SIR Ben Ainslie was last night beaten into second place in the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda.
The legendary British sailor was beaten 3-1 in the final by Italian Francesco Bruni, the first person from his country to win the Gold Cup in the tournament’s 76-year history.
Ainslie said: “Obviously my lack of practice was shining though and I had a really bad day.
“I let the guys down a bit on that.”
Ainslie added: “It was a great final We are obviously here for other reasons. It has been a fantastic week and we are very grateful to everyone for having us here.”
The US$20,000 Ainslie’s team won for their second place finish (Bruni’s team goes home with US$50,000) will be donated to the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation.
Ainslie and Iain Percy have been publicising the Foundation during their time in Bermuda and it was the reason they competed at the Argo Group Gold Cup.
Young US Virgin skipper Taylor Canfield is the new leader of the 2013 Alpiri World Match Racing series after finishing third in the Gold Cup.
He replaces Hampshire’s Ian Williams, who finished sixth after losing to Canfield in the quarter finals.
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