Sir Ben Ainslie is entering a “critical period” in his attempt to launch a British challenge for the America’s Cup.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist helped Oracle Team USA recover from a seemingly impossible 8-1 deficit to win international sport’s oldest trophy in September.

Now though, having triumphed in San Francisco, Ainslie has set his sights on bringing the cup home to the UK, where the competition began in 1851.

Having launched his own team, Ben Ainslie Racing, in January 2012, the 36-year-old is looking for funding to help mount his own challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.

“It is a tough challenge to raise that sort of money in a short period of time,” Ainslie said.

“We really need to know we can move forwards as a strong campaign to attract the right sailors, the right designers.

“That is probably in some way the most critical time of the whole campaign, certainly the biggest decisions you’ll make in terms of hiring the key personnel.

“As we go through the coming weeks and months, it is a very critical period.

“In the America’s Cup there was British talent throughout the team, on the water and off the water.

“We’ve got some fantastic sailors, some great designers and if we can bring that together, I think we can have a very credible team.

“I don’t think any of us want to move forward without the right people, the right funding as we want to have a really good shot at being successful.

“Hopefully we can do that and maybe even bring the America’s Cup back to where it all started.”

Ainslie’s involvement in the America’s Cup and a successful London 2012 has helped take sailing to a new level in Great Britain, but Olympic chief Stephen Park last month warned that without private funding the well of talent could dry up.

The Royal Yachting Association has lost key sponsors like Skandia and G4S in the wake of London 2012 and Park has warned more support is needed if world-class British sailors are to continue getting churned out - sentiments Ainslie echoed.

“I think it is vital because the danger is that there is an assumption that British Olympic sports are very successful, are well funded so commercial backers or any other potential sponsors don’t really feel necessarily they need to get involved,” he said.

“Of course the funding is very tight across the board, across all the sports at the highest level. Both the team and the individual sports need the commercial funding.

“There is a very fine balance there between the team sponsors and the individual sponsors. The talent need gets the support to be there at the end of the day.

“I think there is a lot a goodwill out there for the team after 2012 - it was amazing home performance and now we are looking to 2016.

“Everybody wants to see the team be as successful if not more successful, so I am confident support will come.”