A stunning Barcelona day, 30 degrees, 10-12 knots of southerly wind and a flat sea state was the perfect setting for some highly anticipated action.

While there was action, there was not as much as anticipated for the Emirates Team New Zealand sailing team after a dominant prestart in the first race against the Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia effectively ended the race before it has started, and Orient Express Racing Team having to retire before the start of the second race due to a technical issue.

Challenger of Record versus the Defender of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup, this was a race with more questions than answers and it was Dylan Fletcher in the port pod of Britannia who brought the British boat into the line knowing that they needed accuracy. Two seconds late, the pressure was on with the Kiwis nailing their time on distance but the British cross on port and immediately go into a circle as the Kiwis dis-engaged and go right in the box.

INEOS Britannia elected to gybe round first and lead back, and this was the fatal move as the Kiwis set-up from behind to get the hook to leeward and in the final approaches pinned the British and forced them off the foils in a text-book move that allowed Emirates Team New Zealand to sail off into an immediate lead from which it would be very hard to come back from. The lead was in excess of 400 metres and for the Kiwis it was a case of reading the conditions, holding the right and loosely covering whilst for Britannia there were few options.

Fast forward to the final beat, no mistakes from the Kiwis who protected the right initially and then legged out on starboard tack to the extreme left boundary, tacking on the port layline to set up for the bear away at the starboard marker at the final windward mark and a delta of some 59 seconds. With no passing lanes downwind, it was all Emirates Team New Zealand who powered to the finish line and crossed to record a winning delta of some 52 seconds and a winning distance margin of almost 950 metres.

Emirates Team New Zealand beat INEOS Britannia by 52 seconds  

Ultimately the first race of the day for Emirates Team New Zealand was decided by an aggressive prestart which Skipper Peter Burling was happy with.

“It's always nice to get off the line well and we thought we're going to be in for a good battle around the racetrack, but it's always nice to mix up the pre-starts, we all know how important they are. And it was great to be able to take that opportunity and really shut the race down.”

Despite Orient Express Racing Team retiring from the final race of the day prior to the start, Emirates Team New Zealand had to complete the pre start sequence to gain their second point of the day which also took them to top of the leaderboard.