America’s Cup: Kiwis snare third race

San Francisco, CA (September 8, 2013) – The second day of the 34th America’s Cup picked up right where the first day ended between defender Oracle Team USA and challenger Emirates Team New Zealand. Similar winds, similar tides, similar result as the Kiwis took their third straight win of the series.

With the tide flooding, the Kiwis again took the windward position, breaking the line a second ahead of the Americans. However, unlike the first two races, the Americans were able to hold even and gain inside position at mark one. Kiwi skipper Dean Barker thought he had a chance to roll the Americans at the mark, but American skipper Jimmy Spithill gave a quick luff and the umpires awarded a penalty.

The Americans stretched to a 100 meter lead as the Kiwis erased their penalty, growing the delta to nearly 200 meters as they approached the leeward gate. As the Americans set up for the inshore gate, the Kiwis put in an extra gybe to round the offshore gate, just 17 seconds behind. This gave the Kiwis the chance to get out of phase, and seek out the tidal benefit under Alcatraz Island. After a series of covering tacks by the Americans, the Kiwis were able to break free on starboard and lead the match back to the City Front.

As the teams approached the boundary, the Kiwis had erased the lead. After a brief tacking duel up the City Front, the Kiwis pulled off the key moment of the race as they led the Americans on starboard toward the inshore boundary. With the rules requiring the Americans to keep clear when the Kiwis tacked, the Americans tacked below, allowing the Kiwis to cover them for the second half of the upwind leg.

“When the Americans get in front, the race stays close,” observed television commentator Ken Read. “But when the Kiwis get in front, they have the ability to stretch their lead.”

The Kiwis grew their lead to 29 seconds at the windward mark now, stretching out to nearly 500 meters on the downwind leg, and finishing with a 28 second delta.

After the race, American skipper Jimmy Spithill commented on what his team is doing to improve: “Regarding our tacks, we made a couple of changes for today, and I think we were a little better, but the Kiwis still seem to be making pretty good gains on the tacks. We are going to have to work a little bit harder to see if we can up our performance there. As for our boat speed configuration, it is what it is right now, but I don’t think our speed is necessarily too bad upwind”

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First team to 9 Points
Emirates Team New Zealand: 3
Oracle Team USA: -2*

* Began series with -2 points due to International Jury penalty from AC World Series.

America’s Cup Final schedule
Saturday, Sept. 7: Final Race 1 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 2 (2:15 pm PT)
Sunday, Sept. 8: Final Race 3 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 4 (2:15 pm PT
Tuesday, Sept. 10: Final Race 5 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 6 (2:15 pm PT)
Thursday, Sept. 12: Final Race 7 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 8 (2:15 pm PT)
Saturday, Sept. 14: Final Race 9 (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 10* (2:15 pm PT)
Sunday, Sept. 15: Final Race 11* (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 12* (2:15 pm PT)
Monday, Sept. 16: Reserve Day
Tuesday, Sept. 17: Final Race 13* (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 14* (2:15 pm PT)
Wednesday, Sept. 18: Reserve Day
Thursday, Sept. 19: Final Race 15* (1:15 pm PT), Final Race 16* (2:15 pm PT)
Friday, Sept. 20: Reserve Day
Saturday, Sept. 21: Final Race 17* (1:15 pm PT)
Sunday, Sept. 22: Reserve Day
Monday, Sept. 23: Reserve Day