America's Cup - LandRover BAR off to a solid start on Practice Day

by LandRover BAR on 11 Jun 2016 The third event of the 2016 Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series (ACWS) began with practice day in Chicago. Sailing off Navy Pier, the teams completed both fleet races and match races today in some fabulous conditions with lots of high speed foiling.

For many of the Midwest audience – seeing this adrenaline fuelled racing for the first time – the highlight was a spectacular capsize by Emirates Team New Zealand in their match race with Oracle Team USA.

Racing off Navy Pier right on Chicago's waterfront, all the action was easily viewed from the city, and the crowds got a real taste of what's ahead in the opening points races tomorrow. Land Rover BAR had a solid warm up, winning their match race against Groupama Team France.

All the action - in the UK and Ireland - can be watched live on BT Sport, with Saturday's racing beginning at 19:00 on BT Sport 2; then Sunday's racing is live on BT Sport 1 beginning at 18:30. Both channels will run replays of the racing throughout the weekend.

Thoughts from the team

Ben Ainslie, Skipper and Team Principal: 'It was a really great day. It was fantastic conditions, pretty shifty winds but with the flat water and the strong, gusty winds it made for great racing with the boats foiling around and lots of place changing. It was a really physical challenge for the whole team and a great warm-up for the competition tomorrow.'

Ed Powys, Bow: 'It was a tricky day with the breeze coming off the land and fighting the lake breeze which made it quite shifty. Generally, we felt like we sailed well. There was a lot of place changing in the fleet but we probably just missed a few shifts at the top of the beats and we didn't quite get them right. It cost us a little bit, so we're going to work on that for tomorrow and try to take the last gain into the mark. Hopefully we can close out the solid positions we held in each race.'

Rob Wilson, Coach: 'The course is looking great, it's very flat water, we are protected from the breakwater and the forecast is looking very good for the Sunday as the wind will be coming straight off the lake. And then today and on Saturday we have a south-westerly. That means it will be coming off the shore, but to the south of the city, so it will be shifty. It's the first time sailing these boats on freshwater, and the salinity can make a bit of a difference. But it's going to be a minor change so we have just got to get used to that and see what the differences are. There might be some slight tweaks to the boat handling.'

Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Leader board after five events:

1. Emirates Team New Zealand 244
2. ORACLE TEAM USA 236
3. Land Rover BAR 227
4. SoftBank Team Japan 203
5. Artemis Racing 201
6. Groupama Team France 194

Land Rover BAR Chicago line up:

Ben Ainslie - Skipper and Team Principal
Paul Campbell-James - Wing Trimmer
David 'Freddie' Carr - Runner
Nick Hutton - Trimmer
Ed Powys - Bow
Andrew McLean – Runner/ Bow
Jono Macbeth - Sailing Team Manager
Jo Lees - Boat Captain
Ian Pattison - Shore support
James Chapman – Rib driver and Shore support
Ian Boag - Shore support
Ben Williams - Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach / Safety support
Rob Wilson - Coach
Luc du Bois - Performance Analysis