Sailing’s coming home: the stunning Ben Ainslie comeback

Alan Bond was a rogue and a rich man, in every way your typical Aussie larrikin. In 1983 he bankrolled Australia’s challenge for the America’s Cup, the blue-riband sailing trophy held permanently until then by the New York Yacht Club. Sensationally, Australia won and that triumph did as much as anything to put rocket fuel under the young country’s confidence and self-belief. Australians still remember the massive crowds pouring out to welcome their winning boat’s return to Sydney Harbour. Now, whisper it, something very similar could be happening for Great Britain across the Tasman Sea.

There on the waters of the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland, Sir Ben Ainslie is leading one of the most remarkable recoveries in the history of sport. After a dismal start, the Team Ineos yacht Britannia is now in pole position to mount the challenge against New Zealand for the America’s Cup. A complicated series of elimination races are taking place with Britain, Italy and America racing to see who takes on the title-holders NZ.