The two Team New Zealand crews, headed by Dean Barker and Bertrand Pace, are through to the quarter-finals of the ACI Cup, Croatia's international match-racing event.
Pace won the group A qualifying round with five wins from six races.
Barker was just behind him with four wins, the same number as
England's Andy Green. But the Team New Zealand skipper took second place on a countback.
It was a long, hot and frustrating day on the water, with the wind struggling to occasionally reach seven knots before fading to three or four knots again.
Pace said the conditions were among the worst they had experienced. "We were surprised that they started some of the races."
Barker lost twice yesterday, to Rod Davis and Poland's Karol Jablonski. Pace's only loss of the day was to Barker, who led from start to finish in the last match of the day.
In the quarter-finals, Pace meets Denmark's Jes Gram-Hansen and Barker another Dane, Jesper Radich.
The Danes are the only non-America's Cup teams to make the last eight, with Green, of Britain's GBR Challenge, facing Gavin Brady, of Prada.
Davis, also with Prada, is matched against Magnus Holmberg, of Sweden's Victory Challenge.
