Across nearly two months since the beginning of the final preliminary regatta, the teams have seen seemingly everything the Mediterranean could have thrown at them.
One thing that has become apparent, however, is that you can’t read too much into forecasts until the teams are actually out on the course.
That was again the case this morning, with some concerns the wind would fade into the afternoon and they might get only get one race completed for the day.
Instead, the offshore breeze hung around long enough for both of the day’s races to get under way on time, Team New Zealand winning both and moving to match point in the first-to-seven series.
“The forecast looked optimistic, but it’s always hard to believe the offshore breeze is going to hold in here in Barcelona,” Team NZ starboard flight controller Andy Maloney said.
“We had to see it before we fully believed it, but once it started picking up, we were pretty confident the day would keep charging.”
Getting both races away was one thing, but for Team NZ to be able to control both races as they did was another.
The right-hand side of the course was the favoured side for both contests, with considerably better pressure available to whichever team could set themselves up to control it.
Emirates Team New Zealand won both races on day five of the America's Cup match. Photo / Georgia Schofield, Photosport
Team NZ managed to do that in both races, going on to post their two widest winning margins of the Cup match so far. It was a strong way to rebound after dropping back-to-back races in bigger waves on Wednesday, and sets up the potential for a milestone weekend for them.
“Everyone was just really satisfied to put together two really good, clean races in those really tricky conditions,” Maloney said.
“We might have got a shift or two wrong but we sailed a lot of really good shifts today. It’s just hugely satisfying as a crew. Everyone was pretty pumped to bounce back from a couple of losses on Wednesday.”
Weather will again be the talking point over the weekend, with very light winds forecast tomorrow and the following day.
From this point on, every day is a race day, so it could be a case of the teams having to sit and wait patiently on the course each day in the hope enough breeze builds to meet the 6.5-knot minimum.
“We’ll be ready for anything. The weekend looks really light and we’ll be hoping to get some racing in.”
America’s Cup match results
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Ineos Britannia by 41s
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Ineos Britannia by 27s
