BEN AINSLIE WINS PORTSMOUTH LEG – AMERICA’S WORLD CUP SERIES

It was another exciting summer in Portsmouth when the America’s World Cup Series took over our city for a weekend in July and for once the weather was perfect for the three day event.

Tens of thousands of fans swamped  Southsea beach to watch Sir Ben Ainslie race on the solent, day one was practice day and the winds were light and the boats were not flying through the water as we had hoped they would, but this did not put off  Sir Ben and his team, they won one of their races and placed in the other’s, this was a sign of things too come for the next two days of actual racing.

We were all treated to a fantastic air display from the Red Arrows and this for me was one of the highlights of the day as i had never seen the Red Arrows fly before.

Saturday bought the crowds in and it was the first day of proper racing but the wind had not picked up enough for the boats to fly, in fact it was almost a repeat of the previous day, now winning meant points towards getting closer for bring the cup home and Land Rover B.A.R won two out of the three race that took place that day and the crowd went home knowing that Sunday was a double point day which meant that Sir Ben Ainslie and the Land Rover team had a great chance of leap frogging Oracle Team USA.

The day of racing arrived and the crowds seemed to have doubled in size which is no surprise because it looked like everyone in Portsmouth had got the sailing bug.

The weather conditions were almost perfect for racing, the wind had increased and there was a buzz going around that if Land Rover B.A.R could hold out they would certainly gain the overall lead.

Sir Ben Ainslie and his team did not disappoint by winning one race and coming second in the other meant Land Rover B.A.R had in fact won the regatta in Portsmouth and finished one point ahead of Oracle Team USA

which does give them overall lead into the next race which will be held in France before going to Sweden and then on to Japan in November.

The final will be held in Bermuda in 2017.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended Sundays event and were guests of Land Rover B.A.R who took them out in the boat too watch the racing on the solent, and afterwards they presented the  medals to first second and third placed teams.

Sir Ben Ainslie praised the crowd for their support and will try to bring the cup home to Portsmouth, which is where it belongs.