Mark Orams: Cream rises to top as America's Cup challengers master conditions, cats

The resurgence of Artemis Racing contributed to the best day of sailing yet at the America's Cup challenger series. Photo/America's Cup

The penultimate day of the America's Cup qualifier series produced the highest quality sailing we have seen yet in this regatta.

To date, we have seen teams make mistakes, there have been penalties handed out, frequent crashes off the foils and multiple passes.

By contrast, today there was not one pass made, all day, by any team. The team that won the start was first to Mark 1, was never headed and they won the race.

It was less exciting from a spectator point of view, but a sign that these teams are really getting themselves sorted on the AC50 catamarans. That said, there were a few other factors.

Firstly, the wind conditions were the most stable we have seen yet on the Great Sound. While still a little up and down in strength, it was more consistent than previous days.

The second influential factor was the skewed race course, which means the axis of the course the yachts were sailing on was not in the same direction as the wind, as it usually is.

Today, the wind was coming from the right of the course axis, meaning the yachts were able to travel in more of a straight line towards the mark on one tack or gybe. This scenario always favours the leading yacht, as the trailing yacht has fewer options to split and find a passing lane.

It also means the races are shorter in duration and this also favours a leading yacht, because they have less time to have to defend. Regardless, the two teams that impressed most today were Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing.

The first race of the day was the most complete race we have seen from Team New Zealand. They dominated the start against the regatta's best starting team to date in Softbank Team Japan.

From there, they sailed flawlessly. Team Japan are not slow - they have a competitive package - but Team New Zealand just put them away,

Good speed, great turns, good decisions on the race track and very impressive. I am sure they will find things to improve upon, but from the outside, I cannot think of a single thing they could have done better.

It's unusual for "Armchair Admirals" like me, watching from the outside, to not find a fault somewhere, but for me, this was a complete performance.

Artemis have finally realised their potential today and shown us what they are capable of. In doing so, they have done Team NZ a huge favour in beating Oracle Team USA for a second time.

This has opened the door for a showdown tomorrow between Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA for the first place finish in the qualifying series, and the chance to take a point into the America's Cup match (assuming Emirates Team NZ become the challengers).

If Team USA beat Team NZ in the race tomorrow, then both teams could still finish tied on points at the top of the table, but the tiebreak is who beat who in the America's Cup World Series (a series competed in over 2015 and 2016).

Oracle finished second and Team NZ third, so Oracle would take the point.

Can Emirates Team New Zealand beat Oracle tomorrow? Absolutely they can, but remember that Oracle are the best in the business of never, ever giving up and they will take the same determination and self-belief into tomorrow's race.

Even if they do lose, they will continue to work in every way they can to negate and undermine any advantage they perceive Team New Zealand to have.

The mantra within Team New Zealand must remain continual improvement in all areas, composure, focus and self-belief.

By Mark Orams, The Sailing Professor - AUT University School of Sport and Recreation