After a delayed start waiting for the wind to fill in, racing finally got underway inside the harbour in a light and patchy breeze. After a good start Ainslie rounded the windward mark twelfth and worked his way up into second place by the next mark and finally into the lead. In the fickle conditions in the harbour it was important to protect his position over his nearest rivals, Mateusz Kuszneirewicz of Poland and David Burrows of Ireland, and although he slipped to third, the safety game had worked with both Burrows and Mateusz finishing tenth and fourteenth respectively.

Ainslie commented, `I got a good start but had to play the percentages up the middle of the course with Mateusz [Kuszneirewicz] instead of going the way I thought I should go. By the second beat I was leading and in a good position to win the race but the right hand side of the course looked light and in training before the event we learnt that it was not a place to stay, so I stayed with the fleet and played it safe.

Tomorrow I will be mainly looking out to see where David [Burrows] and Mateusz [Kuszneirewicz] go and I will have to stick with them as the harbour can be very fluky and anything can happen - I haven't won it yet!`

As the wind dropped off altogether the race committee decided to call it a day and sent the 54 boat fleet to the shore.

Tomorrow is the final day of racing although at this time it is unknown whether they will try to complete the full series and sail a further two races or if only one race will be sailed. If the latter is the case Ainslie has won the championship with a race to spare.

Source: Sacha Oswald - RYA