Ben Ainslie’s Emirates GBR crew won three out of the four practice races ahead of the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix, despite the lighter wind.
Emirates GBR will be pleased with the practice session after a difficult event in Chicago in June where they finished down the leaderboard.
Emirates GBR took the win in the first practice race but just like any great Hollywood movie, there were ups and downs.
In the second race Emirates GBR received a penalty for crossing the start line early and then finished in seventh position, but they came back fighting and won the third and fourth practice races.
Driver and CEO Ben Ainslie said at Friday’s press conference that it was a “frustrating” time for the team but they planned to “build from that and iron out the mistakes”.
“We’ve got a fantastic team and we’ve got talent across the board so we’ve got to stick to the processes and go out an execute when it counts,” he said.
Ainslie said the Port of LA was a “tighter racecourse” and he was expecting to see “lots of unexpected maneuvers”. “That will be the biggest challenge,” he said.
Another challenge for the Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix will be kelp on the racecourse, and crews have been kelp harvesting in a bid to reduce that.
UK viewers can watch all the action here live from Los Angeles starting from 00:00 BST Saturday night
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