Team New Zealand remain stalled on match point through a combination of Oracle precision and unruly wind in today's America's Cup action. That was due to Oracle fighting back to win the opening race of the day. The second race of the day was called off as once again, the wind got above a safety limit that wa reduced to 20.3 knots because of a strong outgoing tide. Privately Team New Zealand won't be too sorry race 13 was postponed, because they had copped a pasting in race 12.
Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill promised a fight and a never say die attitude, and his boat and crew delivered, claiming a vital 31 second win. That leaves Oracle still needing to win the next seven races to keep the cup and New Zealand still looking for the one win to get their hands on sport's oldest trophy for the first time in a decade. I think it's frustrating for all of us , but the rules are the rules everyone agreed to. This was something that was agreed to some time ago, Murray said, hopeful of some tide relief tomorrow that may allow a double header, if it's needed.
It was another twist in an incredible match that has featured performance shifts and weather delays to agonise a kiwi public that has been on tenterhooks throughout, once they realised Aotearoa had the capabilities to win this thing. Dean Barker had been very aggressive coming into the box on the heels of Oracle but got too close to the start line too early and Spithill managed to come back underneath Aotearoa and get the overlap to turn them around, with the New Zealanders stalled, Oracle sped off to a commanding 5sec lead at the first mark, which they extended to 11 sec downwind. Team New Zealand split the course from there, looking for something different to get them back into the game.