America’s Cup: How another Team NZ race win could impact the Cup schedule

If this is not possible, the schedule for the rest of the week is expected to be changed.

Should Team New Zealand come within two races of completing the series tomorrow, the race organizers are expected to declare Saturday morning as a reserve day and possibly finish the races on Sunday.

In a pre-race media briefing yesterday, regatta director Iain Murray said there was part of the protocol developed by defender Team New Zealand and record challenger Ineos Britannia that racing on the weekends should take priority and the cup game should not be allowed to finish beforehand Saturday local time (Sunday morning New Zealand).

“They wanted the event to start on the weekend and end on the weekend,” Murray said.

“Given the size of the event – ​​the FA Cup is not on a Thursday or Friday, the Olympics starts and ends at the weekend – there is a common theme here and that has been decided.”

Should the Cup game be 5-1 after the next day of racing, Murray said Saturday morning could be used to hold a race and then cancel the day if Team New Zealand was one win away from defending it, but this one step was unlikely to be taken.

However, if conditions look bleak for racing on Saturday and Sunday, Murray said it would lead to further discussion about whether to disregard protocol and race on Friday instead.

It’s all hypothetical at the moment and Team NZ isn’t looking too far into the future.

While a 4-0 lead looks comfortable on paper, it doesn’t quite reflect how close the race was in the choppy waters of Barcelona. But it shows how well the Kiwis have done.

In race four yesterday the teams were already dead as they rounded the first mark and Team NZ had a lead of just 3 seconds at the second mark. But the Kiwis were able to grab a 13-second lead after the third game and kept going from there.

In the second race the Brits overcame a slight deficit at the first gate and overtook the Kiwis at the first downwind cross, but Team NZ fought back and took the lead again at the gate. Winning the tight moments and taking control when the opportunity presented itself has been a consistent feature of Team NZ’s performance so far.

“It was definitely close,” said Team NZ port helmsman Nathan Outteridge.

“All races could have gone one way or the other at some point in the race. It’s always nice to be on the right side because we know how difficult it is to win a race.”

America’s Cup match results

Emirates Team New Zealand leads the America’s Cup first-to-seven series 4-0

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017 and brought the same versatility to his reporting as he did to his sports viewing habits.