FILE PHOTO: Sailing - America's Cup - Louis Vuitton Cup - Final - Britain v Italy - Barcelona, Spain - September 26, 2024 INEOS Britannia In action during the race against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo
BARCELONA (Reuters) - Dylan Fletcher is used to winning by the slimmest of margins.
Now the sailor who secured Britain's first Olympic gold in the men's skiff with a crucial win by centimetres in the 2021 medal race finds himself within one point of clinching his country's first tilt at the America's Cup for 60 years.
Fletcher is on board Britain's high-tech AC75, which 'flies' above the waves on hydrofoils, thanks to a last minute call-up from Ben Ainslie to replace Giles Scott as his co-helm.
That change only came about through the 36-year-old's dogged pursuit of a place on the team. Fletcher admits he "pestered" Ainslie every month from the moment he won his Olympic gold.
Ainslie's choice has paid off so far, with the duo successfully navigating the preliminary rounds to reach the Louis Vuitton Cup, the winner of which gets to challenge defenders New Zealand for the America's Cup later in October.
"I'm certainly learning how to sail the Cup boat and it's my first Cup so it certainly feels as though that's making a difference, getting more experienced," Fletcher said after back-to-back wins in challenging conditions on Wednesday gave Britain a 6-4 lead over Italy in a closely-fought first-to-seven series.
If Britain wrap it up with a win it would thrust Fletcher into the head-to-head challenge to wrest the 'Auld Mug', the most coveted trophy in sailing, from New Zealand's grip.
Ainslie is confident Fletcher has what it takes to fulfil both sailors' dreams of winning the America's Cup for Britain for the first time since it began in 1851.
"Part of the reason for having him on the boat is that coming from a double-handed sailing background, his communications skills are really good in terms of how we co-helm ... and make very complex tactical decisions," Ainslie told Reuters of putting his faith in Fletcher.
"Sometimes one of us has to make a decision and it might be a split-second decision, you haven't got time to have a chat about it, so there's a huge amount of trust involved by both of us," Ainslie said of how their relationship has evolved.
Fletcher said after taking the series lead that it had been "pretty intense" so far, admitting he was looking forward to a "little break" before locking horns with the Italians again.
If Britain do make it through to challenge the Kiwis, it will pit Fletcher against the New Zealand duo of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who he and his crew Stuart Bithell seized gold from at the Tokyo Games.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ken Ferris)
