America's Cup World Series: Ben Ainslie on top in Oman

Date

2/29/2016 2:09:57 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)

It is often said that adversity brings the best out of some people.

It turned out to be quite so for Ben Ainslie on super Sunday as Almouj Muscat hosted the second and final day's action of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series (ACWS).

British sailing icon Ainslie the most decorated Olympic sailor and his crew on board Land Rover BAR overcame a start-line penalty in the final race to claim the third place.

That result was enough for the team to clinch the top honours in the Oman leg.

Heading into Sunday's three double-points races after a third-first-first showing on Saturday BAR failed to replicate its overnight performance but then it won the big prize the hard way. It rebounded from a disappointing start to finish second in the first race of the day but two penalties for being the wrong side of the start line meant it posted a fourth and third in the next two races.

However the results of other teams went BAR's way and it topped the overall leaderboard with 76 points just two points ahead of defending champion ORACLE TEAM USA and Emirates Team New Zealand the 2013 runner-up with 70. The UK-based team also became the first to take two wins in the 2015-2016 series.

It had won the first leg of the series in Portsmouth UK in July last year. A win and a third-place in the other race on Sunday helped Emirates take the overall third place in Oman - a result that kept it as the overall series leader with 192 points.

However the fight for the second spot has narrowed down between BAR and ORACLE to just one point. ORACLE leads BAR with 186 while SoftBank Team Japan is fourth with 161 ahead on tie-break with Artemis Racing (161).

Ben Ainslie skipper of Land Rover BAR

Groupama Team France which capped the Oman leg with a win is overall sixth with 150.

Fighting spirit

On the final day Ainslie showed his trademark fighting spirit after the four-time Olympic champion's team picked up penalties on two out of three starts and a total of three penalties over two days.

'We would have liked some better starts but we were really pushing it' said Ainslie. 'The guys stayed positive and we worked our way through the fleet and that was enough to give us the overall victory. 'We made a hash of our starts and if we'd lost because of that I'd have felt pretty bad. We are very relieved right now. We've worked really hard on this. We have 100 people working on this team and we're in this together and we can't wait for the next event now.'

For ORACLE the second place result was a fourth consecutive podium finish in the ACWS regatta. But for all that the team has yet to win. 'We've made some good steps forward but we need to get going' Spithill. 'It's good to be on the podium. We're one of only two teams to have been on the podium at each event. But we want to win. There are no two ways about it.'

Emirates skipper Glenn Ashby said 'The last race (fifth-place finish for Emirates) was a little bit disappointing for us. But to come away from any event still holding the overall lead is a good thing. At the end of the day that's what counts.'

The leader at the conclusion of the ACWS will carry two bonus points forward into the Louis Vuitton America's Cup Qualifiers in May 2017 in Bermuda. The second place team earns one bonus point. Also Groupama finished strongly with a second-place finish followed by a victory on Sunday.

With Adam Minoprio replacing the injured Franck Cammas on the helm in Oman the team converted two strong start-line performances into top finishes.

'We were pretty stoked on board. You could see the excitement on the guys' faces' Minoprio said.

'We didn't have the strongest start to the regatta but we're happy to have been improving through the weekend and then finishing with a win.'

Both SoftBank and Artemis fell back in the fleet over the course of the day ending up at the bottom of the table.

The ACWS is a qualification process for the 2017 America's Cup with the next round of racing to be staged in New York in May. The series will also visit Chicago Portsmouth and Toulon with a possibility of a Japan leg as well.

Oman leg standings [after six races]: 1 Land Rover BAR (8 10 10 18 14 16; 76 pts); 2 ORACLE TEAM USA (9 6 9 12 20 18; 74); 3 Emirates Team New Zealand (10 7 5 20 16 12; 70); 4 Groupama Team France (5 8 7 10 18 20; 68); 5 SoftBank Team Japan (6 9 6 16 10 14; 61); 6 Artemis Racing (7 5 8 14 12 10; 56). Series standings [after four legs]: 1 Emirates Team New Zealand (192 pts) 2 ORACLE TEAM USA (186) 3 Land Rover BAR (185) 4 SoftBank Team Japan (161) 5 Artemis Racing (161) 6 Groupama Team France (150).

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Milestone event for Oman: Graham

David Graham

The Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Oman marked the first America's Cup sailing in the Middle East and was a milestone event for the country according to David Graham the CEO of Oman Sail which hosted the big event.

'This was a fantastic weekend for us' said Graham. 'Promoting Oman through the America's Cup broadcast was a fantastic opportunity for us.

'It was also tremendous to see the integration of our youth sailing initiatives with the America's Cup Endeavour Programme (a community sailing project in Bermuda). Perhaps most significant for me was how the Omanis in our team led the charge and delivered a fantastic event.

'The feedback from our guests our partners and all the visitors who came to enjoy the World Series in Oman has been extremely positive.'

Later Sheikh Al Fadhil bin Mohammed al Harthy the secretary-general of the Council of Ministers and H E Maitha al Mahrouqi chairperson of Oman Sail presented the awards.

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