The weather off Valencia today was sunny with a north-east breeze of around 10 knots, rising at times to 13 or 14 knots.

The form guide said Emirates Team New Zealand should notch a couple of comfortable wins. And that proved to be the case, with a margin of 2min 53sec against China Team in the first race of the day and 2min 8sec against +39 in the second.

Grant Dalton: “We take the wins happily but there’s still a lot of racing before this regatta is over. Today we had a good workout even though we had the luxury of being able to sail our own race against China Team and were not seriously threatened by +39.

“Even so, there’s not a team in this regatta that couldn’t pull off an upset win. So there’s no easy race; the boys have to work hard even if the margin suggests otherwise.”

NZL 84 was not troubled in today’s first match, winning the start by 9sec and taking the right of the course. NZL 84 maintained a loose cover on CHN 79 while extending the lead to 1min 22sec at the first mark. The delta had widened to 1min 42sec after the first run and to 2min 12sec after the second windward leg.

On the final leg NZL 84 extended by a further 41sec to finish comfortably ahead by 2min 53sec.

In the second race of the day, +39 got a penalty for a port-starboard incident in the pre-start. Dean Barker and crew took control after the start and sailed to a 1min 5sec lead. A 25deg shift in the breeze forced race officials to change the course and NZL 84 rounded 59 sec ahead at the first leeward mark, extending to 2min 5sec at the second windward mark and finishing 2min 8sec ahead.

There will be no respite for the team over the next few days.

“We have some tough opposition over the next three days. Tomorrow we’re up against Victory Challenge and Mascalzone Latino, both teams with a nasty bite when they get half a chance.

“We have a big weekend ahead with Luna Rossa which has been in good form on Saturday and Sunday we’re up against Spain in their new boat.”

Share or bookmark this story: