Ainslie’s tactical brain will hard beaten here.
Ainslie is in the zone. “Work your asses off.”
This is the biggest choke in New Zealand sporting history. A disaster for the land of the long white cloud and for Emirates Airlines.
Ainslie must be the greatest sailor since Sir Walter Raleigh or Sir Francis Drake or Captain Cook.
1 Like
Dean Barker may well throw himself off the Golden Gate Bridge this evening. 8-1 up. And he’s still, somehow, had the Auld Mug taken away from his grasp.
Russell Coutts will surely never be allowed set foot on his native land again. This is the biggest act of sporting treachery since Eamonn Cregan led Offaly to victory over his native county in 1994.
USA USA USA-GBR
[quote=“Sidney, post: 799947, member: 183”]Could one of the mods lock this thread, please?
I’ve badly misjudged interest in this one, and, to be honest, I don’t actually give a shit myself.[/quote]
What a ridiculous post.
Delighted for Larry Ellison. One of sport’s good guys.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie is to hold talks within ‘a matter of weeks’ over the possibility of a British entry into the America’s Cup.
Ainslie was the strategist for Oracle Team USA as they remarkably recovered from 8-1 down to beat Team New Zealand 9-8 and win this year’s event in San Francisco Bay.
He spoke in the aftermath about his wish to repeat his victory with a British team but emphasised on Sunday that there is no time to waste if he is to make that dream a reality.
It’s a matter of weeks, literally,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.
'I’m heading back to the UK on Monday, I’ve got some key meetings with some of these people and we’ll talk pretty honestly about whether we think it’s realistic to get a campaign together.
‘None of us want to do it unless we’ve got a good shot of winning it. Otherwise, we’re just wasting everyone’s time.’
There has not been a British victory in the competition’s 162-year history and 36-year-old Ainslie acknowledges investment is needed if he is to help change that.
‘It’s the cost of securing the talent,’ he said.
‘It’s a relatively small world, the America’s Cup world, and there are probably four or five guys out there who can design a winning boat. If you don’t have one of those guys then realistically, you are probably not going to win, and obviously the key sailors as well.’
Ainslie was involved along with millionaire entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills in a prospective British entry for this year’s event.
Mills, though, pulled his funding out of the project over safety concerns - which were sadly borne out by the death of Ainslie’s fellow British Olympian Andrew Simpson after Sweden’s Artemis Racing Team, of which he was a part, capsized during training.
‘He proved to be right, the boats are dangerous,’ said Ainslie. ‘Tragically we saw that with the loss of Andrew Simpson, which was just the most terrible time for all of us involved. The whole sailing world was rocked by that.’
It was suggested to Ainslie that any prospective British boat in the competition could be named ‘Bart’ - Simpson’s nickname, after the cartoon character - and he said: 'That wouldn’t be a bad start, would it?
‘We (Team USA) thought that maybe Bart was looking down on us the other day, we were 8-1 down and we needed a bit of inspiration and I’m sure he played his part.’
Sir Ben Ainslie’s boat finished second in Saturday’s two races in the America’s Cup World Series in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Land Rover BAR team finished runner-up to America’s Cup holders Oracle Team USA in both races.
They had looked set to finish third in the second race but overhauled Emirates Team NZ late on to earn vital race points.
Sunday’s schedule will see a further two races with double points available.
Ainslie’s team won the opening leg of the series in the Solent last month.
This weekend’s racing is part of a lengthy qualification process that will count towards the 2017 America’s Cup Challenger Series, the winner of which will take on Oracle in the 2017 America’s Cup.
Proceedings getting underway in earnest again this afternoon at the Southsea Common, Portsmouth in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Race. Terrific to see the Duke of Edinburgh on hand in his official capacity as Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron to launch a great weekend of sailing. All eyes now on Sir Ben Ainslee and Land Rover BAR in their quest to become the first British team to challenge for the America’s Cup since 1964.
Proceedings underway in Bermuda. A terrific couple of weeks of sailing in store.
Incredible scenes in Bermuda.
1 Like
I hear the course is laid out in the shape of a triangle?
Those sharp turns can easily capsize a boat.
Yes, I believe it’s quite a tricky course. Any update on the state of the Team New Zealand boat?
BBC 2 now - the final is underway and it’s a re-match of that epic 2013 shoot-out between Oracle and Team New Zealand.
But I have to say, I used to prefer it when they used boats in this competition.
1 Like
What a statement of intent from Team New Zealand. Peter Burling really is officer class.
He’s fully justified the decision of Emirates Team New Zealand to sack Dean Barker.
Burling won Rio Olympic gold in the 49er class and he’s destroying the team from San Francisco. The Golden Gate Yacht Club are staring down the barrel of a humiliating whitewash.
1 Like