PORTSMOUTH RECAP - SAILING FOR THE MASSES!

I think this ACWS Portsmouth will go into the books as an all-around style regatta – it has had a little bit of everything. A bit of light air, medium air and then some breeze- on yesterday. I wouldn’t say that we got to ‘heavy air’ per se yesterday but certainly we got into a good fun foiling day. And you know what, the best team won with the second best team coming in second. Its not actually often that you can say that in a regatta format like this but there is no doubt Land Rover BAR looked smooth. They get themselves out of jams when things weren’t going their way or they had a not-so–perfect start and they just didn’t make mistakes… Jimmy Spithill will be kicking himself for one race on Saturday which was held in quite light air and they made a series of mistakes at the bottom gate that turned into a 6th place, they are going to look back on that race and think what could have been. But also, what is it going to take to win one of these regattas? Its not that they aren’t trying but they just aren’t converting to wins.

Britain and specifically Portsmouth came out for this event, there were literally tens of thousands of people there, the grandstands were packed, the waterfront full and you could hear the cheers when Land Rover BAR did something well, went into the lead or won! This was crowd noise and cheering in a condensed space that made stadium sailing real. It was impressive. The roar of the crowd was really something else – you did have to stop and remind yourself that we were at a sailing regatta not a hockey or football game. It was really fun.

There were a few other notable things from this regatta – Groupama showed incredibly improved form in the light air but as soon as it went to foiling with a bit more breeze on they weren’t to be seen. They are the dark horses and certainly have potential but not up to the consistency and pace of the other top teams at the moment.

Artemis and Emirates Team New Zealand were being steered by people who have never steered a foiling catamaran in a regatta like this before – their number one helmsmen are on Olympic ‘duty’ so their tactics were a bit different. Emirates Team New Zealand tried to cling to a podium position in order to keep their overall series lead and got nipped in the end at this regatta. They have never not been in first since the start of this years ACWS so it is not a natural place or feeling for them. Glenn Ashby said many times during this event (as he was lowering expectations) that they were here to ‘survive it’ and in a way they did but they lost a full 20 points to Land Rover BAR and Oracle which is a fair chunk of points. So they are still on the podium for the overall series but with two (or maybe three) regattas to go, its a shame for those guys to lose quite so much.

With regards to Artemis, Francesco Bruni is an amazing sailor, one of the best in the world but he was thrown into the hot seat. At least Glenn Ashby, as the Olympian replacement, has been sailing on the boat nonstop for three years and is quite possibly the most heralded multihull sailor in the world. I’d say officially there is no better stand in than that right there! But for Artemis, Francesco sailed these boats when they are non foiling in the lead up to the last AC and of course, he was then Prada’s tactician, but he is new back into the game with these foiling machines so its not really a shock that they found it harder going.

Oracle must be just really, really annoyed now. Listening to Jimmy’s interview at the end of the regatta he was putting a good spin on it and they didn’t do badly, don’t get me wrong. But they didn’t win and I have sailed with, and against, Jimmy enough to know that he wants to win. He will be downright angry. It will be interested to see the rebound into France. They are just sick of coming second or third so they need to find that extra gear somehow.

But from a sporting perspective it was great to see the home team win, it just lifts an event and it certainly was the icing on the cake for Portsmouth. The energy, enthusiasm and wild scenes on the waterfront were expanded dramatically as the home town hero won again. There was a great vibe that couldn’t be matched if any other team won.

And as a final moment, the royals were out on the water yesterday which was great. Anytime the royals show up at a regatta, sailing is doing something right! It is exposure that is amazing for the sport. It was a awesome to see. And also the Duke of Edinburgh was out on the water on Saturday – at 90, he looked in his element! William and Kate looked very comfortable out there yesterday and there is no doubt it was pretty bouncy! Anyone with a slightly weaker constitution might have not enjoyed the experience so much but they were in the right boat in the chase boat with Land Rover BAR, the winning team in their home port.

Its an exciting and interesting time in the history of the Americas Cup and Im looking forward to seeing what happens next.