Louis Vuitton America's Cup series - Ainslie impresses in Portsmouth

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World team on 25 Jul 2015 Rainstorms did not stop the official practice races today in Portsmouth. It was typical British weather, rain, wind and cold. Mid-afternoon it’s seemed more like Poursmouth.

Two practice races were held in shifty, gusty and then light conditions.

The wind dropped just before the start of Race One and Sir Ben Ainslie and his LandRover BAR team were the only ones to plug in their Code Zero.

Much to the delight of the British spectators Land Rover BAR led up the first leg, foiling consistently while others were having trouble, they were followed by Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand.

By the second lap the Brits had a comfortable lead over Team Oracle USA. They took the gun ahead of Oracle Team USA, third was Emirates Team New Zealand, fourth Artemis Racing, fifth Groupama Team France and sixth Softbank Team Japan.

In the second practice ace, Oracle Team USA and Groupama Cammas were over the line early.

This time everyone had code zeros up in the light wind, flattened by the rain and there was no foiling action. Land Rover BAR had lead at the first mark and Groupama Cammas in second place.

Land Rover BAR tacked on top of Soft Bank Team Japan who had earlier hit the lead but a big right shift turned the last leg into a reach and that gifted Emirates Team New Zealand the lead with Artemis second and Land Rover BAR third.

Skipper Ben Ainslie on the racing: 'It was good out there today, quite tricky because there was a lot of rain, and it makes life a little bit harder, and with the wind light it was testing for all the teams.

We had a nice start in both races and we were leading. The first we made a good sail choice and the second we had a nice lead, but there were some interesting things going on with the course boundaries and we got a bit caught out with that on the second lap do but overall really happy with the day. It was great to try some different conditions - we are really looking forward to starting for real tomorrow.'

As heavy rain and predicted lightening were forecast for this evening event organisers cancelled the outdoor concert.

A strong frontal system will move thru the Solent on Saturday morning with gusts of up to 40 knots but winds should easy in time for the Saturday afternoon start at 1330 local time (UTC+ 1)

There could be winds in excess of 25 knots on Sunday which is the notional class upper wind limit. It will be interesting to see how race director Iain Murray handles the situation given the significant commercial pressure of this high profile event.