Tomorrow, Saturday could provide one of the defining days of the 34th America’s Cup if the Kiwis perform in the way they have so far. Two more wins and they will be the Challengers for the 34th America’s Cup.

Friday’s race, held on a reserve day in order to catch up after several earlier postponements in the LV finals, demonstrated once again how far ahead the Kiwis are over their opponents Luna Rossa.

In the 5th race of the LV finals, Emirates Team New Zealand beat Luna Rossa by 1min 56secs in a race that they dominated from the start.

And while skipper Dean Barker talked of being pleased with the way the boat was going, Luna Rossa’s skipper Chris Draper was clearly downbeat about his team’s performance and the growing realisation that they are simply not quick enough.

“We can talk about the start all we want but the reality is that they are going to sail past us whether they are to windward or to leeward,” he said. “It’s pretty frustrating. It’s not about the mistakes we make on the race course its about the mistakes we made months ago.”

Saturday sees two races in this first to seven victory series and barring disaster it looks ever more likely that the Kiwis will dominate once again. But as we saw at the beginning of the finals, in this Cup more than any before it is risky to take anything for granted.