America's Cup World Series - Big win for Big Ben in Portsmouth
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 24 Jul 2016
A fairy tale ending - the Duchess and the Knight. Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth 2016. Guy Nowell
http://www.guynowell.com
You’ve heard the news – for British sailing fans it was a big day in Portsmouth at the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series as Sir Ben Ainslie and Team Land Rover BAR scored a bullet and two second places against Team Oracle USA’s second and two firsts to take the ‘regatta’ and climb to the top of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series' leaderboard overall.
For that kind of performance you get a Royal handshake, a big yellow spot, personalised LV handbags and the adulation of the home crowd.
It was a grey and blustery day out on the Solent, with just the right amount of breeze to get the fast cats out of the water and up on their foils. Sitting in a camera boat just beyond the first turning mark, and watching the six-boat fleet coming straight at the lens is a sobering experience – no, Matilda, you really don’t want to get in the way of one of these brutes. And the noise – they never tell you about the noise. A high octane hum somewhere between a growl and a screech as they tear past, horsepower on steroids, and a chorus of “what the hell was that?” from the assembled press.
The next LVACWS will be in Toulon, next month. Land Rover BAR are sitting just one point ahead of Oracle Team USA on the Overall (367 points plays 36) and Emirates Team New Zealand in third on 357.
We still think that a six-race regatta over two days is a bit on the short side, especially given the number of LVACWS events that have lost a day due to either too much or insufficient wind. But the commercial sponsors tell us that they like it short and sharp, and the great god TeeVee has a very abbreviated attention span, so there it is.
Standing by on 72.
[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/146734
