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Lady Pippa Blake sailed with Team New Zealand today in what was Anzac Day in Valencia.
The widow of the late Sir Peter Blake sailed as 18th person on NZL92 in their match against Team Shosholoza which the New Zealanders comfortably won by 1m 23s.
Team New Zealand went onto claim an equally decisive 1m 03s win over United Internet Team Germany in their second match.
After Shosholoza claimed the scalp of Luna Rossa the day before and came close to tipping over BMW Oracle Racing in flight 3, the New Zealanders had every reason to be weary of the first cup challenge out of South Africa.
However the match failed to live up to expectations. The New Zealanders had it won in the pre-start. Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker was all over his rivals who ground to a halt in the middle of the startbox.
Barker swooped on them like a shark easily claimed the favoured right hand side. The South Africans managed to recover and crossed the line on the left at speed.
The two sides engaged in tacking duel up the first beat, the South Africans not letting go off the Kiwis. However three quarters of the way up the pedal went down on NZL92 and Team New Zealand eased ahead.
The Kiwis lead by 23s at the first mark, 47s at the gate before extending to 1m 15s at the weather mark.
The Germans provided Barker with a bit more of a challenge in the prestart, although not much more. Once again Barker dominated and sailed over the startline in the favoured right hand position. By the top mark Team New Zealand had a 30s lead which they extended over the next two legs.
Team New Zealand runner/pit Tony Rae said Barker's starts probably looked aggressive.
"They felt aggressive to what we have been doing on the boat. With a little more breeze you can be a bit more aggressive with a bit more pressure and you can throw the boats around a bit. Dean did a great job tying Shosholoza up for a long time then getting the start we wanted. Both of them went to plan, we got what we wanted and controlled the race from the start which was pretty nice."
After six races Team New Zealand have recorded five wins and a loss.
They are scheduled to face China Team and Luna Rossa tonight and Victory Challenge and BMW Oracle Racing tomorrow night in their final round robin one races. Chris Dicksons' BMW Oracle Racing remain the only unbeaten team so far.
