No Wind, No Racing, No Points Added

Auckland, New Zealand - 14th March 2021

No racing today on the Hauraki Gulf in the 36th America’s Cup presented by Prada, as the breeze remained just below the agreed threshold to start a race. Surrounded by a massive spectator fleet of over 1300 boats on the water, Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli were at times able to get up and sail after a tow up onto their foils by their chase boats - but for both teams and spectators the wind was just below the consistent 6.5 knot wind speed needed to start race 7. Regatta director Iain Murray tried to get a race underway right up until 17:45, but the breeze just didn't play ball.

With both the Defender and Challenger level at three races each, both teams headed back to their bases resetting mentally and physically to restart this extraordinary contest with more wind forecast tomorrow and Tuesday.

Emirates Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling was pragmatic about today’s conditions, “It was certainly light around the top of the course, and even if we did just make the wind limit, it would have been interesting to see if we could have got around the race course within the time limit.”

“One thing today did allow, was for our shore and race crew out here on the water to continue to look at every little detail of the boat and come up with ways to make the boat faster. There are definitely lots of little modifications happening all over the place to make this boat go faster. As a team you have to keep getting better, and we definitely feel we have been improving over the course of these opening races - in terms of technique, equipment or how you are using something - and every little detail makes a big difference.”

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