Two more wins for Emirates Team New Zealand today, the second day of the Louis Vuitton Act 6. Races were sailed in much fresher conditions that tested boats and crew.

NZL 82 handed Spain its first defeat of the regatta. Alinghi, BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa and ETNZ got through the day without a loss.

Friday in Malmo dawned brighter than the day before although showers were forecast. As racing started the breeze was a steady 14 to 16knots, increasing to 18 to 22 knots as the race progressed.

Defasio Espanol had a good day on Thursday beating both Mascalzone Latino and United Internet Team Germany. In racing so far ESP 67 has shown good speed and difficult to pass in they get ahead.

Before leaving the dock Grant Dalton said the match against Defasio Espanol was not an occasion to make a mistake of break anything. “They’re fast and their crew work is impressive. This is not going to be an easy race.”

NZL 82 won the start, taking the left of the course. With the bow in front, the crew worked relentlessly to protect the left and ran tight cover to maintain the lead.

There was nothing in it – never more than two boat lengths – for the entire first leg, With NZL 82 rounding the first mark with a 14 sec advantage. NZL 82 led to the leeward gate and again the advantage was a mere 14 sec.

On the second beat NZL 82 slowly made gains and by the top mark had extended the lead to 36 seconds and went on to finish 33sec ahead.

NZL 82’s second race, the third to start on the northern course, was postponed for 90 minutes when the breeze dropped and became shifty. And then when race officials decided to call a start the breeze had picked up and by the time they entered the start box was gusting above 20 knots, reaching 27 on the course.

The stronger breeze brought out the best in NZL 82’s crew. Commentators on the course described the NZL 82’s pre-start performance as “slick and confident boat handling.”

The stronger breeze presented some problems for the fleet: ESP 67 broke its boom, CHN 69 broached and took several minutes to sort itself out and Luna Rossa was in a near-broach. Shosholoza (RSA 83) did not start the second race after winning the first race of the afternoon against SWE 73.

NZL 82 won the start and took the left of the course taking a 27sec lead at the first mark. ITA 77 brought up a stronger breeze on the run and took 10 sec out of the lead at the leeward mark.

On the second beat NZL 82 extended to lead by 1min 2sec. ITA 77 had trouble with the spinnaker hoist on the second run and ETNZ sailed away. The Italians also had to complete a penalty turn and NZL 82 finished a comfortable 2min 58sec ahead.

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