America's Cup: Team NZ are another race closer to lifting the Auld Mug

Emirates Team NZ battle Oracle Team USA off Bermuda. Photo/Gilles Martin-Raget

Team New Zealand have moved one step closer to America's Cup glory and are now just three wins away from lifting the Auld Mug from Oracle Team USA off Bermuda.

The Kiwis won their fifth straight race to take a 4-0 lead in the first-to-seven format, suggesting that the five-day break in competition has not closed the gap out on the water.
Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill made a big tactical mistake at the start, gaining the best position on the line, but encroaching early for a two-boat length penalty.

Emirates Team NZ led by a few seconds around the first two marks, but helmsman Peter Burling had to withstand Spithill's aggression and a faster Oracle ACC boat upwind in 11-knot breezes.

The American team actually took the lead briefly up the third beat, but copped another two-length penalty for crossing too close to the NZ boat. That proved the decisive moment of the race and soon afterwards, Oracle fell off their foils in a gybe, to concede several hundred metres.

The final margin was more than two minutes.

"We just approached this like any other race," said Burling afterwards. "It was nice to have five days off, and give the shore crew a good opportunity to work on the boat and make this great boat we've got a little bit quicker.

"We also managed to get out for three training sessions as well, to sharpen up all those little things, those little scenarios. That really showed today in the pre-start - we probably didn't milk that penalty as much as we should have.

"But to have full confidence in our strategy and our plan up that second beat, and force the issue, force the penalty and win the race was really pleasing for us.

"We've been excpecting these races to be a bit tighter like that, but we feel we've got really good boat-opn-boat stuff now to be able to deal with it."

The changes to the Oracle boat over the past week seem to have made it faster upwind, where the Kiwis held a big advantage last weekend, but the defenders may have sacrificed manoeuvrability and crewwork still wasn't nearly good enough to make up the margin between the two teams.

"I thought the boat was going pretty well, but we had a few issues" said Spithill. "On our numbers. on the line. we were good and then we were over, so we picked up a penalty that we were very, very surprised with.

"Tough race, but the good news is the boat's going well and the boys are fighting the whole way, so we'll come out and try and get a win.

"There's no speed for free, so we're definitely on edge a little bit more, but we're in that position.

"I believe we can win this race. We've got the speed - we just have to keep the boat on its feet and we can get a win under our belt."

35th America's Cup match
Oracle Team USA v Emirates Team New Zealand
Race 5: Emirates Team NZ beat Oracle Team USA by two minutes 4 secs (NZ 4-0)
Race 6: 5.57am - Oracle Team USA v Emirates Team New Zealand