[7] Ben's elder sister, Fleur, is married to Jerome Pels, former secretary general of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

[11] He was selected on 11 August 2012 to carry the flag for the Great Britain team at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.

[12] At the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships he was in a winning position going into the closing stages of the regatta but was disqualified under rule 69 (gross misconduct) for physically threatening a photographer.

Again based out of the Portsmouth HQ the team built two new 75-foot foiling monohull yachts to compete for the 36th Americas Cup set which took place in Auckland, New Zealand in 2021.

The Prada Cup Finals were held in predominantly light wind (8-14 knots), with Luna Rossa showing great improvement in boat handling, winning the first 5 races consecutively.

On 17 March 2021, following Emirates Team New Zealand's defence of their title (their seventh win overall), the Chairman of Royal Yacht Squadron Racing, Bertie Bicket, issued a pre-arranged, "friendly" challenge to the Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Aaron Young.

[21][22] This made Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd and their re-named sailing team INEOS Britannia the Challenger of Record for the 37th Louis Vuitton America's Cup.

[26][27] This is the first time the UK has challenged the America's Cup since 1964 when Tony Boyden's sovereign (representing the Royal Thames Yacht Club) lost 4-0 to Eric Ridder's Constellation.

Eventually losing the series 7-2, INEOS Britannia became the first UK challenger to score in an America's Cup match since 1934 when Sir Thomas Sopwith's Endeavor (representing the Royal Yacht Squadron) lost 4-2 to Harold S. Vanderbilt's Rainbow.

On 23rd January 2025 it was announced that Ben Ainslie had split from INEOS Brittania and that consequently he would be contesting the 38th America's Cup as the Challenger of Record with his Athena Pathway team.

In January 2014, it was announced that Ainslie would compete in the 2014 Extreme Sailing Series as part of his preparation for the America's Cup.

[7] In August 2014, Ainslie was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.