Three light-breeze races on Day 1 of the Sail Grand Prix event in Dubai.
Overall it was comeback time for Ben Ainslie’s Great Britain Team finishing top of the leaderboard after taking two race wins.
Sailing with the big, 29 metre wing the nine teams crawled round the compact Dubai racetrack, with some confusion for spectators as courses were shortened and re-shortened, and results decide on count-back.
Race 1 went to Canada and driver Phil Robertson taking a full leg win ahead of Quentin Delapierre and France and in third Nicolai Sehested’s Denmark.
In Race 2 Ainslie battled with Pete Burling’s New Zealand in ever lighter breeze, eventually snatching the win on the shortened course.
New Zealand finished second with Denmark taking another third place finish.
Race 3, with the crews dropped to four, was a USA/GBR matchrace with Ainslie taking the win ahead of Jimmy Spithill and the USA as the course was shortened yet again.
The leading pair continued racing for a while, not having received the shortened course notice, with the USA taking back the lead but too late to count.
The Swiss with Driver Sébastien Schneiter claimed third place.
Big losers on the day were the Australian Team with an 8, 8, 4 scoreline, but you can never rule out the two-time SailGP Champions and skipper Tom Slingsby’s ability to turn-around any situation.
Stronger wind conditions expected for day 2, with the teams expected to change down to the middle, 24 metre wing, for three more races and then a final winner-takes-all race.
Day 2 racing takes place in Dubai with the first race at 11:14 hrs GMT on Sunday 13 November.
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Ainslie on the comeback trail at first SailGP event in Dubai
