USA score two wins as America’s Cup opens
hamilton — Oracle Team USA rallied to edge Emirates Team New Zealand on Saturday as the 35th America’s Cup got underway with two wins for two-time defending champions Oracle and a collision involving Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR.
The drama unfolded under picture-book skies on Bermuda’s Great Sound, where near gale-force winds had prevented the scheduled start on Friday. For the first time the defending champions are competing in the qualifiers, and Team USA didn’t disappoint. They delivered the first of two thumpings handed out to Groupama Team France before taking on New Zealand in a rematch of the 2013 America’s Cup — when the US outfit won eight straight races to seal one of the biggest comeback triumphs in sport.
Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill caught New Zealand as they rounded the mark into the penultimate leg and went on to win by six seconds.
A closely fought start launched a fascinating contest that saw Team New Zealand take a 20-second lead at gate three. But by gate five Spithill had closed the gap and they came toward the mark virtually side-by-side. Team USA came out of the turn in front and held on for the win. “The boys worked very, very hard today,” Spithill said. “It was a physical day. A couple of big races. But we’re in good shape for tomorrow.”
After the first day of round-robin qualifiers Team USA were tied atop the standings with Britain’s Land Rover BAR, both on three points.
The British syndicate came into the qualifiers with two bonus points from the America’s Cup World Series, from which Team USA brought one point.—