Intro:

British Olympic champion Ben Ainslie made his final public appearance ahead of the London 2012 Olympic games at the annual Round the Island Race on Saturday.

He was pleased with his effort and said that preparations, for the games, were going well.

Script:

The 81st Round the Island Race set off with over 1,600 boats turning out despite the fierce weather conditions.

The strong winds forced more than 70 competitors out of the race with 30 more teams abandoning the 50 nautical-mile course early on.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie made his final public racing appearance onboard the Eleonora.

He was steering the 49.5 metre yacht - the largest ever fleet to take part in the race.

First across the finish line at was French representative, Actual.

The boat completed the course just over one minute outside the overall record, with a time of three hours nine minutes and 57seconds.

Following the race Ainslie revealed that he was pleased with his effort and that preparations for the Olympics were going according to plan.

SOUNDBITE (English): Ben Ainslie, British Olympic champion (on preparation for the 2012 Olympics)

"The preparations are going really well. In terms of sailing, everyone is down in Weymouth and Portland and training really hard. Make the most of the great conditions we've got at this moment. This time it's really about the small final touches to the campaign to get the preparations right and hopefully go out and sail well."

There are now just 26 days until the start of the London 2012 games, and from here on in, Ben Ainsley will be hoping it'll be plain sailing.