BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — INEOS Britannia got back into the America’s Cup final after scoring its first two wins over Emirates Team New Zealand, cutting the deficit in the first-to-seven series to 4-2 on Wednesday.
The British capitalized on uncharacteristic mistakes by the Kiwis, who gifted their rivals a huge lead before Race 5 even started and then suffered another slip that hurt their chances of catching Britannia on a close Race 6.
“There is still a long way to go, but the comeback is on,” Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said from his cockpit.
Later, he added on shore: “It’s a massive day for our team to really believe we can get back in this, and now the trick is to ride that momentum all the way.”
The British have never won the America’s Cup in its 173-year history and are in their first final in six decades. New Zealand is trying to win the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in international sport, for a third straight time and fifth overall.
New Zealand had sailed flawlessly to sweep the first four races held in view of the Barcelona beachfront. But the defenders couldn’t handle the low winds and high waves and made their first error of the series when their yacht fell off its foils during a turn in the pre-start buildup.
The Taihoro was left flailing while Britannia buzzed it twice before taking off to build a huge advantage. When Britannia crossed the line New Zealand was almost 1,200 meters behind.
“It was a dream scenario for a start to have one boat off the foils and be able to get away with a clean start,” said Britannia trimmer Bleddyn Mon.
The British followed that up with a second victory that will surely be a bigger boost to their confidence. The Kiwis were closing when a dip of the hull into the water cost them valuable time in a contest that was decided by just seven seconds.
“You make a few little mistakes and you lose races,” New Zealand skipper Peter Burling said. “That’s what we love about sport, and we also have a battle on our hands.”
Ainslie said that practicing on Tuesday in similarly choppy waves, while New Zealand stayed at base, helped prepare his team for similar waters once the racing resumed. That and a Britannia hull design suited for wavier water, compared to the New Zealand boat which he said appeared to perform better in flat seas.
As reigning champion, New Zealand had a guaranteed spot in America’s Cup finals, in addition to picking the venue and the rules. The Taihoro hadn’t raced for a month until the finals started on Saturday as it sat out the playoff rounds.
Britannia came in with more real racing practice and counts on the backing of the engineering expertise of the Mercedes Formula 1 team. New Zealand, for its part, relies on an in-house design team that produced the revolutionary design for the 75-foot AC75s.
Races 7 and 8 are scheduled for Friday, giving New Zealand one day to figure out what went wrong.
“We didn’t really executed our best today, so we let ourselves down,” ETNZ helmsman Nathan Outteridge said. “We will go and review that tonight and come back in better shape.”
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