As the best-of-13 series between defender Team New Zealand and challenger Ineos Britannia observed the final layday in the schedule overnight, the intrigue turned to what shaped up as a crucial day on the water.
The teams will return to the Mediterranean Sea with the scoreboard sitting at 4-2 in Team NZ’s favour, but on the back of a day where the challenger pegged back two races in high swells and building breeze.
It was a tale of two starts in yesterday morning’s racing; Team NZ falling off their foils in the pre-start of the first, before letting Ineos Britannia off the hook after seemingly having them pinned in a compromised position prior to the race getting under way.
The Brits won both starts and, ultimately, both races; a byproduct of the Kiwi crew’s mistakes rather than Ineos Britannia’s prowess in the pre-start, Team NZ flight controller Blair Tuke said.
“I don’t think they’re that strong, to be honest,” he said when asked what made the British so good in the pre-start.
“They’re a well-drilled team and they are not afraid to throw the boat around, but neither are we. I’ve said the whole time that we’ve got full trust in our boat and the way we can manoeuvre it, and I think it was more unforced errors from us today that let them get the two starts.”
Emirates Team New Zealand flight controller Blair Tuke. Photo / Georgia Schofield, Photosport
With high breezes and more big waves on the racecourse area this morning, neither team ventured out for on-water practice, but instead spent the day onshore preparing for what was to come. When racing resumes for two scheduled contests tomorrow, Team NZ could move to match point or within two wins of defending, while Ineos Britannia could tie the series up.
Barcelona has proven to be a tricky location for predicting conditions, with it being hard to pinpoint exactly what to expect until the boats get out on the water. However, forecasts 24 hours out suggested the breeze would be toward the lower end of the wind range for tomorrow, with the sea state dropping away a bit.
“For every hour you see us sailing out there, there’s at least one, if not more hours in the simulator looking at strategies and trying to work out how to either combat a move or to put your opposition into another one,” Tuke said.
“That’s a big part of it and it will be in the next couple of days, how we just keep trying to adapt our strategies. Neither team is standing still here, so it’s not about how to win a start we did today or any other day, it’s how to keep winning starts as they adapt and go forward.”
On the first reserve day, on Wednesday (NZ time), Ineos Britannia did take their boat out for training and were said to have been throwing it around the course in their bid to squeeze as much performance out of it as possible.
Ineos Britannia won both races on day four of the America's Cup match. Photo / Georgia Schofield, Photosport
When asked about Team NZ’s decision not to get some time on the water as well, Tuke said they made the right decision of focusing on their work in the simulator instead and people couldn’t read too much into that when looking at how the Brits turned a 4-0 deficit into a 4-2 scoreline.
“We got out there and got into the swing of things pretty well. It’s not like we had the day off yesterday, of course,” Tuke said after yesterday’s racing.
“We probably spent the same amount of time or more in the simulator going over things, but if you come off the foils in the first one of the day all that practice in the simulator wasn’t worth it, but that’s the way it goes.
“We’ll figure out the best way into those races on Friday [local time] and come out firing. We’re pretty pumped up.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
