.

“There’s a long way to go yet, we’ll keep pushing!” he added.

Ineos Britannia, bankrolled by Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, earned its place in the high stakes match on the Mediterranean by coming through the Louis Vuitton challenger series culminating in their 7-4 defeat of Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team last week.

The Kiwis are the double defending champions and they had the luxury of sitting and waiting to see who emerged as their challenger in Barcelona.