In a clinical display of textbook match racing by the OneWorld team, young Australian helmsman James Spithill claimed the right hand end of the start line, heading off the line one second behind Jesper Bank's Swedish team down on the pin end.
The two yachts - USA-67 and SWE-63 - showed similar speed throughout the race, but OneWorld's afterguard did an excellent job of placing the dark blue yacht to take best advantage of every windshift. At the same time, they forced the Swedish yacht out of phase with the shifts and relentlessly worked their way into a lead of 34 seconds - about eight boat lengths - at the first mark.
Then, it was a matter of executing all their sail-handling moves with machine-like precision and, by maintaining a close cover, allowing the Swedish team no possibility of coming back.
The Swedes did make slight gains on the first two downwind legs, but they never looked like a serious threat to the very composed OneWorld team.
Racing was delayed for two hours to allow the wind to build, and unlike the past several days, by mid-afternoon, a solid 15-knot southerly was sweeping across the Hauraki Gulf providing perfect racing conditions.
Winds: S15k
Winning margin: 00.59
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
Racing schedule, results and standings
OneWorld's windward tactics defeat Swedes
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.