Olympic star Ainslie sails into Mallorca

Britain's Olympic gold medal winning sailor Ben Ainslie will be at the helm of Barlo Plastics when the second three-day Clean Marine IC 45 Winter 2001 Series regatta starts in Palma today. Six boats representing four countries start today's regatta with Barlo Plastics looking to recapture the form that saw the boat claim a convincing victory in last month's opening regatta of the series (formally called the Corel 45). Adrian Stead, the successful tactician on Barlo Plastics last month, will be joined on board by Ainslie, the Sydney 2000 Laser Class gold medallist. Ainslie was unable to compete in last month's opening regatta due to commitments with the One World America's Cup Challenge. Stead said: “The first event in Palma proved to be a good regatta to get back in the swing of things and of course it was great to secure out first victory of the season. “I'm looking forward to sailing with Ben Ainslie for the first time on the IC 45.” Stead and Ainslie will be joined by Toby Iles and Stuart Childerley and America's Cup sailor Chris Main who will handle the mainsheet. The other British entrant in the regatta is Babbalaas sponsored by Hogans Irish Pub. Spanish entrants La Casera and Aifos, German boat Faster K-Yote II and Sweden's Seb join the two English boats to make up the six boat fleet. Racing starts today at 2.00pm and finishes on Sunday. The Barlo Plastics IC 45 will be one of three Barlo Plastics boats competing in this year's British Admiral's Cup team. Each international team competing must include one boat from three specified classes, namely the IC 45 “big boat”, the Sydney 40 and the Farr 40 class. The event will be held July 16 to July 28 at Cowes and is organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.