Following the departure of sailing director Mike Sanderson from TeamOrigin last week, the British America’s Cup team were keen to start afresh and nail some good results on the scoreboard in the opening matches of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Series in La Maddalena, Sardina.

It didn’t happen.

A disappointing first race saw the Brits loose a decent 14 second lead in their match against the French team Aleph, before a disastrous gybe saw the Brits kite in a classic hour glass twist. Aleph were then able to take a five boat length lead that they never gave back.

“It was pretty frustrating, we were in a nice little spot,” said Ainslie. “But one of those classics: one little mistake which led to a couple more mistakes which led to a race-losing mistake. We had an issue with the spinnaker sheets being led outside when – with it being very light – they should have been led inside. It was a mistake of how it was set up.”

In the second race, fouling a fish pot with 1min 40 sec to go to the start saw Ainslie and Co. enter this match on the back foot and trailing their opponents Artemis from the outset. By the finish Artemis crossed the line 46 seconds ahead.

Meanwhile, Two of the newer teams lead the field with 2-0 records at this early stage. Skipper Gavin Brady (NZL) and his Mascalzone Latino Audi Team have beaten Azzurra and TeamOrigin while skipper Bertrand Pace (FRA) and Aleph also has beaten TeamOrigin along with BMW Oracle Racing.

Yet to race is Emirates Team New Zealand, who won the last Louis Vuitton Trophy event in Auckland, NZL. Commenting on their chances, skipper Dean Barker was cautious. “La Maddalena is an interesting venue. Race courses will be laid inside a number of islands so we are expecting conditions to be tricky. We will be racing in two Mascalzone Latino and two BMW Oracle Racing boats. The challenge for us is to discover in a short space of time just what makes these boats go . . . and what they don’t like.”

WATCH RACING LIVE – FREE ONLINE COVERAGE

Racing is scheduled to start each day with a warning signal at 10:00 local time (GMT+2). Racing concludes June 6th. Complete coverage, including live streaming Virtual Eye tracking of each race of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena is available at:
 
www.louisvuittontrophy.com

CURRENT STANDINGS

Provisional win-loss leaderboard after Flight Five:
  1.  ALEPH Sailing Team, 2-0, 2 pts
=1.  Mascalzone Latino Audi Team, 2-0, 2 pts
=3.  All4One, 1-0, 1 pt
=3.  Artemis, 1-0, 1 pt
=5.  Emirates Team New Zealand, 0-0, 0 pts
=5.  Synergy Russian Sailing Team, 0-0, 0 pts
=7.  BMW Oracle Racing Team, 0-1, 0 pts
=7.  Luna Rossa, 0-1, 0 pts
=9.  Azzurra, 0-2, 0 pts
=9.  TEAMORIGIN, 0-2, 0 pts

MONDAY’S MATCHES
Flight 7
Match 1 – TEAMORIGIN vs BMW ORACLE racing
Match 2 – Synergy vs ALL4ONE
Flight 8
Match 1 – Azzurra vs Luna Rossa
Match 2 – Artemis vs Aleph
Flight 9
Match 1 – ALL4ONE vs Mascalzone Latino
Match 2 – TEAMORIGIN vs Emirates Team New Zealand