Racing cancelled at Portsmouth

Sports Editor at Large·NZ Herald·

26 Jul, 2015 05:15 PM3 mins to read

Emirates Team New Zealand finished one point behind local hero Ben Ainslie Racing. Photo / YouTube

Team New Zealand were forced to be happy with second place after the second's day racing at Portsmouth was cancelled.

High winds and a heavy sea state that was only expected to worsen into boat-breaking conditions saw regatta director Iain Murray cancel the scheduled second day before noon local time.

With a third and first in fine conditions on the Solent on day one, Emirates Team New Zealand finished one point behind local hero Ben Ainslie Racing.

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It was a massively encouraging result for the new-look crew, helmed by Peter Burling and skippered by Glenn Ashby. Just as encouraging as the result was the fact Team NZ will feel they left at least one place on the water after going from first to third in race one.

Many onlookers were convinced Oracle, who snuck past Team NZ at the bottom mark, should have incurred a port-starboard penalty which would have promoted team NZ to second and seen them win the regatta on a countback.

There was no moaning from the camp, however, as trimmer Blair Tuke admitted "unforced errors" had allowed Oracle back to catch up in the first instance.

"We've got a lot of positive takeaways from this regatta," said strategist Ray Davies, the veteran of the crew. "Time on the water is what we need now."

It is staggering to consider that Burling and Tuke were signed by Team NZ close to 18 months ago and this was their first race in the colours. The crew might not be working instinctively just yet, but it will come.

"I was really happy with how it went," Davies said. "These guys have got fantastic natural ability. We had very good debriefs . There's a great atmosphere within the group but we've still got a long way to go."

Although the racing was cancelled, it wasn't a completely lost day for Team NZ, who had the honour of hosting the Duke and Duchess of Kent in a hastily arranged visit. Williams and Kate sailed on NZL40 and 41 on their visit Down Under last year.

The first day's racing was watched by tens of thousands of fans on the Portsmouth shoreline and hundreds of boats of varying shapes and sizes. The vast majority were there in the hope and expectation of a BAR victory and would have left satisfied.

BAR, whose brand spanking headquarters are based in Portsmouth, look certain to be an instant force.

The series now shifts to Artemis' home track in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the end of August.