Profiles

Despite being Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, the biggest prize in sailing has so far eluded Ben Ainslie. 

As skipper of Team Origin, the 32-year-old Lymington-based sailor is spearheading the British team planning to enter the 33rd America's Cup, having already been part of the New Zealand squad in the last Cup.

Team Origin competing off New Zealand in February

Legal wrangles about the race format delayed the next regatta, which Ainslie described as "hugely frustrating".

Team Origin are currently competing on the 2009 World Match Racing Tour in preparation for a crack at the America's Cup.

Britain has not won the America's Cup since its inception off the Isle of Wight in 1851, and last competed in the event in 2002 before losing in the quarter-finals in Auckland.

Fellow Olympians Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson are on board for this British team, a prospect which excites Ben Ainslie:

"I'm really proud to be a part of the team ... with the common goal of trying to win the America's Cup.  Half the battle is picking good people around you and I'm really pleased with the people we've got."

Flying the flag in the 2008 Olympics

Olympics

With one eye on the America's Cup prize, the London 2012 Olympics are also on the horizon and Ben says he is "hugely excited" at the prospect of defending his Olympic titles in Weymouth and Portland:

"It's where my generation of sailors had all our race training ... so the chance to sail there in 2012 is something I can't wait for.  Its also a great opportunity for the young sailors in the UK to get down there and learn how the best guys do it."

Although Ben's sailing pedigree is perhaps unsurprising given his father Roddy skippered Second Life in the first Whitbread Round the World Race of 1973-74, he is acutely aware that developing the next generation of Olympic champions means promoting the sport as inclusive and non-elitist:

"It's a shame, it's a misconception with sailing that it's an elitist and expensive sport ... all over the country there are schemes to get young kids into the sport, it's not expensive and there is great coaching on offer."

"You can get a second hand dingy for the same price as a set of golf clubs - and it's a sport you take as far as you want to - at an event like Cowes Week you can be a first-time sailor racing against Ellen MacArthur - there aren't many sports where you can do that."

The summer holds the promise of a return to home waters, with Ben planning to take part in the Round the Island Race and Cowes Week: "I'm really looking forward to a good year of racing."