Ainslie stamps authority in Open

Sailing Nations Cup: After the opening matches in the ISAF Nations Cup at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, South African America's Cup helm Ian Ainslie has established an emphatic position at the front of the Open event with five victories from five races.

Ireland's George Kingston produced a surprise win over the ranked Russian team that dropped the visitors to third overall in the 10 countries contesting. The Howth crew has been training intensively at home and abroad in preparation for their host-nation "wild-card" selection to this event that is the final event after a series of regional qualifiers.

Last weekend, O'Loughlin and her crew narrowly missed winning a grade three match-racing event in Germany when they reached the final. An amended racing schedule reduced the finals to a single race in which they were defeated, though the winning crew had actually won fewer races in the event.

Meanwhile in the women's series, Claire Leroy from France lies in second place behind Australia's Nicky Souter after four flights were sailed. Ireland's Mary O'Loughlin and her team lie in fourth place thanks to two wins from the four races.

The five-day series is being sailed in "equalised" J24 keelboats and a double round-robin series is under way on Cork Harbour before the final rounds begin ahead of Saturday afternoon's final.