KEY POINTS:
Ben Ainslie is definite about it - he's not here to prove anything to Team New Zealand's Dean Barker and he is rooting for Alinghi.
By that he means, he hopes Alinghi win the court case that is holding the America's Cup in a glacial grip at present.
Ainslie, number two helmsman to Barker in his days with Emirates Team New Zealand, is now number one with the new British syndicate TeamOrigin - backed by billionaire Sir Keith Mills.
TeamOrigin, formed just in time to be bodyslammed by the delays and frustrations caused by the court action between BMW Oracle and Alinghi, appear to be among the most enthusiastic of participants at the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.
They started their campaign with a clear win against Luna Rossa on Friday and had a bye yesterday - which they spent on the water, checking out the opposition.
Ainslie is a three-time Olympic gold medallist - including the Finn gold medal at Athens in 2004 and Beijing last year. He is also the darling of much of the British media, some of whom wondered aloud whether Ainslie should be skippering the Emirates Team NZ boat ahead of Barker.
"Dean is one of a number of really good guys who are competing at this regatta," he said yesterday. "But I try not to focus on individuals, even though it is great to race them. It's a crew thing.
"Also, people misunderstood what was happening when I was in Team NZ. My role was made really clear up front. Dean was the skipper and that was that and I was happy with that. I became skipper of the B boat and my role was to practise against Dean and push him as hard as I could.
"A lot of people thought some thing else was happening but that really wasn't the case."
However, Ainslie admits to a competitive nature and of course he will be trying to unseat Barker if and when they meet in this regatta (they are in different pools at present).
But Ainslie makes no bones about being in Alinghi's camp when it comes to settling the America's Cup legal stoushe.
If Oracle win, he says, it will be the worst for the Cup. In spite of the fact that the American syndicate has sworn to hold a multi-challenger event if they win the legal battle (instead of a Deed of Gift one-on-one race with Alinghi in giant multi-hulls), Ainslie can't see it happening.
"If Oracle win, that will just open the way for new legal arguments - where the race is, when it will be held, is Oracle's boat legal...it will go on and on," he said.
"A whole new set of issues will arise even if there are no more legal disputes pertaining to the Deed of Gift. I would think, if that happens, it would be pretty terminal for all teams - including team New Zealand."
Ainslie added that even if Oracle tried to hold a multi-challenger event, Alinghi would refuse to agree to Oracle's proposal, just as Oracle had refused to accept Alinghi's compromise that would obviate the current legal impasse.
Yet even in such days of frustration and delays in the America's Cup, it is uplifting to see two new America's Cup syndicates, TeamOrigin and the Greek Challenge, make definite moves towards America's Cup participation some time soon.
In a heartwarming win, the Greeks won their race against the more fancied Shosholoza syndicate yesterday and syndicate boss Sotiris Buseas was bursting with pride afterwards.
His crew, he said diplomatically, were a "grassroots" team on a "giant learning curve" and yesterday's victory would "bring us closer to the next step, the America's Cup and I thank BMW Oracle and Team NZ for making their boats available.
"Greek sailors have never sailed in the America's Cup and we are very glad to be here and humbled as well."
# Alinghi yesterday announced the new specification for boats for the next America's Cup (if they win the court case). The new boats are longer but lighter and faster than those raced in Valencia and Ainslie said of them: "Yes, we are happy, they were agreed by all the designers and challengers. The new boats will be more dynamic. There won't be a whole lot of change upwind but there will be big boatspeed differences downwind."
