Near flawless sailing by the New Zealanders coupled with some disasters for the Italian crew saw Prada lose the second
race of the America’s Cup by a whopping 2 minutes and 43 seconds.
Team New Zealand took control brilliantly at race start tacking early and getting an 18 second lead.
For a moment in the first leg Prada were gaining until the Italians sailed into an early disaster - a crew member
“Max”, had to be removed by a rescue boat suffering a gash to the head.
The wound was connected to another problem for the Prada crew, it was caused by a carbon rod being used to clear flotsam
that had attached itself to the Luna Rossa’s keel.
The time the boat took to stop helped Team New Zealand had a 2 minute 19 second lead.
However on the down-wind leg Prada picked up some vital time and the gap narrowed 26 seconds to 1 minute 55 at the
second mark.
But with some unfortunate tactics, and further problems with their sails by mark five Team New Zealand had had widened
the gap again to 2 minutes 25 seconds.
There was no stopping Team New Zealand as they sailed almost flawlessly to a win of 2 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of
the Italians.