Fuente info The Telegraph
Ben Ainslie: losing Mike Sanderson was a change Team Origin had to make
It was a difficult situation for the team when Mike Sanderson was asked to step down as team director on Monday.
By Ben Ainslie
Published: 4:39PM BST 21 May 2010
Mike was one of the key people responsible for putting Team Origin together at the end of the 32nd America's Cup in 2007. In January 2008 we had more than 100 top people in our team for what was scheduled to be a multiple challenge event in 2009. We were ready.
The history of the 33rd Cup is now well known, with Alinghi defending against only BMW Oracle Racing after multiple legal actions. This was an incredibly difficult time for all the teams that weren't involved. Mike successfully steered our team through this dark, two-year period whilst we all waited for the America's Cup to resolve itself. If we are still here today, in a state ready to do business on the race course, it is in no small part due to his tenacity and efforts.
But ultimately when the light turned green the team did not gel as we had all hoped and the situation grew progressively worse. It would be fair to say that there was a difference of opinion as to how to build the team and turn things to face forward towards the future. Something had to change.
Someone of Mike's calibre with his vast experience at the top of the sport, both as a manager and a sailor, will always be in demand. I know that it won't be long before we are reading about his next exciting project. Along with everyone else in the team I wish Mike all the best for those future campaigns.
The Audi MedCup in Cascais was our first regatta in our new TP52 and it showed flashes of brilliance. For a new boat to show up and be competitive shows a lot of promise. We were leading at one stage but felt a massive amount of frustration in finishing fifth.
The early races were promising but the coastal race was one of the toughest I have ever done. Our speed fell away – it happened slowly and gradually. We could see it happening but there was nothing we could do about it and dropped to last. Everyone on the boat found it really hard but we just have to try and learn from it.
I will miss a day's racing at the next Audi MedCup in Marseilles because of the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on June 19. It will be difficult leaving the team and it is not something I would normally contemplate but I've really appreciated the support from JP Morgan over the last three years so am happy to get stuck in.
We are racing on a Ker 46 called Fair Do's VII. It's a boat that my Team GBR Olympic Manager Stephen 'Sparky' Park sails on so I'll spend the day with him. The other crew members will be young ambassadors from the Princes Trust. I am an Ambassador for the Trust so am really looking forward to sailing for them.
Last year we raced in an Extreme 40 catamaran but didn't have any wind and came third. The year before I raced on Alex Thomson's Open 60 Hugo Boss with Lewis Hamilton but we were disqualified. We had a collision and lost our bowsprit and the other boat lost its mast. I felt sorry for Lewis because the press cottoned on to it and were suggesting it was his fault but all he was doing was taking pictures with his Blackberry!
I have done the race with both Lewis and David Coulthard. Lewis had a go at steering and was incredibly good considering he had never been on a boat before and David didn't do much steering but was amazingly athletic and really got into the boat handling.
Sports professionals tend to be very adept at picking things up quickly – they have a natural focus and can concentrate easily so it is always interesting having them on board. And I love motor racing so it was a good chance to find out what's really going on in the world of F1.
I still don't know if I'm racing my Finn at Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth yet because Team Origin will be competing for The 1851 Cup – around the Isle of Wight – against America's Cup winners BMW Oracle during Cowes Week but hopefully I will be there.
In some ways, it would be easier just to focus on the America's Cup and not to do the Olympics – that would make my life a lot easier but when has the easier option ever been the best one!
Three times Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie will write exclusively for Telegraph Media Group in the run up to London 2012, providing first hand accounts of his progress in trying to gain selection for the Olympic Games and of Team Origin's trailblazing campaign for the America's Cup.
