Well fancy that! This morning it turns out that both BMW Oracle Racing and Desafio Espanol have been issued with new certificates following changes to their boats last night.

Both boats, USA-98 & ESP-97 have proved to be quick downwind, but have at times appeared to lack pace uphill. Have they traded some downwind performance for more upwind grunt?

On the face of it a change would make sense. If there’s one way of making a win in America’s Cup racing easier, it’s rounding the first weather mark ahead of your competition, something that Dickson’s team have struggled with at times.

BMW Oracle is the comeback king of this event. After a poor start or a weak first leg they’ve hauled back to take the lead on a number of occasions. Even more impressive is that they’ve never been overtaken, apart from the race against the Chinese when their headsail ripped out of the foil.

And when you trawl back through the stats, they have a 100 percent record of winning when they’ve reached the weather mark first – that’s 12 out of 12.

This puts an interesting slant on any perceived weaknesses in the start box or on banging the corner tactics. But perhaps of more significance is that such stats go towards suggesting why Dickson’s team may wish to tweak their boat’s performance.

But will they be able to evaluate the changes? Today looks like being a light wind day, possibly quite shifty.

Whatever happens, they’ll be worth a close look.

Eyes down on number 98.

Results After Day 2

Emirates Team New Zealand v Desafio Espanol: 2:0

BMW Oracle Racing v Luna Rossa: 1:1

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