Ben Ainslie wins Allianz Cup - beats Alinghi!

by Allianz Cup media on 30 Oct 2006 Ben Ainslie of Emirates Team New Zealand became the fifth first-time winner on the World Tour this season when he defeated Ed Baird of Alinghi in the final of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle.

Ainslie won the five-race series 3-1, winning three straight after dropping the first.

Facing a 2-1 deficit, Baird got a late hook on Ainslie in the pre-start of Flight 4, but then let Ainslie off the hook. Ainslie tacked to port and Baird tried to follow but lost his boatspeed and nearly got stuck in irons. That allowed Ainslie to separate towards the race committee boat, tack to starboard and take a one and a half boatlength lead onto the racecourse. Ainslie covered relentlessly throughout the match for the series win.

Despite the loss, Baird moved into second place on the world championship leaderboard. His second place finish added 20 points to his scoreline and gives him 40 points total, 7 behind leader Ian Williams who placed 4th at the Allianz Cup. Paolo Cian and Jesper Bank are tied for third with 35 points. Ainslie slots in as 9th on the leaderboard with 25 points.

The blow by blow updates from www.allianzcup.com follow:

Update: 3:40 - A 45 second delta at the top mark, Ainslie now just 200 meters from the finish.

Update 3:36 - Ainslie has what appears to be an insurmountable lead over Ed Baird. They've rounded the bottom mark.

Update 3:25 - Fourth match started, Ainslie starts with a big advantage.

Update 3:15 - Ben Ainslie wins third match, is now on match point 2-1 over Ed Baird.


Update 3:02 - In the third flight Ainslie has a 14 second lead at the first top mark but Baird is closing.

Update: 2:44 - Ben Ainslie wins the second match, the finals are now 1-1.

Update 2:36 - Second flight between Baird and Ainslie underway, Ainslie has taken a substantial lead. The delta between the boats is 41 seconds!

Update: 2:11 - Jesper Bank takes third place with two wins over Ian Williams. First match of the finals has just ended with Ed Baird beating Ben Ainslie by a large margin.

Update: 1:30 PM - Petite Finals underway, Jesper Bank has won the first match, second about to start. First to win two takes third place.

The Final of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle pits a veteran match racer against a naturally gifted sailor.

Racing today is being broadcast live on the Internet, beginning around 1030 hours. Click on the TV box in the left-hand margin of this page or on this link: http://player.narrowstep.tv/default.aspx?player=sailtv&&void=30103.

Ed Baird is the only skipper who has finished in the Championship 8 every Tour season. Ben Ainslie is a triple Olympic medalist and four-time Finn Gold Cup champion. Entering the final, we questioned the tacticians for each skipper on their plans for winning.

'I think both crews have similar styles,' said Terry Hutchinson, tactician for Ainslie. 'We both sail a loose style, we’re not afraid to split from the competition. Ed’s style is very smooth. Ben’s probably a bit more aggressive in the pre-start by nature. He’s been doing a great job in the starts this week. I’ve been beating on him all week not to lose it in the pre-start.'

'I think they’ll be fast,' said Mike Drummond, tactician for Baird. 'Ben (Ainslie), Tony (Rae) and James (Dagg) are good in boats like this. Their crew work is good, and Terry (Hutchinson) is very good at reading the wind. Ed adjusts his game as the circumstances require. He’s been there and done that. For us it’ll be a question of keeping up and executing properly. We feel we’re fast and hope we see the wind as good as them.'