Final is too close to call: Artemis

Artemis Racing team director Iain Percy says the battle for the America’s Cup will go down to the wire but warned Team New Zealand that they must fix their starts if they are beat Oracle.

The Swedish outfit’s campaign ended yesterday as Team New Zealand completed a 5-2 series win in the challengers final.

Percy says that with both boats similar in speed the outcome will be decided by pure sailing ability and who handles the pressure best.

‘‘You can’t assume anything and we went out there today knowing anything can happen on the day,’’ Percy said.

‘‘There won’t be enough speed differences for one team to win without sailing well,’’ Percy said.

‘‘So I would say have real attention to detail, realise the details of each individuals’ performances on the water will ultimately define the result.’’

Percy, a double Olympic champion for Britain and America’s Cup veteran, said Team NZ’S strengths lay with their talent on board the boat and the boat’s ability to thrive in light winds.

But up until Monday Kiwi helmsman Peter Burling was dominated by Artemis counterpart Nathan Outteridge in the starts.

Ultimately Sweden could not make them pay but Percy says it could be a different story against Jimmy Spithill and Oracle.

‘‘To be fair to Team New Zealand that’s more a testament to the skill [Outteridge] has developed as a match-race starter.

‘‘None of the other helmsmen like racing him against him either in the pre-start but truth to be told it was quite a whitewash there,’’ Percy said.

‘‘And that’s probably the biggest one of all because these boats are quite hard to pass in.’’

Artemis was the only team to beat Oracle in qualifying, stunning the Americans in both their races, but like, Percy, Outteridge could not pick a winner for the finale.

Much has been made of Team NZ’S pedal-powered grinding system.

But while Outteridge said the ‘‘cyclors’’ certainly gave the Kiwis an edge in hydraulics, it was not the main reason why they lost.

‘‘I think it comes down to more finer details of foil development and control systems and things like that,’’ Outteridge said.

‘‘I know everyone likes to talk about how magical the bicycles are - I’ve not sailed the boat so I don’t know exactly how their boat works - but I don’t think that was the main reason.’’

"Only a couple of years ago the team was looking down the barrel of having its doors closed ... What has been able to be created is, I think, is a much stronger unit." Glenn Ashby