Yachtsman of the year

The Daily Sail caught up the all conquering Ben Ainslie

Ben Ainslie is once again riding the crest of the Olympic wave. It was towards the end of January last year following his departure from OneWorld that the Laser Gold medallist announced that he would be campaigning a Finn.

Less than six months later Ainslie surprised everyone, not least himself, by winning the Finn Europeans in Turkey and followed this up later in the month by taking first place in the Finn Gold Cup. Just in case anyone thought he'd fluked it, he then went on to win in his class at the Athens pre-Olympic event in August.

On Thursday Ainslie was rewarded for his achievement by being made the Yachting Journalist Association's Yachtsman of the Year - the third time he has won this award.

"It's great," Ainslie told The Daily Sail. "It was a bit of a surprise because in the past they normally tell you when you win awards like that and with Ellen there doing so well and Iain and Steve doing so well in the Star and Steve Curtis with his fourth powerboat world title - it was a great line up, so it was a bit of shock and a very nice surprise."

While being top of the tree in the Finn would seem to be good news, with the Olympics still almost two years away there is the worry that Ainslie may have peaked too soon and will have trouble keeping his campaign at boiling point.

"There is that danger," Ainslie admits. "When I started out I was thinking it would be great to improve, peak and get to the top of the class for Athens, whereas it all happened so quickly. But no, I would much rather be where I am now rather than be 12 or 15th at the Worlds. I'm very happy, so it is the method of trying to keep it all going for another two years. Fortunately I experienced that a little bit with the Lasers, obviously with Robert Scheidt but there's still that pressure that comes from being right at the top of a class and knowing you've got to keep it going up until the games."

Ainslie is in the strange position where with so many top UK Finn sailors jockeying for the one spot, qualifying to represent the UK in the Olympics may almost be as hard as the main event. "Qualifying is going to be tough this year: Andrew Simpson is no slouch - he's a good sailor. The worlds will be a huge event...really important."

To win the UK spot Ainslie says he must come in the top three at the Worlds in Cadiz or come in the top eight and beat all the other Brits. "If not the most likely thing is we'll have trials back in the UK in 2004. Or if another Brit won it and I wasn't in the top 8 then they might go. Anway - this is the Olympics and you have to deal with the pressure somehow."

Aside from the all important Worlds in Cadiz, there are the Finn Europeans in Marstrand in June this year and another pre-Olympic event for which you have to qualify at the Palma and Hyeres Olympic weeks.

For Ainslie the concentration over the next few months will be on his sailing as in terms of his technology he is right up there thanks to "the guru" David Howlett. "I trust so much in Sid and he's helped me so much this year - he seems pretty happy with the equipment I've so and I think this year is going to be more about getting results and sailing well. Hopefully once I've qualified then think about developing more gear specifically for Athens."

Having such a talented bunch of Finn sailors in the UK certainly will help Ainslie up his game on the water, if such a thing is possible. "They're a good group of guys, Bart, Chris Brittle and Charlie Cumbley. Sometimes it's a bit frustrating - they're all young and at uni, so a little bit disorgansed! I suppose their freshness and enthusiasm far outweighs that and they're buunch to train with and against. As a squad we get really good results."

Ainslie is clearly overshadowing his fellow British Finn sailors, even Andrew 'Bart' Simpson who was the great white hope for the class prior to Ainslie's arrival, but he says he is only in the Finn for one Olympic cycle and the others could well continue on until 2008.

"Those guys have got good futures. Bart is pretty well established. Chris [Brittle] has won the junior worlds and europeans twice now so in the future he could well be one of the best Finn sailors in the World. Charlie [Cumbley] and Chris are young enough to roll on through for another campaign and Bart as well if he chose to - so it's okay."

Aside from continuing to keep himself at top speed in the Finn, Ainslie hopes to do some more big boat sailing this year. In 2002 he sailed Robert Condon's Swan 70 Volvo at Cowes and also occasionally on the IC45 Babbelas. "I've no specific plans so I'll see what comes up. If it happens it will be great so I'm not too worried."

Funding wise he is now part of the "Team Volvo for life" along with fellow Olympic squad members Iain Percy, Shirley Robertson and Paul Goodison and the McDonalds and has Volvo as his title sponsor.

For more photos of Ben in action see the next pages...