( CNN ) Given his sailing pedigree it 's the last thing you would expect , but America 's Cup hero Sir Ben Ainslie had to send out a distress call after sailing into trouble on his honeymoon . And who better to answer a knight 's call for help than another knight of the British realm , Sir Richard Branson . A four-time Olympic sailing gold medalist , Ainslie was on honeymoon in the Caribbean with his new wife , British TV presenter Georgie Thompson , when the furling system broke on the vessel 's main sail . `` Seeing as Ben is one of the greatest sailors of all time , what we did n't except to see was his boat getting into trouble ! '' Branson explained on his blog . `` However , his boat had a serious mechanical problem , in no way Ben 's fault , and he put a message out asking for help . '' Ainslie was sailing close to Branson 's private Necker Island , where some of the tycoon 's staff soon sailed to the rescue helping to cut the tangled sail to pieces . `` Unsurprisingly , Ben kept an amazingly cool head whilst directing operations -- he just needed more hands to sort out the mess , '' the billionaire added . It 's not the first Ainslie has extricated himself from sticky situations . The 37-year-old Briton captured a fourth consecutive gold at the 2012 London Olympics after a poor start to the competition . The following year he played a pivotal role in Oracle Team USA 's dramatic America 's Cup win . He joined the crew as the team 's tactician and helped turn an 8-1 deficit into a 9-8 triumph . Once back on dry land , the newly weds holidayed with Branson on Necker Island for a few days . The sailing star will be soon returning to his life on the ocean waves as he continues his plan to lead a British team to victory in the next edition of the America 's Cup in 2017 .
Sir Ben Ainslie is rescued by Sir Richard Branson while sailing on his honeymoon . Ainslie sent out a distress call after his boat 's main sail became tangled . Hide Caption The staff on Branson 's private island helped steer Ainslie to shore .