Top 5 moments from America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth

The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series returned to Portsmouth over the weekend, with Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR delighting the crowds with a dramatic victory to take the top spot in the overall leader board by a single point.

The home team won three out of six races across the weekend to make it three World Series wins out of seven so far.

Speaking after the conclusion of the racing, Ainslie said: “The reaction from the crowd was amazing and it’s like they now really appreciate what it would mean to bring the America’s Cup back home.”

Land Rover BAR’s victory was by no means a procession — they had to fend off late pressure from arch rivals Oracle Team USA, who started slowly, but grew into the weekend.

On the final day the Defender won the last two races and spent the final race racing tacking back and forth in an attempt to impede the progress of the British boat, as the skipper explained:

“In the last two races today, we hit Ben every time we could, but we just couldn't push him back far enough to let a third boat through. The event overall was awesome. I think it's one of the best Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series events.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge boosted attendance at this year’s America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth, with the royal couple boarding the Land Rover BAR chase boat for the dramatic final day of racing. Their attendance was a real draw for the thousands of local spectators.

“The Duchess is Patron of our 1851 trust,” Ainslie explained. “We are proud of our British heritage and to have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge here is very special.”

The upcoming Rio Olympics meant a crew reshuffle was needed on many of the boats at the America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth.

The most notable change was for Artemis Racing, who drafted in celebrated Italian sailor Francesco Bruni for absent skipper Nathan Outteridge.

Meanwhile, Emirates Team New Zealand's new test boat featured a heavily rotated team as skipper Glenn Ashby explained: “We had people in four new roles and really only one guy in his original position, so we just had to learn as much as we could.”

It wouldn’t be an America’s Cup World Series event without some spectacular entertainment and Portsmouth did not disappoint.

Legendary RAF stunt team the Red Arrows kicked things off with an extended routine on Friday (July 22) before the Blades Aerobatic display team continued the theme on Saturday.

Visitors on Sunday didn’t miss out either, with the Red Bull Matadors putting on a 15-minute aerobatic performance to thrill the assembled crowds.