The US Defenders of the America's Cup found themselves 3-0 down to their Kiwi rivals after the first four races of the final stage of the 35th America's Cup.
Emirates Team New Zealand beat America's Cup holders Oracle Team USA in the first of Saturday's two races, taking a 4-0 lead in the first-to-seven final.
HAMILTON, Bermuda Skipper Jimmy Spithill has his swagger back, meaning it's game on in the America's Cup on the Great Sound.
Races 7 and 8 are scheduled for Sunday.
Ben Ainslie is not about to give up steering the boat in his quest to bring the America's Cup back to Britain and is set to plan his next campain as soon as he returns home next week.
Spithill, 37, said Oracle made too many changes to the boat to mention. It was 24 hours shifts for the guys on the shore, and the good thing was we were able to reward them with the win. We now have confidence in the tool we have, which is the most important thing. "That was important to get that win today". They revealed this week that TNZ's boat was considerably lighter than Oracle, due to carbon-fibre technology developed in-house, as were the crew overall. "So they got Glen Ashby and we didn't because they paid him more".
Peter Burling, the 26-year-old New Zealand helmsman, was undaunted by the prospect of a resurgent USA. "But we're really happy with the lead we've got".
"That's all I'm interested in and I happen to think that I'm the right person to do that job at the moment", he added. We're pretty disappointed with the umpire call.
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He said he was expecting similar conditions for tomorrow's races.
Spithill was a fraction early across the line to draw a penalty that handed Burling an instant advantage.
The usually verbose Spithill was again reluctant to go into the reasons behind the change, saying the decision was made "because we felt like it".
He crossed ahead on the third leg.
Team New Zealand has won five races but began with a negative point because Oracle won the qualifiers.
Although New Zealand got away off the start after the US crew were penalised for being over the line, the defenders got back into the race and at one stage were leading, more than matching their opponents for speed.
That could all change if the US holders are able to turn around a 3-0 Kiwi lead in the first-to-seven competition on Bermuda's Great Sound when racing resumes this weekend. That was enough to allow Burling to speed well ahead. It's safe to say that whatever team can make the least mistakes in the remainder of the cup will be the ones that end up on the winning side to claim the Auld Mug. Two passes then ensued between the two teams, with Spithill coming out on top, nudging ahead at the fifth gate.
After five days with no racing, both crews have been working to improve the performance of their space-age foiling catamarans, with the pressure on the USA crew to match the superior speed shown by the Kiwis in their first races.
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