Third consecutive gold medal

We speak to Britain's most successful Olympic sailor of all time - the one and only Ben Ainslie

Ben Ainslie – wow… Following his silver in the Laser behind Robert Scheidt in Atlanta, the 31 year old from Lymington has since brought home Gold medals from the Games in Sydney, Athens and now China, in the Laser and on the last two occasions in the Finn. Having drawn level with Rodney Pattisson after Athens, he has now overtaken the Flying Dutchman ace to become Britain’s most successful Olympic sailor of all time, although he is still one Gold medal short of Paul Elvstrom, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, who earned three Golds in the class over the 1950s.

Dragging him away from the Princess Royal, Ainslie took time out to talk to thedailysail about his latest achievement.

Thedailysail: Was this medal easier or harder than previous ones?

BA: It was pretty hard. The conditions for the first five or six days were very challenging and it just adds to the stress and the pressure, the heat and the light fickle winds. The first race was a classic example of it; where I had a good little lead going and the wind turned inside out on the last run and I dropped back to 10th. It is so easy to lose places here so that you are never really certain of a race until you cross the finish line.

TDS: How did you find the conditions? Were there any rules of thumb was it all seat of the pants?

BA: It was a little bit seat of the pants and I think it was a case of trying to be consistent and if you didn’t know, just try and get a good start and stick with the fleet, rather than placing your bets on a corner and it being all or nothing. And that worked well for me: I ended up being pretty consistent, or at least as consistent as the American and the French guys who sailed really good series.

TDS: And the tide was a major contributing factor?

BA: The tide was always going to be factor, especially in the lighter stuff it was difficult. And on course A where it was stronger and bit more turbulent it was definitely something you had to keep an eye on. Early on in the regatta we had the tide going against the wind and towards the end it was going with the wind, so that changed the tactics and the strategy a little bit. Certainly for the medal race we had almost two knots against us which was pretty extreme even in that amount of wind.

TDS: Zach Railey sailed a good series didn’t he, considering he wasn’t a medal prospect going into the regatta?

BA: He sailed incredibly well. I was very impressed. He pushed me very hard. Certainly through the middle of the regatta he was cracking in good top 10 results all the time. So he sailed very well - good for him – hopefully he’ll go on to build from that.

TDS: On Saturday you were clearly gunning for him while on Sunday you nail him at the start and then seemed to go about your business – was there a change of strategy about how to deal with him? Was it related to the change in conditions?

BA: Yes, for sure. In the light stuff I was more worried about the conditions being so random that I really couldn’t afford to even just let him have a race. I felt I just needed to get on top of him and push him down the back of the fleet, just to finish the issue. Fortunately there was good breeze and that made it a lot easier tactically because I knew I had good speed and good fitness. So I tried to make life a little bit hard for him on the start, which I was able to do, and then just shepherd him and the Swedish guy up the first beat and once I felt pretty comfortable that they were well behind I put the hammer down and tried to win the race, which I managed do, which is a really nice way to win the regatta.

TDS: There seemed to be some banter going on between you and Zach on Saturday - what was said?

BA: We were having a laugh because the wind was going so light, and Zach wondered if we were even going to finish within the time limit which was quite poignant as it happens! We were having a discussion about the fact that he was looking out for the Swede and the French guy. It was all pretty friendly stuff and obviously the breeze was dying off and it died off so much that we couldn’t finish that race.

TDS: It looked like you might have driven him off the podium?

BA: I think the way that race was looking, he would still have been okay for silver. It was certainly very challenging conditions…



TDS: Come the medal race on Sunday it looked like it was good fun sailing the Finn in those conditions?

BA: It was awesome conditions. It was great to finally get some breeze and stretch the legs a bit and get the boat working. I was a little bit cautious on the final downwind because I had a nice lead and I just kept saying myself ‘don’t p**s it in’ because that was the only way I was going to lose it. So I was a little bit cautious down there. I was having a bit of a chuckle to myself, because I knew my training partners who were watching the race and they would be tut-tutting because I had the mainsheet going through the blocks rather than one to one!

TDS: Presumably breakage might have been an issue too?

BA: Touch wood, I haven’t had too many problems. Certainly that was something that Jez and I were worried about and spent a lot of time thinking about when we were doing the boat maintainance and checking over the equipment. She is a good boat that one, it is the second gold medal for her, so not a bad investment.

TDS: Which boat were you sailing?

BA: It is a Devoti boat which Tim Tavernor built for the last Games. It is just a good boat, I always feel good in it and it has done me proud.

TDS: But you looked at some options?

BA: We looked at a number of things. We did a lot of sail development work with Juan Gurai which was fantastic. He did a brilliant job for us. We spent a lot of time testing that down in Palma. We switched rigs, just a few details on the rig and we looked at a new Devoti hull with slightly less rocker and also a Wilke boat. In the end with the hull we just decided to go with what we knew. The rig and the sails changed a little bit, but it was all improvements.

TDS: Optimised for lighter winds?

BA: We did a lot of work on the light air sail range and also pushing the heavy air sail down the range a little bit so that it could still go alright in under 8 knots. (On Finn you are allowed to measure in two sails)

TDS: During your campaign you spent a lot of time working on the America’s Cup and this time you had Jez Fanstone coaching you – was there anything else different about this campaign compared to your last ones?

BA: I suppose the biggest difference was the venue: being here in China and the difficulties of racing in a venue like this. For all the competitors that’s been the big change. You can see how skinny most of the sailors around here are. Everyone has put a huge amount of effort into losing weight. I am 86kg now, for Athens I was 94, so a big switch. This is my normal weight, so it is quite nice not having to bulk up all the time. Most of the guys got down to 93-94kg which is quite a big drop for them. There are a couple of small guys – the Croatian, the American and the Swede.

TDS: So a big party last night?

BA: We had a few beers. The Finn boys didn’t let themselves down! It is good - a massive relief after such a big event to finally have it over and done with and be able to relax a bit.



TDS: And after this?

BA: I can’t wait to get home and catch up with family and friends. There’ll be a few parties. Then I am doing the Maxi Worlds with Neville [Crichton] on Alfa Romeo and the St Tropez regatta. And then I’ll try and get stuck into the match racing with Perce [Iain Percy]. When we get all this out of the way we’ll sit down and make a plan and see what’s happening with the America’s Cup. But I doubt there’ll be much going on for the next couple of months…

TDS: And possibly a Star campaign for 2012?

BA: I honestly don’t know right now. A lot depends what does happen with the Cup and how much time I have got. If I could commit four years to it then it might be nice to have a crack at a Star campaign, it would be a new challenge. But if I am short on time then maybe I’ll have to stick with the Finn.

TDS: It would be a shame for you and Perce to be in the same class…

BA: That would be difficult racing against two of your best mates. But it might be good for us both though.

TDS: Congratulations – we hope you get the knighthood…