Land Rover BAR have officially been declared the winners of the America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth.

The British team, led by team principal and skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, posted a first and a second in yesterday’s two races, leaving them a point clear of Emirates Team New Zealand.

There were due to be two races today, with double points on offer however, strong gale-forced winds forced organizers to cancel the final two races.

Portsmouth has been buffeted by 30 knots winds and torrential rain all day, and the race committee decided that racing in such conditions was too risky.

“After discussions with the America’s Cup organizing committee, due to extreme weather we have had to take the difficult decision to cancel today’s racing, and Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event programme, and the site has been closed for the day,” an official statement read.

“We had hoped to go ahead with early racing, but with winds gusting in excess of 30mph we could not risk the safety of the crews and public, and their welfare is paramount.”

That left Land Rover BAR narrowly ahead of Emirates Team New Zealand, with Oracle Team USA, the America’s Cup Defender, rounding off the podium in third.

“We are very pleased to award the first prize to the home team, Land Rover BAR,” Jeremy Troughton, the event operations director, said.

There had been few surprises on day one of the America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth on Saturday.

Land Rover BAR sent the home crowd into raptures after sailing to a convincing victory in the first race to get their bid to bring the ‘Auld Mug’ back to Britain off on the front foot.

The home team came from deep in the pack to snatch the lead away from Team New Zealand on the second run to the leeward gate and kept clean air on their wing-sail the rest of the way.

The decision to deploy the ‘Code Zero’ — headsail — early on the fourth leg of the race proved to be decisive for the home team, the first British syndicate to race in the America’s Cup on the Solent since the first race for the Cup in 1851.

“Giles Scott, our tactician, did a wonderful job and the guys worked incredibly hard sailing the boat so it was a really good team effort,” Ainslie said. “It was very physical conditions and the work rate was incredibly high so we are very pleased to come through and take the win.

“I have never seen so many people turn up for a sailing event, so we are just really honoured as the home team to have that support. To win the first race in front of the home crowd was probably one of the best moments of my sailing career.”

The home team capped a fine outing by securing second in the second race after recovering from a poor start.

Breathing down Land Rover BAR’s neck are Team New Zealand, helmed by the Peter Burling, who is the youngest helmsman in the six-boat fleet.

Team New Zealand were third in the first race after allowing the lead to slip through their fingers on the fourth leg, but came storming back to win the second. The Kiwis led all but one leg before crossing the line first to deny hosts Land Rover BAR the sweep.

“Obviously I’m stoked to be out racing for Team New Zealand,” said Burling, who has won 18 consecutive regattas in the 49er Skiff. “I am really happy with how we went today.

“It was really difficult and we had to make a lot of decisions. But I’m really happy with how we dealt with it today and the improvement we made from race one to race two.”

Team New Zealand would have finished the day level on points with Land Rover BAR had they covered old foe Oracle Team USA on the short reach to the finish line in the first race.

Aggressive sailing by Jimmy Spithill, the Oracle skipper, on the layline to the leeward gate on the final run gave his boat the momentum needed after rounding the marker to surge ahead of the Kiwis on the last leg.

Spithill’s aggressiveness eventually caught up with him, though, as Oracle were slapped with a penalty at the start of the second race for infringement on Groupama Team France on the short reach to the top mark and had to settle for fourth.

“It was a tough day,” Spithill said. “But the guys tried to get every inch we could and kept pushing all day.”

Artemis Racing, the Swedish Challenger, also endured their share of misfortune in the second race after damaging their rigging on the second downwind run.

“We were in the mix and right on the back of the front guys and were coming in at the bottom mark and the winch got stripped and the sail went into the water and there was not much you can do to get back from that,” Nathan Outteridge, the team skipper, said.

Softbank Japan ended the day in fourth followed by Team France in fifth and Artemis Racing in last place.