Renishaw as an engineering partner for INEOS Team UKs Americas Cup challenge boat.
The America’s Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America’s Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy and the other from the yacht club that is challenging for the cup. The winner is awarded the America’s Cup trophy, informally known as the Auld Mug. Matches are held several years apart on dates agreed between the defender and the challenger. There is no fixed schedule, but the races have generally been held every three to four years.
In the 174 years the cup has been held the UK team has never won!
INEOS team UK, based in Portsmouth, headed up the UK challenge in 2021 and 2024 with their boat INEOS Britannia. The new design of boat chosen for these races was the AC75, a 75ft foiling monohull boat.
INEOS along with the other teams competing had to design their boats from the ground up and INEOS partnered with Renishaw, due to their knowledge of additive manufacturing and motion control.
I made several trips down to INEOS’s base in Portsmouth, collecting media and interviewing their personnel, including team captain Sir Ben Ainsley.
I then created a series of videos for a variety of platforms about the design process and the collaboration. I worked with INEOS’s media team as they shared their footage with me. It would have been great to have gone out on the boats to film myself, but alas…