Ben Ainslie talks to madforsailing

The single-handed sailor gets used to life working in a team

Bob Fisher caught up with Ben Ainslie during the Sun Microsystems Australia Cup, the fifth event in the Swedish Match Grand Prix Tour where he was sailing with his America's Cup skipper Peter Gilmour. Ben was handling the tactics aboard the Foundation 36 used for the Australia Cup, but had been with his America's Cup syndicate, One World, for some time now.
Ben, how are you getting on at the OneWorld Challenge?
Very good, but initially it was very hard, to be honest, coming from a single-handed dinghy into a huge team like you have in the America's Cup and all the different personalities, but I have made a lot of very good friends in the team. It is a very good team. So I am fitting in well.

What have you actually been doing since you arrived in Auckland?
Been up the mast, been grinding, helming, tactics, mainsheet, all over the place. At the moment there are no real decisions on crew positions or anything like that. Obviously, the more experienced sailors know what positions they can expect, where their expertise lies, and for the rest of us it is a case of where we fit in best, so that our ability can be put to the best use, so we will wait and see.

You have a highly experienced skipper in Peter Gilmour and I have no doubt that he will get the best out of you all. How do you get along with him?
It's fantastic to be here racing with him this week. He is a good motivator with the team, and while not a father figure, he shares a lot of the experience he has gained, and keeps the team together. Obviously a very good match racer, so it is good to be here learning match racing with him.

You can have no better tutor, he has had a great deal of experience on the match racing scene. How highly do you rate match racing in the America's Cup preparation?
It's early days for me, but the more I do, the more I realise that it is a boat speed race more than anything else, although having said that, the boat that wins the start is in a very powerful position, so most of the people I have spoken to say. Peter is renowned as the best starting helmsman in the world, so that puts us in a good position. Then it's all around boat handling and obviously tactics, but it's fundamental to have a quick boat.

And you are going to be sailing a Laurie Davidson design, or by a team led by Laurie, so you have a lot going for you in that. Where do you think you will slot in?
Obviously, I hope to slot in to a tactical role, or wind strategy or something of that nature. I guess that is up to me in a way, the way I perform over the next year or so, but it comes down to the team and what is best for the team. They want me to fit in so hopefully it will work out.

What are you doing after this regatta?
Back to Auckland for a couple of days then on to Seattle - I have to spend all my spare time up there for the residency purposes, but it's a great place. After a week there, I am going down to Los Angeles for a coaching clinic with Robbie Haines. Then it's the Red Funnel Regatta at Cowes - catch up with all my mates again.

Back to Seattle for the summer?
I don't think we will be doing any racing there. Our programme for the summer hasn't been finalised yet, so it is a case of wait and see.

Are you enjoying this?
Most of the time. It's certainly a different world to Laser sailing. Sometimes it's hard, being away from home and family and not doing that much racing, or as much racing as I am used to, but I have learned more in the last two months than in 10 years of dinghy racing - it's a huge learning curve and I'm enjoying that part of it. It's great fun being in a big team and being involved with a good team and sailing the boat.

You'll be finishing the America's Cup, at best, in the middle of March 2003, someway away from the Olympics. Do you have any designs on that?
I'd love to race in the next Olympics. My only worry is that there is not enough time to put in a good enough campaign. The last thing I want to do is put in a half-cocked campaign and not perform. That would be a big mistake, so let's see how it works out.