Sir Ben Ainslie was at Portsmouth Guildhall on Friday, January 17, 2024, at the Shaping Portsmouth conference talking about Sail GP coming to Portsmouth in July 2025.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So, Sir Ben, welcome back to Portsmouth today.
00:03We're here to talk about the Emirates Great Britain Cell Grand Prix,
00:07which is coming to our shores in July.
00:10I've seen it's been touted as the most exciting racing on the water,
00:13so for the uninitiated, can you just tell me a bit about what Cell GP is all about?
00:18Well, I think for people who haven't followed it or seen it before,
00:21they'd be really blown away by Cell GP.
00:23It's effectively 50-foot foiling casmorans that lift up out of the water
00:27and go speeds of up to and even over 100 kilometres an hour,
00:31which for any kind of vessel, whether that's a powerboat or a sailing boat,
00:35those are phenomenal speeds.
00:37You've got 12 international teams all racing against each other on a very tight race course
00:42and going for season championships over 14 Grands Prix around the world through the season.
00:49So it's a really, really intense competition, best sailors in the world,
00:53very, very tight race course, like I said.
00:55So get down to South Sea this summer, this July, 19th and 20th July,
01:00and like I say, you'll be blown away by the competition
01:03and just the speed and performance of these boats.
01:06You've sold it, so I think I'll be down there for that time as well.
01:09So obviously it's a return to the shores,
01:11following on for the fantastic weekend we had with the America's Cup here as well.
01:16So what are your memories from that time?
01:18Those are some of the best memories I've had in the sport, actually,
01:22to race in front of a home crowd in America's Cup level competition,
01:26and actually we managed to win both of those events, 2015-2016,
01:30to get a victory in front of the home crowd.
01:33There were really, really huge crowds on South Sea waterfront.
01:37I think we had some of the biggest crowds we ever had in the America's Cup or sailing anywhere in the world.
01:43So brilliant to see that support for the team.
01:46We hope to see that level of support for the local team again in SailGP.
01:51I just think the opportunity to get such a high-level sailing competition to Portsmouth,
01:57which we all know is a big, big part of the maritime history of the UK,
02:02that's just a wonderful opportunity.
02:04It is. Thank you very much.
02:06And ambitions for America's Cup still? Where are you in that journey?
02:10Yeah, so America's Cup, we're still cracking along.
02:12Every time we do it, we get one step closer.
02:14So by that rationale, we should win it next time.
02:17But no, seriously, America's Cup is about continuity,
02:20and we've seen that particularly with Emirates Team New Zealand and also Lunarosa, Prada, Pirelli.
02:25Those are organisations that have been in the America's Cup for 35, 30 years respectively.
02:31And it's that level of continuity that helps you to design the processes,
02:35the design tools, performance tools, and really get an efficient organisation together.
02:39So I'm really proud of where the team has got to.
02:42It was fantastic to make it all the way to the America's Cup last summer.
02:45The goal now, of course, is to go to the next level and win the Cup and bring it home.
02:49Okay. Well, good luck with that one.
02:51Talking back at the time in Portsmouth, you've just come off the shaping conference stage,
02:56and you mentioned about the support you had from the council to bring you down here.
03:00I think there was some disappointment in the city when the design team went out.
03:05Obviously, the race team had to move where the racing was.
03:07You've still got the technologies team in there.
03:09Was that a difficult time, or was that always the plan to move some of the teams out?
03:14No, it absolutely wasn't the plan to move the team away.
03:18That was something that was difficult.
03:20Effectively, it was a decision taken out of our control in terms of the technical programme.
03:26But I'm really proud of what the technologies business has achieved.
03:31I was just down there earlier, and they're going from strength to strength.
03:35You can see by just the way that the activity down there, just how much the business has grown,
03:41the number of people it's employing, having a great impact on the local economy.
03:45I think really showcasing just how successful the British maritime economy can be
03:51and the technologies that we developed through the America's Cup
03:55and involvement with other high-level sailing competitions
03:59can really feed down to the technologies, to the maritime industry on a global level.
04:05It's great to see a Portsmouth-based business doing so well.
04:09So, still very much got a footprint in the city.
04:11And it's not just about the technologies.
04:13Obviously, your 1851 Trust doing some great work across the city and across the UK.
04:18Tell us a bit more about how that's all going.
04:20Yeah, the 1851 Trust, similarly, we founded that alongside the team some 10 years ago.
04:25We had the Duchess of Cambridge as our royal patron.
04:28She's been a fantastic supporter of the Trust and really started off with the STEM subjects
04:33and using the power of sport and certainly the technology behind the America's Cup
04:37to inspire youngsters into those key STEM subjects.
04:40And then, more latterly, moving into sustainability
04:43with a focus on the environment and sustainability
04:46and educating school kids throughout the country.
04:49You know, what are the challenges, but also the solutions
04:52around the sort of environmental sustainable issues that we face around the world today.
04:58And a huge amount of support for the Trust.
05:00Again, it's going from strength to strength,
05:02getting out to so many youngsters, secondary school students around the country.
05:07And we're really proud of that.
05:08And great to see, again, the power of sport really making a difference.
05:11Yeah, that's great work, Ben. Great stuff.
05:13And my final question, it's something you touched on, I think, with the first answer,
05:17but what would be your message to the people of Portsmouth
05:20when it comes to the Grand Prix in July
05:22and coming down and supporting what you're doing and supporting the team?
05:25Well, I think people who remember the America's Cup World Series that we had
05:28will know what a great event both of those were, 2015, 2016.
05:33For those that weren't able to see that or are new to the area,
05:36you've got to get down and take a look.
05:38Honestly, if you think you knew what sailing was all about,
05:42you'd be completely blown away.
05:44It's seriously cool.
05:45So get down and enjoy your time.
05:47And we're really looking forward to seeing you down there.