Emirates Team New Zealand have, today Saturday 19 October 2024, won their third straight America’s Cup and so become the first team in modern America’s Cup history to win three America’s Cups in a row.

Race Day 6 of the 37th America’s Cup dawned as last chance saloon for the British INEOS Britannia squad, with Emirates Team New Zealand leading the Brits 6-2 in the first-to-seven series.

The question for all onlookers was whether the British could win two straight races – as they did on day three of the event – to force the racing to continue for at least one more day.
“I’ve been in far too many sh*t fights in my career,” Britain’s Ben Ainslie had told us yesterday. “There were many scenarios, situations similar to this where it might appear pretty helpless, but actually you just never know what can happen.”

Once again the forecast was for extremely light winds in Barcelona and it was clear from early on that there would be a delay to racing as the breeze shifted. However by the time of the start, the sun was out and the wind had swung toward the sea breeze direction which implied there could be a thermal enhancement during the afternoon. But, at this time of year with the land also fairly hot, thermal enhancement is limited so wind in the double figures never looked particularly likely.

After a delay of just under an hour, the thermal breeze had built to provide almost 10 knots at the startline, but the windward end of the course was still overing just over the minimum 6.5 knots. To add to the pressure the wind also looked pretty unstable and pretty gusty too.

Race 9 INEOS Britannia Vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Skippers
INEOS Britannia: Ben Ainslie & Dylan Fletcher
Emirates Team New Zealand: Peter Burling & Nathan Outteridge 

In the pre-start it was the turn of New Zealand to enter first on port and the Brits gybed around to follow.

The Kiwis gybed at the right hand boundary and INEOS Britannia gybed inside of them to set up ahead and therefore to leeward. The Kiwis immediately tacked away and quickly tacked back, with the Brits following them and then tacking in front of them to lead back.

The Brits did a great job to control the situation and get a commanding position just below the New Zealanders out of the start, forcing the Kiwis to tack away straight after the gun.

So it was first blood to the Brits, who immediately tacked over to follow the Kiwis to the right of the course.

But the New Zealanders looked quick and when they tacked back onto starboard the port-tacked Brits were forced to duck them.

Consistently the New Zealand boat has looked fast in light winds and flat water and they have been the better boat through their tacks. Added to this, they also managed to get over into a bit of a puff on the left of the course and by the second cross Burling and Outteridge’s team were up to a 100m lead as they crossed the Brits on port.

Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

Emirates Team New Zealand continued to extend throughout the whole of the first beat to lead by 19 seconds around the first windward gate. It was only moments after the start, but the British team were already going to be looking for something of a miracle to get back into this vital, match-point race.

But for those who thought the race was gone, the Brits picked up some decent breeze up the middle of the second beat and as the two came together again INEOS had taken some decent chunks out of the Kiwis, who tacked right in from of INEOS Britannia.

Ainslie and Fletcher immediately tacked away to the right again and by the time they came back on starboard they had gained once again. Again the Kiwis tacked in front of them and again the Brits tacked away.

When they met again, the Kiwis were forced to tack underneath the bow of the starboard INEOS. It was edge of the seat stuff as the Brits looked to have wrested control.

However, with both boats over lay, the Kiwis still had a small advantage and were able to lead the two boars into the windward gate taking the left hand mark looking upwind. INEOS tacked to round the opposite gate dead even.

But Burling and Outteridge had done a good job to pick the favoured mark and they eked back into the lead on the favoured side of the downwind, a lead they held to round the leeward gate 12 seconds up.

Emirates Team New Zealand rounded the right hand mark, while the Brits chose the left mark to force a split. But by the first cross the starboard tacked Kiwis were leading and tacked in front of INEOS to protect the right, which had worked so well for the Brits on the previous lap.

But the wind was looking a little stronger on the left for INEOS and for a time they were looking solid, but a port tack header as they came back across saw the Kiwis with a solid lead and once again they tacked to cover and protect the right at the top of the course.

Emirates Team New Zealand managed to step away on the final part of the beat and, having seen off the attack from the Brits, they rounded the last windward gate, 17 seconds ahead and set off on their last downwind.

It was, essentially, a victory lap (leg) for Emirates Team New Zealand who crossed the finish line over half a minute ahead to claim their third consecutive Americas Cup.

You have to hand it to Ainslie’s team, they won the start and caught the Kiwis napping on the second upwind. There isn’t much more that could have been asked of them in this race.

As for the Kiwis, they have once again shown themselves to be the best Americas Cup team. Their boat, in these conditions, was clearly quicker around the course and she was sailed well to make the best of their advantages.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” said Burling. “It’s been a tough week, but I’m proud of how the team just kept battling today. To be honest it’s still sinking in. This team has some bad memories from before my time of sitting on match point so it’s nice to get it done today.”

“It’s pretty special, its been a huge journey and I’ve loved every minute, it’s been a huge dream for quite some time,” said Outteridge for whom this was his first America’s Cup win.

“Firstly I have to say a huge well done to Team New Zealand. In my view, they are the best team ever in the America’s Cup,” said a crestfallen Ainslie. “To our team I can’t say enough thanks for all the effort they have put in to get us here. We had out moments but at the end of the day the better team won.”

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us back home and in Barcelona. The support we’ve has has been amazing. We set out 10 years ago to win the Americas Cup and we’re getting closer each time, so we’ll get it next time,” Ainslie concluded.

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