If you totally mess up two out of six starts, go onto the course with penalties twice and then still win the regatta, you can be satisfied. That was the case for Sir Ben Ainslie and his British team Land Rover BAR at the season opener of the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) in Oman. The Brits had opened the two-day regatta, which is tailored to TV formats, with a lightning start on Saturday (two wins, one third place, YACHT online reported) before making life harder than necessary for themselves with weak starts on today's double scored "Super Sunday". But not even the two penalties could stop Ainslie's quintet on their way to winning the regatta. Second, fourth and third place were enough for Land Rover BAR to take overall victory on Sunday, although this was jeopardised several times. In the final races five and six, the European Cup hopefuls from England had to start furious catch-up races from last position after the start. The Brits once again impressed with their outstanding positioning in the two- and three-way battles.
"The pressure was high today, but we got everything out of it," said Ainslie, summarising the event from his point of view. In the battle for overall victory, he received a helping hand in the final sprint from the French, who overtook Cup defenders Oracle Team USA in the final race on the way to the finish and dashed American hopes of an overall victory that had come within touching distance. It was the French team's first acclaimed race win in the world series. At the helm was New Zealand match race world champion Adam Minoprio, who stood in well for skipper Franck Cammas, who was recovering from a serious foot injury and whose performance curve was on the rise. Second and third place before Muscat went to Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand with high-flyer Peter Burling at the helm. Although the multiple world champion and 2015 World Sailor of the Year was able to shine in Oman, he also suffered some setbacks. Due to unfortunate positioning on the course, his team dropped from third to sixth place in the final race and was ultimately only able to cross the finish line in fifth position.
The findings of this fourth ACWS regatta are primarily limited to sporting team performances, as the souped-up AC 45s training catamarans are only used in the World Series, but not in the challenger round and the 35th America's Cup 2017 duel. The lessons learnt from the summit meeting off Muscat: Ben Ainslie and Team Land Rover BAR remain the European force to be reckoned with for the Cup defenders. Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA have not forgotten how to win, but are not invulnerable in terms of sailing either - see their defeat in the final sprint against the French. In Peter Burling, Emirates Team New Zealand has a 25-year-old talent of the century at the helm, but he has not yet achieved the aura of invincibility in competition with the greats of the sport that he earned in the 49er six months before the Olympic regatta.
The performance of the Swedish team Artemis almost elicited a little sympathy. The Scandinavians, with sporting director and Ainslie mate Iain Percy and skipper Nathan Outteridge (2012 Olympic champion in the 49er and Peter Burling's opponent in Rio 2016), just couldn't get going. The low point on the final day was a mishap during a barrel rounding, when a line got caught in the anchorage of the buoy and an Artemis sailor had to jump into the water to free the catamaran. This also thwarted a decent placing in the final race. In the end, Team Artemis in Oman only managed sixth and last place in the classification behind Groupama Team France (4th), who were getting off to a better start, and SoftBank Team Japan with skipper Dean Barker, who sailed strongly at times but repeatedly stumbled over their own unnecessary handling errors.
In the overall ACWS standings, Emirates Team New Zealand (192 points) leads ahead of Oracle Team USA (186 points) and Ben Ainslie's Team Land Rover BAR (185 points) ahead of the fifth regatta off New York (6 to 8 May). Tied on points in fourth place are SoftBank Team Japan and Artemis Racing (both 161 points) ahead of Groupama Team France (150 points). For the five challenger teams, the ACWS is all about optimising their positioning for the 2017 Louis Vuitton Challenger Series, the winner of which can challenge Cup defender Oracle Team USA in the 35th America's Cup duel off Bermuda.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
