NZME's sailing professor Mark Orams provides the briefing for Day 4 of racing.
The PredictWind forecast for the America's Cup course area is for winds similar to day 3 with 14-19 knots from the west to northwest. This provides a good opportunity for Team New Zealand to match up again against Artemis and see if they are able to change the mode of their boat to match Artemis. On Day 3 Artemis sailed in an upwind mode that was a wider angle to the wind direction and much faster in boat speed. Team New Zealand, in contrast, sailed a mode that was a closer angle to the mark but slower in boat speed. So, expect to see Team New Zealand try to sail in a lower mode on Day 4.
Another key match up is Artemis against LandRover Team BAR in the third race of the day. Ben Ainslie's team is under big pressure given they have not won any races over the past two days. However, Artemis has a very quick turn around from racing against Team NZ and unless they have a strategy of changing grinders out to get fresh crew onboard, fatigue could be a factor.
Expect Race 2 of the day to be dominated by Oracle. The French have provided two upset wins, but they will be up against it against the defender Oracle who are strong all around.
We can expect an on-time start at 5am New Zealand time. The race schedule is as follows:
Race 1: Sweden vs NZL
Race 2: USA vs France
Race 3: GBR vs Sweden
America's Cup: What to expect on day four
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