Ineos Britannia crosses the finish line as they win Race 5 of the America’s Cup, in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 16.Bernat Armangue/The Associated Press
INEOS Britannia got back into the America’s Cup final after scoring its first two wins over Emirates Team New Zealand, cutting the deficit in the first-to-seven wins to 4-2 on Wednesday.
After being dominated on first three days of racing, the British were gifted a big lead in Race 5 and then held off a hard-charging New Zealand in Race 6 by seven seconds.
“There is still a long way to go, but the comeback is on,” Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie said.
New Zealand is trying to win the Auld Mug, the oldest trophy in international sport, for a third straight time and fifth overall. The British have never won it in its 173-year history and are in their first final in six decades.
New Zealand had sailed flawlessly to sweep the first four races held in view of the Barcelona beachfront. But after a rest day on Tuesday, the Kiwis made their first mistake of the series when their yacht fell off its foils in the pre-start buildup for the day’s first regatta.
The Taihoro was left flailing while Britannia buzzed it twice before taking off to build a huge advantage. Winds just above the 6.5-knot minimum made just keeping the 75-foot monohulls on their foils key.
When Britannia crossed the line New Zealand was almost 1,200 meters behind.
“We always knew that this would be a fight,” New Zealand skipper Peter Burling said. “You make a few little mistakes and you lose races. That’s what we love about sport, and we also have a battle on our hands.”
Races 7 and 8 are scheduled for Friday, giving New Zealand one day to figure out what went wrong.
