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Oracle losing grasp on Cup as Kiwis win sixth
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Oracle Team USA’s bid to turn the tide in its floundering America’s Cup campaign by bringing sailing superstar Ben Ainslie aboard failed on Thursday, when Emirates Team New Zealand crushed the defender in two do-or-die races.
The Kiwis now have scored six of the nine victories they need to bring home the trophy the yachting world refers to as the Auld Mug. Oracle, slapped with a jury-imposed two-race penalty, has won only one race and still needs to win another 10 to keep the 162-year-old trophy.
New Zealand finished 66 seconds ahead of software billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle in its high-speed, 72-foot catamaran in the second race of the day and 47 seconds ahead in the first heat.
“We cannot give up,” Oracle skipper Jimmy Spithill said. “We’ll keep fighting all the way to the end. I’m still convinced we can win races.”
In Thursday’s first race, the sixth of the series, Oracle won the start but lost the lead upwind on the third leg. In the second match, New Zealand won the start and kept the lead throughout.
Oracle has looked slow against New Zealand on the upwind legs, where it has forfeited leading positions in five races. The Kiwis in Thursday’s first race forced Oracle into having to perform a dozen of the taxing maneuvers as the huge catamarans zigzagged into a light 12-knot breeze to the windward mark.
Ainslie, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, was knighted for his achievements on the water. He took over as tactician aboard the AC72 from American John Kostecki.
The 36-year old Briton was the skipper of Oracle’s second yacht during training matches and remains a fearful competitor for New Zealand.
“It feels nice to have won six races, but it’s only two-thirds of the way toward winning the America’s Cup,” New Zealand skipper Dean Barker said.
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