Some Match Highlights

Considering the contestants came into a quite compressed regatta format with very little racing experience in the radical new AC75 class, the 36th America’s Cup match produced outstanding racing, with two worthy foes exchanging blows.

• Although Luna Rossa won the start of Race Seven and led around the first two marks, Te Rehutai was unleashing its speed. Closing the first downwind leg, the New Zealand boat spun round the mark at 43 knots, 10 seconds behind Italy. Burling flung Te Rehutai over into an immediate high-speed tack and split across to the right.

Uncharacteristically, Spithill let him go — and paid the price. At the next mark, New Zealand had opened a 19 second lead and claimed a 58-second win.

• The next race will probably go down in the America’s Cup annals as one of the most bizarre of all time. In light late-afternoon conditions, Italy moved out to a significant lead, but was struggling on the downwind leg. Te Rehutai charged down from behind and gybed directly behind the Italian boat to make the pass. Instead, it fell in the dreaded wind shadow trap and belly-flopped off the foils.

Italy opened up a 2000m lead, only to make a poor tack at the top mark. As Luna Rossa sank to a standstill, New Zealand resumed flight and swept around the course. In a single leg, the defender went from 4 minutes behind to 4 minutes ahead and took a come-from-behind victory. “We got lucky,” grinned Burling. “Better to be lucky than good.” • With the score at 5-3, Italy were unfortunate in not being able to capitalise on a sublime piece of finesse the next day. Having led by just 1 second around the top mark, Luna Rossa trapped Te Rehutai to windward coming into the bottom gate, pushing the New Zealanders way outside the layline. Then, with exquisite precision, the Italians gybed and reached across to round the mark. New Zealand had no option but to fall in line and follow with a downspeed tack-rounding to create a split.

A spirited tacking duel followed until they approached the top mark close under North Head. Bruni chose to protect the left, bouncing a delighted Burling off to the right and into a windshift familiar to local skiff and dinghy sailors. It opened a passing lane and gifted match point to New Zealand.

“One little right-hand shift decided the race for us,” remarked Burling. A rueful Bruni named it the “Kiwi puff”. • The final and deciding race was all New Zealand. They put on a clinic, with Burling engineering the start he wanted tucked on Luna Rossa’s windward hip and able to tack at speed on the line to claim the favoured right side of the course.

Although it was always close and any mistake would have been costly, Te Rehutai led and extended around every mark to close out New Zealand’s second successful America’s Cup defence by 49 seconds with a 7-3 score.