Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling says he nearly lost control of their boat in their win over Sweden in the Americas Cup this morning.
Team NZ and Sweden battle during the America's Cup. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Although Artemis had the better start and led for much of the race after a dramatic nosedive by the New Zealand crew plunged their cyclist sailors into the water, the Swedish team then lost ground with a tactical error that cost them the race.
Glen Ashby's crew fought back and took the lead at the 5th mark and then cruised to a 1:30 minute victory.
Burling explained his error.
"It was a little loose from where I was sitting to be honest, we had good speed and we were trying to give Sweden a little luff and then I lost flow over both rudders."
"Both of them came out of the water and we spun and put the bows in (the water)."
"After that we did an amazing job to bounce back to just grind our way back into the race and the guys were producing plenty of oil and we just kept pulling off good manouvers."
"It was probably something that I don't think we would have been able to do yesterday so full credit to the guys that have been working over night."
It's their second straight win over the Swedes after yesterday's controversial victory when Sweden were incorrectly penalised at the last mark.
Team New Zealand now has a record of 5 wins and 1 loss.
That was their only race today.
In other racing today British BAR ended their four race losing streak beating Sweden's Artemis, and Team Oracle USA beat Team France by nearly two minutes in race two.
Each of the six teams races the other twice in the head-to-head match race format, with a point for the winner. The challenger with the fewest points at the end of the qualifiers will not go through to the next semi-final round.
-RNZ /AAP
