Mark Orams and Bianca Cook join Cheree Kinnear to review all of the America's Cup news after a nail biting Day 2 of racing, with the Kiwis and Italians now locked at two wins a piece. Video / NZ Herald
The America's Cup match remains level.
After Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa traded wins on the opening day, the two did so again on day two to see the scores sit at 2-2 after four of a possible 13 races.
In a day of light and inconsistent conditions, the performances followed suit, particularly Luna Rossa who sailed a near-flawless race in the opening contest on the day, before an error on the second leg of race two saw Team New Zealand cruise to victory by a large margin.
Things were relatively interesting down the first leg of the second race as the boats remained close and hope remained for a possible pass or two downwind. But it became an exercise rather than a high-pressure race when a bad Luna Rossa gybe saw them drop right off the pace as they had an issue with their foils.
While Luna Rossa dropped off the pace, Team New Zealand sailed a strong race, showing their pace and making clean manoeuvres up and down the course, eventually winning by 63 seconds.
"This is a thrashing...800 metres in front," said Orams. "It looked as though they [Team NZ] were getting the boat into the groove.
Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team compete in America's Cup Race #4 between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. Photo / Getty Images.
"We also learned that Te Rehutai is fast, in these light winds, this is something we did not know before today. The numbers coming off her suggest a speed advantage over LR in these under 10 knots of wind speed conditions.
"That's a surprise because almost everyone picked LR to be the faster boat in the very light winds. However even if you are faster these narrow race tracks mean that it is extremely difficult to get past the boat in front.
"If we track back over the races from the Prada Cup semifinals, finals and now these first four races of the AC, in 16 out of 17 races, the boat leading off the start wins."
Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team compete in America's Cup Race #4 between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa. Photo / Getty Images.
It was a different story earlier in the afternoon, when Luna Rossa claimed a 37-second win for a short-lived lead in the series.
Despite some onboard issues before racing that appeared to threaten Luna Rossa's day, they sailed a near-faultless race to further show they are well and truly capable of winning this competition.
The teams both got out of the starting gate well, but Luna Rossa got the better of the first manoeuvre, and executed well, sailing in the face of Team New Zealand to build a handy lead on the first leg.
The defender needed to find something, and opted to split the course around the first gate. Initially, it looked as though it had been a good move, as Team New Zealand ate into the Luna Rossa lead on the second leg.
However, an excellent third leg from the Italians saw them more than double their lead through the halfway point in the race, which they extended further late in the race to claim a clean and clear win.
