The America's Cup: Start box drama as Emirates Team New Zealand extend lead to 3-0 in Louis Vuitton 37th America's Cup match

Conditions were promising in the early afternoon, but forecasters were expecting a slow shut-down of the easterly breeze which, unfortunately, took place faster than expected.

With His Majesty King Felipe VI looking on from onboard the Spanish aircraft carrier ‘Juan Carlos I,’ race three of the first-to-seven-points series got underway on time with pressure patches dotted around the course yielding up to 11 knots and the average strength at around 8-9 knots.

With a two points to zero overnight lead the Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand were clearly in no mood to pass up opportunities and as both boats circled in the early stages of the pre-start it was a pre-ordained and clearly much practised move by the Kiwi afterguard of Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge that yielded an early penalty advantage.

INEOS Britannia had sailed into the box on port gybe before executing something of a trademark move – heading up after crossing the incoming Kiwi boat’s bow before tacking around above the start line to try to get on their rival’s stern. However, as the British came down below the line on port gybe they were confronted by Emirates Team New Zealand coming directly at them on starboard – and as the right-of-way boat.

As the gauge between the boats quickly closed INEOS Britannia were required to give room, but they were late to do so, and the yachts got so close that their foils were overlapped. Both boats protested before, moments later, Chief Umpire Richard Slater penalised the British team with a ‘get-back’ penalty of 75 metres.

Despite expending the penalty quickly by giving up the necessary distance after the start, the INEOS Britannia helmsmen Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher would have known, even at that early stage, that this would be a hard race to get back into.

Try as they might, the British were met with a doggedly determined Emirates Team New Zealand crew that allowed their opponents no possible leverage as they covered tenaciously throughout the three laps of the 27-minute race.

The Kiwis gained on every leg, picking the wind pressure beautifully across a tricky easterly facing course that was peppered with pressure patches that came and went indiscriminately. As the race wore on and the wind dropped to around seven knots, Emirates Team New Zealand’s delicate flight control balance and superior speed out of tacks and gybes saw them extend out to a 52-second victory. INEOS Britannia will take heart from similar straight-line speeds between the boats but the Kiwis have good pace in the manoeuvres and a super-smooth style all around the course.

Emirates Team New Zealand marched forward to 3-0 in this first-to-seven series with all the assuredness of a champion team at the very top of the sport of sailing. As Defenders of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup they have been virtually faultless so far in this series. For INEOS Britannia, the scale of the task ahead of them is clear, leaving them looking to quickly reset and perhaps hope for different conditions later in the week.

Sadly, for the thousands of spectators in Barcelona that had packed the Race Village and the nearby free-to-enter Fanzones at Plaça del Mar and Bogatell beach, the armada of boats around the racecourse, as well as for race fans around the world watching the global broadcast, the fourth race of the series had to be postponed to tomorrow, Monday October 14, after the wind faded away as had been accurately predicted.

INEOS Britannia are in a fight now to shift the momentum in the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match their way, whilst Emirates Team New Zealand will be determined to apply maximum scoreboard pressure by continuing to chalk up the race wins. It’s the first crew to seven points who will lift the America’s Cup trophy, but this 173-year-old competition has seen plenty of upsets as well as stunning comebacks from seemingly impossible situations, throughout its well-storied history

Will we see more of the same in this current edition? Tomorrow both teams know they will need to be at peak performance for what is scheduled to be a single-race day starting at 1410 CET.

Text and images courtesy of the America’s Cup. Read more at americascup.com.