The America's Cup: Emirates Team New Zealand brilliance takes 37th America's Cup to match point at 6-2

In smoother sea-state conditions, Emirates Team New Zealand looked a different boat, able to employ a consistent ride height and smooth, fast manoeuvres whilst their sailing team out-smarted and out-fought the Challenger to now sit just one win away from defending the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.

Right from the outset, Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher, helmsmen of ‘Britannia’ laid their stall out, crossing from the port side with the finest of margins before circling immediately with intent to get on the Kiwi’s tail who had entered the starting box at pace and very much up for the fight.

Sharp turns and fine execution from both teams yielded a fascinating lead-back to the line with the British making the better time-on-distance but Emirates Team New Zealand crucially held the windward position and immediately adopted a high mode with a smaller J3 jib than the British who had set a larger J2.

With a north-westerly breeze filtering off the land, filling and shifting wildly and delivering pressure between 8-14 knots, this was a day for the ‘wind-whisperers’ and it was Peter Burling and Nathan Outteridge onboard ‘Taihoro’ who maintained constant dialogue with their trim team of Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney up the first beat, who read it best. Determined to hold the right, the Kiwis defended hard, first tacking on the bow of Britannia and forcing them left before ignoring the British and heading hard right into a big left shift that secured a lead that was almost insurmountable by the first mark.

Over six legs, Emirates Team New Zealand sailed supremely – with the boat performing immaculately in the flat water – and just extended away whilst never giving INEOS Britannia any kind of positional leverage to get back into the race. At each turning gate the Kiwis gained and by the finish they crossed the line one minute and 13 seconds ahead to take the scoreline to 5-2 after a commanding performance.

With the conditions staying challenging and both boats equalised on the same jib codes, the eighth race was again all about reading the shifts. After a pre-start where Emirates Team New Zealand maintained a controlling leeward position throughout, angling for a chance of shutting out the British at the starboard end of the line, Peter Burling nailed the final approach to the line – starting just one metre back at a speed of 38 knots.

Britannia, to windward, was first to tack away, but the Kiwis ignored the chance to immediately cover, clicking into more pressure and digging into it before tacking back to the right side. The gain was immediate and by the first gate, Emirates Team New Zealand were 15 seconds up and looking imperious.

Throughout the eight legs of a very challenging course, INEOS Britannia could only hope to make gambler’s gains, choosing the left side on the third upwind and narrowing the Kiwi’s lead to 23 seconds, but a masterful seventh leg, the last upwind, saw Emirates Team New Zealand nail two shifts and round the final windward gate with an advantage out to some 50 seconds.

From there it was just pure execution and tactical positioning that allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to gybe consistently on the pressure builds and come across the finish line on the port layline to record a resounding 55-second victory and take the scoreline to 6-2, one race win away from completing a successful defence of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup.

In the pre-race briefing Iain Murray, the highly experienced Race Director, said that today was “a sailor’s day of opportunity” and so it proved. Emirates Team New Zealand read the conditions to near-perfection and showed some of the slickest boat-handling that has been seen in this regatta. They barely put a foot wrong on their manoeuvre execution all afternoon and at 6-2, the mountain for INEOS Britannia to climb is steep.

Nevertheless, the British will keep plugging away relentlessly in the true never-say-die spirit of the America’s Cup and with Saturday’s forecast looking super-light and possibly unfit for racing, it could well prove to be an interesting weekend.

With fans arriving to catch the on-water action and the unique shoreside atmosphere from all around the world, the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup is set for a grandstand conclusion where, one way or another, history will be made in Barcelona.

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