Team NZ now lead Luna Rossa 6-1 in the first-to-seven series and it may be touch and go whether the second - and possibly final-race is sailed in about an hour from now, thanks to strengthening breezes winds which may threaten the regatta's safety limits.
Even though Team New Zealand won by 1m 58s today, the Italians were competitive downwind but were literally blown away upwind.
The ability to sail quickly upwind is shaping more and more as the key to this 34th America's Cup. The Kiwis yet again won the pre-start and the sprint to the first mark but were only 27s ahead after the first downwind leg.
It all changed on the big upwind leg. The Kiwis have been improving upwind all regatta and today they pulled away convincingly, using that semi-foiling style where the hulls only just kiss the water, reducing drag. They got the better of the tacking duels and rounded the third mark 1m 52s ahead, pulling out from a 200m lead to well over 700m.
At the time of writing, the wind on San Francisco Bay was already over the 22.3 knots mark for the next race - so New Zealand might have to wait until tomorrow to claim the Louis Vuitton Cup for the third time.
"It's just awesome sailing these boats," said ETNZ skipper Dean Barker, happy with the performance but quick to add his usual caveat that they need to find more speed yet.
"It would be nice to get another race in. It was always going to be dicey for race two today but, if we can, we are up for it. Unfortunately, the wind is up to about 23 knots at the moment and we are in a windy part of the course. It's a matter of whether the wind is established in other parts of the course."
- Herald on Sunday
