NZL 92 goes 4-up in the LV Cup final

A nerve racking race lastnight up the first beat with a nail biting excitement.

It was a split tack start with NZL92 crossing at speed off to the leeward side while ITA94 tacked and headed up towards the right side of the course. NZL92 won the start with a small margin but that was soon taken back as before halfway up the first leg the Italians had increased to a 100m lead. The tacticians aboard NZL92 decided to stick to their game plan with the information provided by their weather team and hold out to the left and patiently wait for the wind shifts to come. While it had benefited ITA94 initally the shifts came and we started to close the margin loosing the first cross but edging the bow in front we won the second cross to gain right of way and rounding the first mark ahead of the Italians after going outside the layline to obtain the most benefits from the wind and a better attack angle at the mark. It was a marvellous clean set with the large red Emirates sail bearing down over ITA94 as it's done so many times to many of its competitors during the LV cup regatta.

Taking the windward mark, NZL92 further extended their lead after ITA94 rounded the leeward mark which wasn't expected, and could have affected their closing gain as they rounded the top mark a full minute behind NZL92.

Barker and the ETNZ crew sailed conservatively down the last beat protecting the right and crossing the line 52 seconds ahead on ITA94.

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Emirates Team New Zealand have their eye's on the prize with the LV cup within their grasp. While the supporters and viewers can get excited about this, it's still business for ETNZ as they know they still have a long way to go to securing the America's Cup victory.
They can't afford to relax now as that could prove disastrous and lose of momentum right now would be detrimental to our campaign as a 5-nil win over ITA94 would increase the teams morale going into the America's Cup facing off against Alingi.
Should we take the final 5-nil win tonight we would have a good rest break before facing Alingi allowing the crew a rest period and time to evaluate and put to the test strengthening area's they want to improve.

But until full victory, may support stand strong and the team spirits held high.