Standings

Oracle Team USA Land Rover BAR (GBR) Groupama Team France good race”. But his teammates were unanimous in talking up his impact. Freddie Carr spoke of a presence and attitude that got the entire team in the right frame of mind.

“His temperament blew me away,” Carr said. “He brought an attitude on to the boat that resonated across the crew.”

Ainslie was pleased with Macbeth’s impact, saying he’d wanted a biggame player for what was a big game.

Macbeth knows all about those. He’s not a sailor by training. He was 22 and working part-time in a kayak shop in Auckland when legendary Kiwi sailor Sir Peter Blake needed help lifting a fridge-freezer. That led to Blake giving him a job as a grinder with Team New Zealand.

Macbeth was Ainslie’s first signing for BAR four years ago. The British skipper talks about his teammate’s integrity and strength of character and it is those qualities he brings, managing the BAR team of sailors on and off the water.

Macbeth knows this game inside out. He was part of the New Zealand team that successfully defended the Cup in 2000, then won it again with Oracle Team USA in 2010 and 2013.

While he does not hit the same numbers in tests as, say, Neil Hunter, who at 22 is half his age, he brings something else to the party; experience and presence.

“I’m in the autumn of my career,” Macbeth said. “But we’ve got an incredible strength and conditioning team [led by Ben Williams] and they have managed to keep the old boy rumbling along, and got me to a level where it’s not a disadvantage physically to have me on the boat.”

It looks as if BAR will continue to bring the Bear out of hibernation as and when required at this Cup.