British doctor Stuart Hudson and his band of Pirates are fighting their compatriots for a place in the Team Racing world championship semifinals in Auckland.
The New Forest Pirates, otherwise known as Great Britain 1, and the Spinnaker Club, or Great Britain 2, have sailed to the top of the leaderboardafter two rounds of racing in the gold league.
But even if both teams remain in the top three at the end of the third round-robin today, only one can progress to the semifinals.
In the regatta's next phase, nations can be represented by one team only.
That rule could give a much needed lifeline to defending champions New Zealand, who have slipped to the bottom half of the gold fleet.
The United States teams are in a similar predicament to the British.
Leo Dixon, coach of the Great Britain 1 team, said his crew knew the drill. "That's the nature of the competition and we are all prepared for it."
That does not mean they would hand their spot over to the other British team without a fight - the crews battle almost every weekend off the south coast of England.
New Zealand 1 found the going tough and finished round two in fifth spot, but it's not all bad news for defending champions the Kerikeri Yacht Club.
At the end of round-robin three today, the top three nations will automatically go through to the semifinals, and the next three countries will race the top nation from the silver fleet in a repechage to find the last semifinalist.
But it's likely to be bad news for New Zealand 2, from Kohimarama Yacht Club. It has an unbeaten record in the silver fleet, but will not be eligible for the repechage.
