Team New Zealand during the 37th America's Cup 2024, Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta, Barcelona. Photo: AFP
Team New Zealand is top of the America's Cup preliminary regatta standings after two victories off Barcelona.
Peter Burling's crew have actually had just one race so far, beating the British entry on Saturday (NZ time).
On Friday, their opponent Luna Rossa retired with a technical issue just after the start, while in another other race the French outfit did not even make the start line because of similar problems.
Team New Zealand has three points, Luna Rossa and American Magic two, Alinghi one and Britannia and France none.
The defenders were on it right from the start against Britannia. The Kiwis tied the British up at the pre-start, forcing them off their foils in the final approaches to the start line. From there it was all one-way traffic, and the Kiwis romped to a 52-second win.
New Zealand's second race, against Orient Express Racing Team (France), did not happen. The French had to retire ahead of the start with what skipper Quentin Delapierre described as a "major issue" that could not be resolved on the water.
Delapierre confirmed they would be back for racing the next day.
Speaking afterwards, Blair Tuke - Team New Zealand flight controller and trimmer - was pleased but was looking at the bigger picture.
"Well we had a great start against INEOS (Britannia), real battle there, they haven't been shy in throwing the boat around in the pre-start and we've been seeing that for a number of days now, and so we knew that was coming.
"I guess we just got the better of them there with that last-minute double tack that we executed better, got on the inside of them and they flopped off the foils, so race over.
"So good for us, it was a well-executed start. You know, we've come into this series really wanting to get the most out of it.
"We don't get that many opportunities to get battle-hardened, so we are trying to get as much out of every race as we can, and we've certainly done that so far."
Team New Zealand was scheduled to race Alinghi and American Magic on Sunday (NZ time).