High winds cut short America’s Cup World Series

Portsmouth, UK (July 26, 2015) – Extreme winds of over 40 knots forced the cancellation of racing at the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth on Sunday. With no racing to close out the weekend, the results from Saturday stand, meaning Land Rover BAR is the winner of the first event of the 35th America’s Cup cycle.

“We’re absolutely delighted to win the first Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event here in Portsmouth. This is a great start for us in our America’s Cup journey,” said Ben Ainslie, skipper of Land Rover BAR.

Ainslie and his team of wing trimmer Paul Campbell-James, runner David ‘Freddie’ Carr, trimmer Nick Hutton and bow/tactician Giles Scot were congratulated on their win at the official prize giving by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who were on site all day on Sunday and met with all of the teams, presenting the awards for the regatta.

“With the conditions that we saw yesterday and the standard these teams are sailing at, it’s absolutely amazing racing and looks wonderful on TV,” Ainslie reported. “In my sailing career, I’ve never seen anything like it – the amount of people who came out on the water, on the shoreline, supporting the event, supporting us as the home team.”

Finishing second, Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby agreed that racing today would have been a mistake. “As a competitor I love the breezy conditions, but I 100% agree with race committee’s decision. The safety concerns were definitely there, we have a 25 knot wind limit for a reason, and fully respect that, and I think all the other competitors do too, we don’t want to get anyone hurt.”

It is estimated that 52,000 people attended yesterday during the day, with over 2,000 boats on the water to watch the racing.

The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Gothenburg from August 28-30 is the home event for Sweden’s Artemis Racing.

Final Standings (after two races):
1. Land Rover BAR (GBR), Ben Ainslie (GBR), 1-2, 19 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Peter Burling (NZL), 3-1, 18 points
3. Oracle Team USA (USA), Jimmy Spithill (AUS), 2-4, 16 points
4. Groupama Team France (FRA), Franck Cammas (FRA), 6-3, 13 points
5. SoftBank Team Japan (JPN), Dean Barker (NZL), 4-5, 13 points
6. Artemis Racing (SWE), Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 5-6, 11 points

Note: Scoring awards 10 points for first, 9 points for second, 8 points for third, etc.

America’s Cup website – ACWS Portsmouth – Results – Facebook

Background: The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) racing circuit forms part of the 35th America’s Cup programme, with scoring contributing to the selection of the 2017 America’s Cup Challenger. The ACWS will take place during 2015 and 2016 and will feature the one design foiling AC45F catamarans at a number of event locations around the world over the two years.