Sailing - 37th America's Cup - New Zealand v Britain - Barcelona, Spain - October 16, 2024 Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia in action during race five REUTERS/Albert Gea
BARCELONA (Reuters) -Britain won a second race in their America's Cup final against New Zealand in tricky sea conditions on Wednesday, cutting the holders' lead to 4-2 and prompting skipper Ben Ainslie to say "the comeback is on" in the first-to-seven series.
The British outmanoeuvred the New Zealand crew led by Peter Burling in the final seconds of the pre-start in Wednesday's second race and shot across the line in their foiling AC75 to establish an early lead, building on their success in the first.
"We need to ride this momentum now and keep getting ourselves back in the game," Ainslie told reporters, adding that the British challengers would keep pushing for small performance gains in their high-tech boat.
Britain have not been in the America's Cup final for more than 60 years and have never won it, while New Zealand are looking to record a third straight victory in the battle for what is billed as the oldest trophy in international sport.
Ainslie said that the team's decision to get out and practice on Tuesday's reserve day had helped them to hone the nuances of their boat and how to sail it.
"We've seen how difficult these boats are to sail ... the Kiwis are a great team and even they are capable of the odd mistake," Ainslie said when back on shore in Barcelona.
Britain stayed ahead in all eight legs of the second race, hitting speeds of more than 35 knots as they navigated a churned-up sea and holding off a late Kiwi fight back.
"We always knew this was going to be a fight, awesome to have a battle on our hands now," New Zealand's Burling said, admitting he was disappointed by a couple of errors on board.
Ainslie's crew had also got a better start in the first race, forcing the Kiwis onto the back foot as their boat slipped off its foils and was left wallowing.
SAILED CLEANLY
Britain crossed the start line to leave New Zealand in their wake and disappeared up the course. By the time New Zealand were able to get back on their foils Ainslie's crew just needed to make sure they sailed cleanly to capitalise on the advantage.
Ainslie's crew kept their cool to notch up their first win of the series in their long quest to win the "Auld Mug", which a British boat has not won in the event's 173-year-history.
"We sort of let ourselves down," Burling's co-helm Nathan Outteridge said of the New Zealand performance, adding that he was not surprised by Britain's stronger showing on the water after they had lost the previous four races.
"What we saw today was just how difficult it is to win those races and everything you do has to work to win the race," Outteridge said when back ashore.
"Ultimately, it's a long way to go still. We've got to win three and they've got to win five now, so it's closer, but there are still plenty of races to go," he added.
The Kiwis won the event in Bermuda in 2017, beating the United States, and retained the Cup at home in Auckland in 2021 with victory over Italy.
The New Zealand crew, who were given their usual rousing traditional Maori send-off when docking out, sat aboard their boat as they were towed back in, as usual locked in discussion as they looked ahead to the next races scheduled for Friday.
The British waved and were met with horns blaring as their supporters celebrated a much-needed fillip for the fans.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis)
