Emirates Team New Zealand in action during day two of the America's Cup preliminary regatta in Barcelona. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand in action during day two of the America's Cup preliminary regatta in Barcelona. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
Of their three wins in the America’s Cup preliminary regatta in Barcelona, Team New Zealand have had to complete just one race.
French challenger Orient Express Racing Team opted to retire from their race against the defender before it even began on day two of the regatta due to technical issues.
“Nothing too big for tomorrow or the next day, but we’d prefer to keep the boat state in good shape to be ready for tomorrow and the day after,” Orient Express helmsman Quentin Delapierre said.
“Nothing specific but we just need to keep the yacht in good shape for the next day, so we prefer to retire from the Defender today.”
It comes after Italian syndicate Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were forced to retire from their opening race against Team New Zealand after a technical issue saw them splashdown on the first leg of the contest.
When Team New Zealand have been out on the water they have sailed their AC75 Taihoro nicely, provided a glimpse at how fast the boat is, and showed how comfortable they are with manoeuvring the vessel.
That was on display in their second race of the regatta against British challenger Ineos Britannia, executing superbly in the pre-start to force the Brits into a mistake that saw them come off their foils.
Emirates Team New Zealand in action during day two of the America's Cup preliminary regatta in Barcelona. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
That essentially decided the race, as Team New Zealand pushed out to a clear lead off the starting line that the Brits could not cut into. While they would have liked to get another race under their belts to close out the day, it wasn’t to be – though they did have to cross the starting line to get the win so executed a pre-start anyway.
“It’s a real shame,” Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling said of the French having to retire from their race.
“We had a really fun first race against Ben – a really fun pre-start I should say, but a bit of a soldier’s course on the race. We were looking forward to another one against the French, but it wasn’t to be.”
With three wins on the board, the Kiwi crew are the only team to be perfect through two days of sailing.
American Magic, who Team New Zealand will meet in their final race of the round-robin stage of the regatta, and Luna Rossa have also looked good in their races so far, emerging as the pick of the challengers as their boats look fast and they are sailing nicely.
It was Luna Rossa who got the better of the Americans in their head-to-head race; the Italian boat executing well in the pre-start, though American Magic stayed hot on their tails for the whole race.
It was American Magic’s second race of the day, as they opened proceedings with a comfortable win over Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
Preliminary regatta day two results
American Magic (USA) beat Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland)
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Ineos Britannia (UK)
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy) beat American Magic (USA)
Emirates Team New Zealand beat Orient Express Racing Team (France)
