CLOSE TO THE WIND "The autobiography of triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie (CBE)"

Close the wind

"The autobiography of Britain’s greatest Olympic sailor"

With Nick Townsend

Overview

Ben Ainslie CBE, was born on February 5, 1977 in Macclesfield. The son of Roderick “Roddy” Ainslie, who captained the first Whitbread Round the World Race 1973, he started sailing in Cornwall at age eight and first competed at the age of ten.

What started as a hoppy quickly turned into a way of life, and by the age of sixteen he was already laser Radial World Champion. At just nineteen years old he won his first Olympic medal – silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Four years later, he achieved every athlete’s dream of Olympic gold at the Sydney games.

After the Sydney Olympics, Ainslie changed focus and spend fourteen months with the ‘One World Challenge’ Americas Cup campaign. In 2004 he competed in the Athens Olympics and again won gold in the larger Finn Class. He returned to the cup after Athens and competed with Emirates Team New Zealand as an afterguard member and ‘B-boat’ helmsman.

In addition to his three Olympic gold’s and one silver, Ben Ainslie has won nine World and European Championships in his sailing career to date, been crowned ISAF World Sailor of the Year a record 3 times (1998, 2002 & 2008) and four times British Yachtsman of the year. His most recent win was gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

For the first time, Ben Ainslie tells his story and how he became Britain’s greatest Olympic sailor.

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Publisher:
Published by yellow Jersey on 17th September 2009, £18.99