Yachting: Team NZ sweep into the lead in Cup regatta

Jeremy Lomas guides NZL84 during the pre-start tactical battle. Picture / Chris Cameron

Team New Zealand's NZL84 continues to look good in the final match-racing regatta before next year's America's Cup.

Following Alinghi's upset loss to Victory Challenge, Team New Zealand leads the round robin competition with three races to go before the semifinals and final.

Today is a reserve day. Emirates Team New Zealand will face Shosholoza and Alinghi early tomorrow morning and Oracle on Thursday.

While caution is needed when discussing the potential of NZL84 following the failure of the black boat in the last cup - its speed over the past four days has been impressive in both light and heavier conditions.

Its pace was most evident in Team New Zealand's comeback win against Luna Rossa.

Recovering from an abysmal start, the New Zealanders put their bow down and squeezed past their rivals at the top mark. From there they gained in each leg apart from the last.

Yachting commentator Peter Lester said NZL84 had always looked good upwind, but since last month's regattas it seems to be going even faster upwind and notably better downwind.

"It is almost the benchmark upwind," he said. "For me, the really pleasing aspect after they sailed around Luna Rossa was the way they held them off and extended downwind [which] was pretty significant."

Team New Zealand appear fractionally faster than Luna Rossa but it could be a different story against Alinghi and Oracle.

"It looks like they are very close to, if not the fastest in the fleet ... but the gap between the teams is just metres a mile, not boat lengths."

Yachting World journalist Matthew Sheahan said NZL84 appeared to be a good all-round yacht which did not have any weak points.

"It doesn't seem to accelerate off the line amazingly quickly but it is a quick boat."

However, Oracle's USA87 impressed Sheahan the most.

"It just seems to have the ability to accelerate and squirt out of situations but it also has the ability to stop like it has amazing brakes on it," he said.

"There has been all sort of talk about what they might have underneath but I think now everyone accepts that it is a conventional configuration - it has a keel and a rudder.

"But the rudder does seem to be a long way forward and it has been rumoured that maybe they can rotate it all the way around - which might explain why it can stop so quickly."

However, Lester said while USA87 could accelerate and turn quickly, at times it looked difficult to sail.

Alinghi's SUI75, which was built for the last cup, is still remarkably competitive. The yacht, which had a hull appendage fitted to it leading up to the last cup, has been transformed significantly. The syndicate has continued to make gains, with the boat giving them an ideal starting point for their new boats.

Sheahan said it would be interesting to see if teams tried something different with their second new boats.

"I am sure Oracle have got something fancy," he said. "They do seem quietly confident at the moment."

However, he thought Team New Zealand has made the "biggest jump" since the last regatta.

The New Zealanders scored another two victories yesterday, beating United Internet Team Germany and Spain's Desafio Espanol.

Their match against the Spanish was close until the Spanish fouled at the top mark and had to perform an immediate penalty turn which allowed the Kiwis to sail away.

The big upset came when Victory Challenge beat Alinghi. The Swedes were faster at the start and led around the first mark by 16s.

They managed to fend off constant attacks from the Swiss to claim a morale-boosting 21s win. The loss was just Alinghi's fifth in 52 races.