Sir Ben Ainslie admits that time has been the greatest enemy since he began his mission to halt a British losing streak that started at the very first America’s Cup in 1851.

As Bermuda eagerly awaits the start of the “Auld Mug” — the oldest trophy in international sport — Ainslie would be quite happy if the clock quietly ticking on Front Street stood still, at least for a while anyway.

For Ainslie, the Land Rover BAR skipper, the 3½ years since launching the team have been an “amazing journey”, although he is acutely aware that reaching the desired destination will be anything but plain sailing.

“I think if you asked all of the teams they would like more time in terms of creating more speed from the boat,” Ainslie told The Royal Gazette. “But you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

“As a first-time America’s Cup team we’ve had a certain amount of challenges in terms of development time as opposed to the teams that continued from the last America’s Cup in San Francisco [in 2013].

“It’s as much of a technical development race as it is a sailing race. Time will tell over the next couple of weeks how much we can improve the performances of the boat. But those are the same challenges for all of the teams.”

Ainslie steered the six-man BAR team to victory in the 2015-16 America’s Cup World Series, a result which earned two points for the qualifying series that starts on Friday.

Signs have not been overly encouraging in practice, however, with BAR struggling for straight-line speed, Ainslie crashing his boat into Emirates Team Zealand while “pushing the limits” at the start of a race last week.

An honest mistake and part and parcel of racing is how Ainslie described the mishap in his apology to Team New Zealand, whose hull was punctured during the incident.

Grant Dalton, the New Zealand chief executive officer, promptly stirred the pot by suggesting the frustration was getting to Ainslie and that the “red midst” had come down.

“It’s part of the sport isn’t it?” said Ainslie, when asked about the incident. “From my perspective, we were pushing, I made a mistake, but that’s the nature of racing and you’re pushing it to the limit and sometimes you overstep that.”

As for Grant’s mischievous remarks, Ainslie countered: “I think my team pretty much let our results on the water do the talking. Some other teams maybe don’t have the same approach and that’s up to them.

“You expect that at this level and I’ve been around for a long time and had plenty of ups and downs in my career. It’s something you roll off, keep going, and focus on what you can do.”

One of the most intriguing narratives during the build-up to the qualifiers has been the decision to use pedal power by Team New Zealand, with Oracle Team USA also copying the Kiwis’ surprise move with a partial switch.

While Ainslie believes that the radical cycle system could prove to be efficient, he is yet to be convinced it will translate to greater speed.

“I think it’s fascinating that New Zealand have come up with a different concept and we’ve seen Oracle try to implement that in part,” added Ainslie, who worked hard in the corporate world to raise more than £90 million so his team could compete in the Cup.

“Whether or not it turns out to be faster we’ll find out very soon. My gut feeling is that it’s more efficient but does it actually make the boat go faster? I’m not so sure.

“I think we’ll come away from this event with a much clearer vision of the physical challenges of sailing these boats and whether pedal power is the way to go.”

Ainslie, 40, played his part in one of the greatest sporting comebacks after being brought in as a tactician by Oracle midway through the final series of the previous America’s Cup.

His recruitment helped the defenders overcome an 8-1 deficit, with Ainslie becoming the first British sailor to be on board the winning boat since Charlie Barr, skipper of defenders Columbia for three consecutive regattas in 1899, 1901 and 1903.

Much has changed for Ainslie since then: marriage, parenthood and the transitioning into the role of skipper and principal of his self-named British syndicate.

“It’s been an incredible journey, starting a team from absolutely nothing,” he said. “It’s been a real challenge and I’m really proud of what we have achieved so far by winning the world series. Our technical programme is getting stronger each day.

“It’s the ultimate team sport and identifying the right people and supporting them in their roles has been the key for me. It’s certainly been a big learning curve from my perspective.

“What we’ve tried to develop for the long term, knowing the challenges and how hard it is to win the America’s Cup — certainly at the first attempt — is create an organisation that can continue, win or lose, for many America’s Cups to come, ultimately for as long as it takes to get that Cup back into British waters.”

A renowned perfectionist, Ainslie and his team will continue to work 24 hours around the clock in their pursuit of victory on the Great Sound.

Only time will tell whether he achieves his burning ambition sooner than perhaps even he expects.