Ashby wanted clean sweep . . .

. . . but two out of three ain’t bad as Kiwis sail like ‘ bucket of spanners’

Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby said it was crucial for his team to wrap up the America’s Cup challenger semifinals yesterday in order to buy the shore crew more time in the boatshed.

Just 48 hours after their catamaran returned to their dock a mangled wreck following a near- catastrophic capsize, Emirates Team New Zealand yesterday booked their place in the Louis Vuitton challenger final after dispatching Ben Ainslie Racing 5- 2.

The result brought to an end the gallant British challenge, who were seeking to take the Cup back to the UK after 166 years of hurt.

Team NZ’s opponent in the final, which is also a first- to- five series, will be determined early this morning, with an intriguing battle playing out in the other semifinal between Artemis and Dean Barker's Team Japan. The Swedish team lead the series 4- 3 after completing a hat- trick of wins yesterday

shby said with the final set to get under way tomorrow, it was a relief for the team to seal the result yester- day to give the crew a much- needed day off after a tough week, and ensure they can continue to work on getting their boat back into top shape.

“It's fantastic for the guys to have a bit of a spell tomorrow [ today]. We will regroup — there's a lot of debriefing to do with our boathandling, but we'll go over that in the next couple of days,” he said.

“It gives the shore crew a bit of time as well. There's a few bits and pieces that we're changing, so it means they have the opportunity to do that without the same time pressure.”

Putting Wednesday's capsize drama behind them, the Kiwis came out and won the opening race, despite an i ssue with one of their daggerboards in the pre- start.

By the time the issue was resolved, BAR had 26 seconds’ head start over the New Zealand boat – an advantage the Kiwis slowly chewed up over the next five legs, taking the lead on the final beat.

With a clear speed advantage over the British boat, Team NZ looked on track to make a short . day of it, but the Brits, faced with a do- or- die scenario, kept the series alive through Ainslie and tactician Giles Scott’s strategic brilliance and slick crew- work.

“The second race to be honest we sailed like a bucket of spanners,” Ashby said. “We couldn't have made it any worse for ourselves if we tried. So a lot of lessons and good takeaways to debrief about that second race — we'll be spending a lot of time going over that and working through a few things there.

“I feel a wee bit disappointed in the way we got the boat around the track a couple of times. We definitely could have made our life a lot easier there, but to come away with two points out of the day — that was our goal.

“The BAR guys sailed a much better day than we did, their boathandling and picking the shifts — particularly in two of the three races — was very good. They were very tough opponents and we were fortunate to make it through with the package that we do have.”

Ashby also revealed the cause of the daggerboard issue in the opening race was not related to damage caused in the capsize.

“We had a little bit of water in the leeward cockpit and something fell off and pressed one of the buttons, which actually pulled the daggerboard up at exactly the wrong time in the pre- start. We managed to get that sorted and then we were on our way.

“The win today [ yesterday] was really a win for the shore team. They did a stellar job.”