Burling: Boat good enough to do the job

Team New Zealand insist they have the boat to get the job done in Bermuda.

That was the reassuring message from helmsman Peter Burling as edgy Kiwis fans digested Team New Zealand’s first loss to Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup match in Bermuda.

The defenders returned from a five-day break with a far more competitive boat to snatch a crucial win off Burling’s crew and evoke memories of their miracle comeback in San Francisco four years ago.

But the ultra-cool Burling didn’t appear flustered by Oracle’s speed, content with Aotearoa’s pace on a day where he felt he and his sailors had let down the radical boat with their own indifferent efforts.

‘‘We know if we sail well we have a really good boat, a really good tool that will get the job done. That’s what we are concentrating on at the moment,’’ Burling said.

‘‘We felt like the boat was going really well. We are really happy with the speed.’’

After smashing Oracle by 2m 4s in the first rce yesterday, Burling let Jimmy Spithill escape his grasp in the second race and paid the price with an 11s loss.

Spithill split tacks on the final upwind beat and found one of those windshifts out to the left of the course to erase Team New Zealand’s handy lead and gain control over the final two legs to claim a treasured win.

There is no panic in the Kiwi camp, just a determination to sail better as Burling pointed to some sloppy foiling tacks on the leg where Spithill caught them.

‘‘The whole time these boats have been relatively similar,’’ Burling said.

‘‘We obviously had a pretty good edge last weekend. But that shows with how you sail the boat and with how you mode it for a particular wind strength.

‘‘We felt like we didn’t sail overly well today. But we still felt like we had plenty of speed, if we put it in the right place on the race course, to take wins.

‘‘And we feel like we have still got plenty to come.’’