America’s Cup: New Zealand secures match points

“I am proud of the whole team. After the setbacks, we had a bit of pressure recently and managed to free ourselves well,” said Burling: “That was really fun. We love it.” His co-helmsman Nathan Outteridge emphasized that the job isn’t finished yet: “We’re looking forward to the weekend.”

After two previous defeats, the favorites showed themselves well recovered on Friday and increased their lead to 6:2 with determined performances in the two races of the day. The New Zealanders’ third triumph in a row could be confirmed as early as Saturday.

However, the road to a historic, first British overall success in the 173-year history of the Cup is now extremely long. “Hats off to the Kiwis, it wasn’t a good day for us,” said Ainslie: “We are still alive and will keep fighting.”

The comeback had begun, Ainslie had rejoiced on Wednesday, when the British had finally broken the spell with their first two race victories. The New Zealand media viewed the development as a “serious setback”.

But Burling and Co. managed to come up with the perfect answer after a race-free Thursday. The 33-year-old and his team made a perfect start in the first duel on Friday. “The start gave us an early lead and it was nice to be able to capitalize on that,” Burling said. Outteridge spoke of difficult conditions: “Choosing a sail is anything but easy.”

However, she had a clear grip on Britannia around leader Ben Ainslie, who was committed to bringing the America’s Cup back to the motherland. But it will now be a herculean task to intercept New Zealand.