By Colin Thompson

Sailing Correspondent

Being a member of a British America’s Cup challenge spearheaded by the most decorated sailor in Olympic history was an offer Giles Scott simply could not refuse.

The multiple world champion was the eighth sailor to join British racing syndicate Ben Ainslie Racing, led by team principal and skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, who is a five-times Olympic medallist, multiple world and European champion and America’s Cup winner.

“I was absolutely delighted when he [Ainslie] gave me the call to ask to come and sail for him,” said Scott, one of five English sailors on the team’s roster.

“Although we were at each other’s throats in the selection process for the Finns [2012 Olympic trials], that never went any further than on the water. We managed to have a good relationship off [the water] and it’s been great until now and I’m sure it will continue to be that way.”

Ainslie, who served as a tactician with the victorious Oracle Team USA at the previous America’s Cup, has assembled a formidable team that Scott feels can fulfil its mission of winning the “Auld Mug” — a feat no British team has managed in 20 attempts.

“It’s a massive bid and I think everyone involved agrees that it’s the best chance that the Brits have had potentially ever to get the cup into home waters,” said Scott, who is also a former European champion in the single handed Finn dinghy.

“We are all super stoked to be a part of it.”

Scott has made a seamless transition to his new surroundings since joining BAR from Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Challenge, who are among the five challengers registered for the 35th America’s Cup.

“Everything is coming along really well and I have worked with a lot of the guys with the Italian team Luna Rossa last time around,” he said.

“I’m only part-time at the moment because I’m doing some Olympic sailing as well. But everything is coming along nicely and everyone is pretty happy with how things are going and super focused on just trying to make sure that we get ourselves in the position of having a super fast boat come race day.”

Scott, who earned a surprise third place with Team Korea at the previous America’s Cup World Series event in San Francisco, is on Island with his BAR team-mates taking part in a training camp.

The team spent several hours flying around in their 20-foot foiling catamarans yesterday in the Great Sound, which is the venue for the America’s Cup in June 2017.

“We had a really good and interesting day on the race area,” Scott said.

“The course is pretty small and it’s going to be a lot of manoeuvres to get down in those big, fast boats, so there’s going to be a lot of turning corners.

“It’s certainly not going to be like San Francisco where the racing was quite predictable. That’s not going to be the case here. It’s going to be a pretty open racetrack with lots of opportunities to make good gains and big losses, so I think [the America’s Cup] is going to be a very exciting time when it comes.”

Scott believes that the wing sail AC62 catamaran, to be used for the America’s Cup Qualifiers, America’s Cup Challenger Play-offs and America’s Cup Match, has the potential to go faster than the AC72 used in the 34th America’s Cup, when Oracle produced an amazing comeback to defend their title.

“Coming from sailing the AC72 [in San Francisco], the boats this time around are going to be far more advanced and hopefully as quick, if not quicker, than the AC72s were,” he said.

“The boats are amazing and there’s some incredibly amazing stuff going on behind the scenes to make sure they are running at their maximum potential.

“The boats are fast and the racing is going to be spectacular for sure, which kind of says a lot considering how much smaller they are going to be. The way the sport is going is awesome.”