The Sportspedia
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), led by multiple World Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, defeated Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) to claim their 6th America’s Cup regatta win but the little wind prevented them from securing a title-clinching seventh.
Yesterday the Italian team suffered a very hard emotional blow: they lost two regattas and in one of them, the second, they were winning by four minutes and ended up losing by four minutes due to a penalty.
By winning both regattas today, New Zealand could have claimed to successfully defend the America’s Cup they won four years ago.
The Italians took an advantage of a few meters at the start of the race. After the first ball they were almost even and still in the middle of the race they were very close.
It was a very good regatta, where the two boats took care of the details. With almost four sixths of the race New Zealand was closing in but Italy moved well to send dirty air to the locals.
After the fifth door you could hear the “hurry up, boys!” In New Zealand and took the lead on the right side, with six more knots of speed over Italy.
In the last part they took an advantage of almost half a kilometer (thirty seconds) and in this way New Zealand achieved the victory that put them one away of ensuring they remain with the Cup for four more years … 6-3 and triple match point.
Poor wind conditions halted the activity… And now Italy has to do something historic to come back.
