Unless America's Cup syndicate Luna Rossa can find some more boat speed, their prospects are looking increasingly grim, says yachting commentator Peter Lester.
The Italians trail Team New Zealand 3-0 in the best-of-nine final of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Luna Rossa's 1m 38sec loss yesterday came after TeamNew Zealand latched on to better breeze on the right and NZL92 mowed them down.
Throughout the race, it was clear the black boat had a speed edge over Luna Rossa.
"That is the first time I have seen, in straight line speed, any of the boats actually power over the top of another one," Lester said.
"They are downplaying their speed but they were quick all day."
After a lay day, race four will be sailed at 1am tomorrow (NZ time), by which time the Italians will have had 48 hours of soul-searching.
As they were towed in after yesterday's heavy loss, their faces were as grey as the colour of their hull.
The final has been a turnaround in their fortunes from the semifinals against BMW Oracle Racing, which they won 5-1.
Luna Rossa afterguard member Ben Durham was confident his team could dig themselves out of the hole they were in.
"We just have to sail better. I think over the last three days, Team New Zealand have done a better job of getting off the line, getting up to speed well and getting the first shift. I think we can do better in all of those areas."
But Lester said the Italians faced a hard road to get back into the game.
"You can lose but if you are quicker you still have a chance of coming back.
"But if you lose and you are slower, psychologically that is difficult. When you are in that situation, the doubt comes in."
So what can Luna Rossa do?
"They have to win the starts and then hope like hell they get the conditions which suit them, which appears to be 13 knots, flat water.
"I think the bumpy water is knocking the hell out of them.
"Their sail set-up looked a little flatter and a little closed in the head of the mainsail whereas the Kiwis' [mainsail] looked a little deeper, a little more round back in the bottom and the head was quite open.
"I think the Kiwis are starting to pull out equipment that we probably haven't seen before."
Yesterday, Team New Zealand used a covering on a pit winch, which looked like a cyclist's racing helmet, aimed at reducing drag. They also sailed with a lighter mainsail and asymmetrical spinnaker, items they had kept under wraps until now.
And what would defenders Alinghi be thinking?
"I am sure Alinghi will keep banging on that they have got a longer stick than anyone else," Lester said. "But it wouldn't have gone unnoticed."
