BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — INEOS Britannia scored its first two victories over Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup finals on Wednesday and now trails the first-to-seven wins 4-2.
After being dominated on first three days of racing, the British were gifted a big lead in Race 5 and then held off a hard-charging New Zealand in Race 6 by seven seconds.
New Zealand had sailed flawlessly to sweep the first four races held in view of the Barcelona beachfront. But the Kiwis made their first mistake of the series when their yacht fell off its foils in the pre-start buildup for the day’s first regatta.
The Taihoro was left flailing while Britannia buzzed it twice before taking off to build a huge advantage. Winds just above the 6.5-knot minimum made just keeping the 75-foot monohulls on their foils key. When Britannia crossed the line New Zealand was almost 1,200 meters behind.
“It’s a good win for us,” said Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said after Race 5. “We trained for those situations, to make it stick and get the Kiwis off the foils. Obviously, it was pretty tough for them from then on. We did a good job to get the boat around the course.”
The British followed that up with a second victory that will surely be a big boost to their confidence.
New Zealand is trying to win the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in international sport, for a third straight time and fifth overall. The British have never won it in its 173-year history and are in their first final in six decades.
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