Match point to Team NZ after day of dominance

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Author: Christopher Reive,
Publish Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2024, 9:09am

By Christopher Reive in Barcelona

On a day America’s Cup regatta director Iain Murray deemed “a sailors’ day of opportunity” it was Team New Zealand who seized it.

The defender of the America’s Cup moved to match point in their best-of-13 series against Ineos Britannia in Barcelona this morning, impeccably navigating a tricky day of patchy breeze to two dominant race wins. The wins by 1m 13s and 55s were their biggest winning margins of the Cup match so far.

After the Kiwi crew dropped two contests on their most recent day of racing, a change in conditions appeared to work in their favour as the sea state had dropped away. It was still bumpy, but the waves were not nearly as big as they were two days ago.

“We were loving it. It feels a bit like a southwester off Takapuna,” Team NZ starboard helmsman Peter Burling said.

“It was super shifty, you had to use the modes a lot and the power team behind me, both sides, put in a huge stint both races to give us heaps and send it around the race track, and what awesome boats to be doing it in.”

In the opening race of the day, it looked as though it was advantage Ineos Britannia off the starting line, as they fended off a couple of attacking moves from Team NZ and positioned themselves to hit the course at speed, while Team NZ looked like they would be late to the line.

If they were it was only marginally, but they had set themselves up to secure the best of the breeze. Sailing in better pressure, they were able to get the jump on Ineos Britannia up the first beat and were in position to match tacks when the Brits made their first move.

That forced the Brits to head straight back out to the unfavoured side of the course and set the Kiwis up for a big win.

It was a day where securing the better side of the course was key, and one where the weather team shone for Team NZ.

“It’s a tricky day. A lot of shifts and up and down a lot, and very, very dynamic being an offshore breeze,” Team NZ coach Ray Davies said during the first race of the day.

“They’re sailing really well. It was always going to be super challenging and the weather team picked a really nice right shift and got that through to the boat so they got that initial advantage up the first beat.”

From there, Team NZ, who were sailing with a slightly smaller jib than the Brits, set off protecting the breeze and extended their lead on every leg of the race to claim their first win by more than a minute of the series.

It was more of the same in the day’s second race, which was extended from six to eight legs, with race management happy the breeze would give them a longer race of the same duration.

Team NZ executed one of their best pre-starts of the series to jump off the starting line and quickly take a stranglehold of the race.

With one side of the course having significantly better breeze, the British had no choice but to either follow Team NZ around or try to connect the puffs elsewhere on the course and hope the Kiwis gave them a way back into the race.

That wasn’t made any easier with a slight touchdown on leg two, but Ineos Britannia made solid ground on the fifth of eight legs.

Ultimately, the Kiwis closed out a 55s win to move one win away from defending the Auld Mug.

Sailing is scheduled to resume tomorrow, however, light conditions are expected to bring delays to racing, as Team NZ port helmsman Nathan Outteridge reminded his crew after racing this morning.

“I hope you enjoyed the breeze because that could be the last of it for a while.”