Ben Ainslie's Diary

Our Laser Gold medallist brings us up to date with the news from Auckland, where he is sailing with the OneWorld team

Along with the whole of New Zealand and the rest of the sailing world, the America’s Cup community in Auckland has been rocked and saddened by the tragic news of Sir Peter Blake’s murder in Brazil. Many of our former Team New Zealand members had been close to him through those famous campaigns - it's a difficult time for them.
Blake was a huge hero in New Zealand, and the whole country is in mourning with flags at half mast, and the symbolic red socks flying from the fronts of houses. Already there is talk of setting up a trust to benefit young sailors, and the America's Cup teams in Auckland stayed ashore on Friday, as a mark of respect for the man who had done so much for sailing. His death is a tremendous loss not just to the sport, but the environmental causes - OneWorld Challenge causes - that he was now pursuing so fervently. But at the moment the team's thoughts are with Pippa and the family and Sir Peter's many close friends.

With the terrible news and no one sailing, Friday was a strange day, after weeks of hectic activity. Things moved up another notch recently with the shorebase openings of both the Alinghi and the GBR Challenge syndicates. It feels odd to see all this going on at the first British America's Cup Challenge in fourteen or so years and not be part of it. With many friends just down the road, it would be great to ask how things are going and be supportive, but in the America's Cup environment quizzing people about other teams is pretty close to the last thing you can do. Fortunately, other than being careful about the topics of conversations, the relationships between the teams are excellent and I certainly hope this continues on into the Louis Vuitton Cup.

But there's no doubt the GBR Challenge has done a great job so far and sailing-wise (which is all we can see from the outside) they are ahead of many of their rivals. The Brits have had a fair amount of coverage in the media and it's great to see Peter Harrison down here in Auckland supporting his team. Along with Ernesto Bertarelli of the Swiss challenge I expect to see Peter Harrison much more involved than most other backers. It's got to be good to have people like this involved who are passionate about the sport and want to get out there on the water.

Bertarelli's Alinghi challenge certainly looks the part right now. Their base is bigger than anyone else's and it looks like a very professional setup, although the pink colour may not be everyone's choice. With Russell Coutts leading a hugely experienced team you'd have to say they should be looking good by the Louis Vuitton Cup. The Alinghi boys are also the first syndicate to sail one of their new IACC yachts on the Hauraki Gulf. The boat looks like a cross between NZL 60 and the Spanish yacht from the last Cup. It has the trademark Vrolijk bow and a long transom.

The Swedish 'Victory' challenge is the latest team to arrive in Auckland and they have had their black boat out on the water this week. Reports that their new boat was damaged on its flight from Europe sounds like frustration for them in terms of getting up and running down here.

On the water out in the Hauraki Gulf most teams continue with long hours either testing or racing. At OneWorld we have been trying to spend as much time on the water as possible and recently the weather has been a little more kind to us - but generally at this time of year the conditions in NZ are less than reliable.

There is a lot of planning done between the weather and sailing teams to try and make the most of the time we have. Every day our forecaster Ken Cambell has to make some big calls, but so far he's doing a grand job. There's nothing worse than scheduling maintenance or boat work for a couple of days because conditions are forecast to be unsailable, and then find that it's perfect out on the Gulf. We ask Ken if the pressure he's under to get it right all the time is too much, and he laughs, saying it's nothing compared with the flack he used to get from the power generating companies back in the States.

Lighter airs these past couple of weeks meant that I have been spending more time up the rig, looking for wind, which I am still not sure I am happy about. I thought I was getting comfortable being up the mast until we were luffed by the other boat while the spinnaker was still up. When the kite starts flogging the mast is all over he place and it's all you can do to hold on. The only real positives about going up the mast are that you can have a quick rest and the view's awesome.