Auckland: New Zealand sailing fans are set to descend on Auckland’s Waterfront on Wednesday as the America’s Cup enters what could be its final day.
Team New Zealand hold a 7-1 lead over technology billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA and could wrap up the trophy on Wednesday, with Dean Barker’s team requiring just two more wins to reclaim the trophy they lost in 2003.
Local media compared the anxiety among sailing fans to that felt during the 2011 Rugby World Cup final, when the All Blacks hung on to beat France 8-7 at Eden Park.
“If that 2011 Rugby World Cup final was nerve-racking, where does this America’s Cup final sit on the anxiety scale?” Fairfax Media senior sports correspondent Duncan Johnstone wrote in an opinion piece from San Francisco on Tuesday.
“Two iconic New Zealand teams, two pinnacle occasions. One nation transfixed both times.
“This is going to be tight. This is going to be tense ... The closer Team New Zealand gets to lifting the America’s Cup, the harder the assignment gets.”
Insecurity has been gnawing at sailing fans in New Zealand since the massive AC-72 Aotearoa almost capsized in race eight in strong winds on San Francisco Bay.
The boat heeled to an almost 45-degree pitch on its port hull when the massive wingsail failed to tack in sync with the boat and local media reported only the work of the grinders, who continued to provide hydraulic pressure to the ram that controls the wing, allowed the catamaran to flop back into the water.
Boat changes to Oracle have dramatically increased their upwind speed as well, while the execution of upwind tacks and downwind gybes by Jimmy Spithill’s team has also improved.
Those nerves were on full display during the races on Monday when about 500 people flopped onto beanbags and sat on carpenter’s trestles set up in a shed on Auckland’s waterfront to watch the races on a big screen as part of the city’s efforts to cater to the increasing interest in the event.
