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Ben Bounces Back
25th January 2008
Brit Ben Ainslie bounces back with style
in race four, after a starting-line infringement, but then bounced back
with a convincing win in race five to close on series leader Dan Slater
(New Zealand), at the Finn Gold Cup on Port Phillip today.
Slater, too, had mixed fortunes. After a handy third in race four he
finished 16th in race five; being buried under a pack within the 82-boat
fleet and pushed him to the unfavoured left-hand side on the first
windward beat.
With worst placing discarded and four races remaining Slater, who began
the series brilliantly with two wins on the first day, leads the series
by ten points from Ainslie and Aimilios Papathanasiou (Greece) who are
on equal points.
They are followed by Chris Cook (Canada) who won race four, Jonas
Christensen (Denmark), Pieter Jan Postma (Netherlands), Peer Moberg
(Norway), Ed Wright (Great Britain) and Australian Anthony Nossiter, who
is in ninth place after placing 21st and ninth today.
Ainslie in race four, tried to follow Slater who tacked onto port
quickly after the start to cross quickly through a gap in the
right-of-way starboard tackers into clear air.
But a starboard tack competitor just closed that door on Ainslie, who
had to perform a 720-degree penalty turn that left him well back in the
fleet; rounding the first mark 23rd with few opportunities to recover
in the 7-9 knot southeasterly breeze.
Ainslie ashore was philosophical: Thats life. In those conditions
everyone is pretty much going the same speed, nobody can afford to make
mistakes like that so it was a disappointing one but the good thing was
I came back well in the second race.
I needed it big time after the first race. All you can do after a race
like the first race is try not to get too down and keep plugging away.
You don�t suddenly become a bad sailor from one mistake; it just
happens.
Everyone is finding it hard. Dan is sailing consistently well at the
moment and so is Aimilios.
Slater led around the first mark of race four from Chris Cook (Canada),
Zach Railey (USA) and Ed Wright (Great Britain). However the umpires
penalised Slater under Rule 42 for undue kinetics on the run. Performing
the 720-degree penalty turns left him in fourth place.
That left Cook leading from Railey, Wright and Slater. The places
remained unchanged until the run to the finish when Slater, always fast
downwind, slid past Wright just before the finish.
Ainslie won race five, sailed in slightly stronger SSE breeze, which
never exceeded 10 knots. Fifth around the first mark, behind Pieter Jan
Postma (Netherlands), Nossiter, Mark Andrews (Great Britain) and Cook,
Ainslie showed his superb downwind technique to slide into second place
on the first run.
He took a handy lead on the second beat and gained again on the run to
win by more than a minute from Cook with Gasper Vinec (Slovenia) third,
Papathanosiou fourth and Guillaume Florent (France) sixth.
Ainslie said: In the second race I finally got some space on my own,
finally played the right side of the bloody course, said Ainslie.
On the run I made quite a lot of ground. If you get a little puff a
couple of knots more you are able to catch a few waves, it makes such a
difference and I was able to do that and slide away.
By Bob Ross