Yachting: Ainslie on top as Minoprio falls

Ben Ainslie. Photo / Loris von Siebenthal (Subzero Images)

New match racing world champion Ben Ainslie admits the early demise of Adam Minoprio was probably the key moment of his successful campaign this week in Malaysia.

Ainslie, who claimed the Monsoon Cup with a thrilling 3-2 final victory over young Australian Torvar Mirsky, said the surprise exit of Minoprio's Black Match team was the moment when they realised their dreams could turn to gold.

"When Adam missed out on the quarter finals I started thinking that this could be our week," Ainslie admitted. "The rest of the crew were talking about it as well."

Ainslie had trailed Frenchman Mathieu Richard by 17 points coming into the final regatta. With Minoprio out of the picture, Ainslie knocked out the Frenchman in the quarter finals to put himself in charge of his own destiny.

The triple Olympic gold medallist then trailed Mirsky 2-1 in the best of five finals series and was behind midway through the crucial fourth race.

"[Our team] dealt with the pressure really well," said Ainslie. "This was our best chance and we were all incredibly focussed on doing what we needed to do to make it happen."

The normally ice-cool Ainslie was feeling the heat, with the onboard microphones picking up some verbal stoushes during the crucial fourth race.

At one point Ainslie and his tactician Iain Percy had discussed doing a dummy gybe, which seemed to catch the crew at the front of the boat unawares.

'For f**ks sake man - pay attention [and] sort it out', he yelled at bowman Matthew Cornwell, who had failed to sense the manoeuvre.

"The key to a good team is to get over it quickly if we make mistakes," says Ainslie. "If somebody has a dummy spit or whatever - just deal with it and get on with the race. As a team we are very good at doing that."

The innovation of on-board microphones add a new dimension for the television viewer but Ainslie says that despite the occasional moment where the air turns blue they are also a good thing for the team.

"There are times when you get really frustrated and it probably stops you saying a few things you shouldn't so it is not altogether a bad thing," he said. "Sometimes as well as a team it makes us focus on saying the right things out there rather than talking a lot of rubbish."

It was a poor regatta for the New Zealanders with Black Match Racing finishing in 9th position and Phil Robertson's Waka racing team in 10th place. A small consolation was that both Kiwi teams managed to take down the new world champion in the round robin, and Ainslie is sure they have a bright future.

"Adam has been fantastic on the tour the last few years," says Ainslie.

"Adam and his team are very talented sailors and great guys as well and I wish them all the best for their futures."

"While Phil and his team are the young guns coming through and they gave us all a real scare last week winning the Australian Cup. They obviously didn't have a great event here but they have a huge amount of potential. They are very eager and keen to be out there - you can see that on the water and I am sure they will do well."

Ainslie has seen his America's Cup dream in tatters this year, and the new format announced by Oracle also led to the disbanding of Team Origin by the owner Sir Keith Mills.

"It's been a difficult year - not a lot of things have gone to plan but this is a sweet way to end."

- Herald on Sunday