Two losses further irritate Brit team

Ainslie cops a serve from Barker after hitting Team Japan before being drubbed by Kiwis

The fall-out from the dramatic crash on day one of the America’s Cup Qualifiers has continued, with tensions escalating between rival skippers Ben Ainslie and Dean Barker.

Barker’s Japanese syndicate and Ben Ainslie Racing were back out on the water yesterday after their respective shore crews put in a marathon effort in the boat shed to patch up the significant damage sustained in the collision.

But there remains lingering resentment in both camps over the incident.

Team Japan are said to be miffed there has been no public apology from Ainslie, who the on-water umpire deemed to be at fault in the frightening collision, in which the hull of the British boat came crashing down on top of the cockpits of Team Japan. Ainslie meanwhile is reportedly furious he has been portrayed as a reckless and hotheaded helmsman. He believes Barker was the main aggressor in the pre-start, and the accident was more a result of skittish nature of the foiling catamarans.

“He did a good job and got the overlap and we just got slightly too high on the foil, which can happen easily in these boats, and we got the sideways slip and we came together,” Ainslie said yesterday.

So when Barker had a subtle dig at Ainslie for his unapologetic stance, it did not go down well with the British sailing knight. Barker joked in yesterday’s press conference Ainslie should perhaps send the Team Japan shore crew a universal peace offering for the trouble he caused.

“I think the shore crew are looking forward to Ben bringing some beers down for them.

“He didn’t do it last night, he’ll probably do it tonight,” said Barker.

Ainslie clearly was not impressed by the comment; he remained stony faced and stormed off stage and out the side door once the conference wrapped up shortly after.

It was a bad day on the water for Ainslie as well, as his team recorded hefty losses to Oracle Team USA (39 seconds) and Emirates Team New Zealand (1 minute, 28 seconds). The British team struggled with their boat handling in the difficult, shifty conditions on the Great Sound, leading some to question whether they were still carrying damage.

Ainslie admitted his boat, christened Rita, was not in the shape he’d like it to be, but said the team’s struggles yesterday were not a result of the rushed patch-up job on the punctured hull.

“I don’t think the damage made any difference today, the guys did an incredible job of fixing it up. Boat speed probably wasn’t a defining factor today, it was much more about getting the wind right and so on,” he said.

“We had the lead in both races, but unfortunately we didn’t quite get it right. We made a few boat handling errors in particular and a few other mistakes around the course.”

Barker’s crew also battled out on the water yesterday, dropping their opening race to Team NZ, before falling to stablemates Oracle Team USA.