Ainslie rage underlines tension between sailors and attempts to publicise the sport

WHEN sports stars go mad - that schedule filler loved by ITV 4 - usually features the same mix of clips. Eric Cantona plunging studs first into the crowd at Selhurst Park, Brian Clough administering a thick ear to a couple of Nottingham Forest likely lads and my personal favourite, Brazilian striker Edmundo pouring a bottle of champagne into the mouth of an angry looking bear at his son's first birthday party - after all, he was known as 'The Animal'.

FUMING: Great Britain's three-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie was disqualfied from two key races at the ISAF World Championships after an angry confrontation with a TV boat (onEdition)

But sailing doesn't tend to feature on these cheap as chips compilations - until, perhaps, now.

Three-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie was so fuming with the behaviour of a TV boat, who he claimed had consistently impeded him, that he abandoned ship and swam across to remonstrate - hauling himself aboard and letting the boat's skipper know, in no uncertain terms, exactly what he thought of his actions.

Ainslie, who was leading his Finn fleet at the time, then dived back into the water and got on with racing - only to later learn he had been charged with gross misconduct and disqualified from two races, meaning his hopes of a seventh world title, or even a medal, are now over.

As stories go it was one of the more unbelievable - a bit like the time then England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson was revealed as playing away fixtures with the lovely Ulrika.

When Ryan Bangs, our Olympics editor reporting in Perth, first phoned it through to our desk there was widespread disbelief and a feeling that perhaps the heat had started to get to him or he'd started drinking before the sun was over the yardarm.

Ainslie is one of the nicest and most amiable guys in sport, a genuine class act both on and off the water. But you don't win three Olympic golds, he also won silver in his debut Games as a teenager, without being a ferocious competitor, who will do whatever it takes to win.

However, you can feel some sympathy for Ainslie, who described the decision as a 'massive overreaction'.

Sailing is trying hard to improve its profile - and their key tactic is to make the action more television and spectator friendly. 

In no other sport do media get quite so close to the action, press boats - with demanding photographers, cameramen and reporters shouting their instructions - are right in the thick of it, sharing the same crowded water with the competitors.

Huge thanks for all the messages of support. Apologies to those who feel let down. Extreme provacation is the best way to describe it. But.. Ben Ainslie on Twitter

Broadcasters want their dramatic close up shots and this week's ISAF World Championships has seen several new ideas trialled to deliver them - to the annoyance of Ainslie's British team manager Stephen Park.

"At the moment the sport seems to be fumbling its way into trying to make the sport more appealing for television," he said.

"But surely there is a better way than trialling new race formats, rule regulations and, specifically in this case, media initiatives, than trialling them at the World Championships?"

And it's the same with spectators. 

Next year, for the first time in Olympic history, a ticketed area has been introduced for the sailing regatta with 4,600 pass holders accommodated every day on Nothe Gardens, which overlooks the planned medal race course in Weymouth harbour.

At the moment the sport seems to be fumbling its way into trying to make the sport more appealing for television. But surely there is a better way of trailling new race formats and, specifically in this case, media initiatives, than trailling them at the World Championships?" RYA Olympic manager Stephen Park

Tickets, which cost up to £55, have already sold out, generating revenue of approximately £250,000 a day for organisers Locog.

But former windsurfing world champion Nick Dempsey and Skandia Team GB colleague Ainslie have both expressed serious concerns about the suitability of the inshore course in certain weather conditions.

They rightly claim that it's not about the spectators, the television audiences or the atmosphere - it's about providing the best sailing course for those athletes who have worked their entire lives for that moment - and may never get it again.

"Sailing is going through a transition, they want more races closer to the shore because maybe that is the future of the sport commercially," said Ainslie, after his London 2012 selection was confirmed by the British Olympic Association in September.

"But this is the Olympics and the pureness of sport should come first."

Few sports people understand the harsh realities of commercial pressures better than sailors.

While well supported by the National Lottery and British sailing's long-term partner, investment specialist Skandia, they still need to raise thousands of additional pounds in sponsorship and endorsements to be competitive and they understand that media exposure is the return required of them.

But nothing - not a demanding media or fan with an expensive ticket - should ever come ahead of the most important thing and that is winning.

One last thought. When a TV car collided with Team Sky's Juan Antonio Fletcha during this year's Tour de France, the broadcaster responsible had their prized place in the race convoy revoked.

So was the TV boat involved yesterday back out on the water in Fremantle today?